Text Size:
A|
A|
A
Email
Print |
 |
|
Stacy Innerst, Post-Gazette Click photo for larger image.
|
But, when this event is the annual NFL draft, and ESPN televises it to a national audience craving a football fix, the proceedings evolve into an extravaganza that is as much a staple of the spring sports calendar as March Madness, the Masters and baseball's opening day.
And if that's not enough of a phenomenon, Mel Kiper Jr. has found a way to make a living off the draft, much to the consternation of professional talent evaluators and geeks far and wide who wish they would have been first with the idea of a draft newsletter.
The 70th annual draft has a new venue but again will take place in New York City, where it has been held since 1965. After outgrowing hotel ballrooms and, after spending 10 years at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, the selections will be announced Saturday and Sunday at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, also known as the Marketplace of the World.
"World-class events belong on the world's biggest stage, and we are thrilled that the NFL draft will celebrate its 70th anniversary right here in the Big Apple," said Maureen J. Reidy, president of NYC Big Events, Inc.
A live audience of 3,200 rabid fans will provide the backdrop, and observers will be able to spot the jerseys of all 32 franchises, not to mention Darth Vader outfits and Dawg Pound masks. Already, 825 tickets have been allocated to a group informally known as the second day die-hards, or fans who sat through both days of last year's draft. Remaining tickets are free and are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
Like everything else about the NFL, interest in the draft has grown by leaps and bounds, driven by TV, the Internet, shrewd marketing and the insatiable appetite of football fans.
 |
|||
  When: Saturday-Sunday. Round 1 begins at noon Saturday.
|
|||
|
|||
Bell championed the idea of teams replenishing their rosters by having them select college players in the reverse order of how the teams finished in the standings. A total of 81 players were picked in the nine rounds on that Saturday. With nary a face-painted fan in sight, there was no radio or TV, given that there were no commercial stations on the air at the time, just a modest assemblage of print journalists sitting at their team's table.
The Steelers, still named the Pirates in those days, selected Notre Dame running back Bill Shakespeare with their top pick. He never played for the team, but then, as now, the draft was an inexact science.
The Eagles chose first, tabbing Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger. Berwanger decided not to play pro ball -- a common practice at the time in that the NFL was regarded as the realm of rogues and rapscallions -- and not a single Eagles pick from that draft ever played in a regular-season game.
In 1938, the Steelers created the first draft buzz. They signed their top pick, Colorado All-American Byron "Whizzer" White, for $15,800 -- the largest contract in pro football at the time, and twice the amount paid to the league's highest-paid player, Sammy Baugh.
Nobody registered White's time in the 40-yard dash, but he led the NFL in rushing in 1939. After leaving to become a Rhodes scholar, he played another year of football with the Lions and eventually became a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. White rushed for 1,081 yard in two seasons and issued 1,275 opinions in 31 years on the high court.
No real scouting was done in the early days. Dan Rooney remembers that the Steelers would send letters to college coaches, asking them to name their best athletes and the best opponents they played against. Coach Jock Sutherland even had his version of Mel Kiper. He was Ray Burns, a funeral director and a friend of Sutherland's who kept lists of local college talent.
"The guy did a credible job," Rooney said.
The Rams, in Los Angeles at the time, revolutionized things in the 1950s by assembling detailed scouting reports on players and bringing suitcases filled with files to the process. That was the start of the multimillion dollar scouting business in which the names of top players were guarded like atomic secrets.
The draft has included as many as 30 rounds and as little as seven, the current number.
When Buddy Parker was the coach, the Steelers didn't do much drafting. In 1959 and in 1963, they traded away their first seven picks because Parker had so little faith in rookies.
But under Chuck Noll, the Steelers defined the importance of building through the draft. He built a dynasty with a series of quality drafts, including the selection of four Hall of Famers in the first five rounds of the 1974 draft -- Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster.
For three decades, a one-day draft was held during the season, in November or December, at a hotel in Philadelphia, Chicago or New York. In 1967, following the merger with the AFL, it was moved to March. Eleven years later, selections were made in April.
All of that was B.C. -- Before Cable. Seismic changes occurred when an all-sports network appeared on the scene in 1979. ESPN sought permission to televise the draft but was turned down by a unanimous consensus of the 28 owners.
The late Pete Rozelle, the commissioner who moved the NFL into the media age, thought the idea had merit, however.
"Well, they can cover it like a news event," Rozelle told his staff.
The cable did stand-up coverage of the first two rounds in 1980. Interest then exploded when ESPN's coverage included the entire draft, from the top pick to Mr. Irrelevant.
"It's very hard to think of the days before ESPN," said Jim Steeg, the chief operating officer of the San Diego Chargers and a former assistant to Rozelle.
To help fill the dead time between picks, ESPN brought Mel Kiper on board in 1984. Although he never put a helmet on that licorice-black coif of his, Kiper began circulating a homemade draft prospectus in 1979 when he was a student at Essex Community College in Baltimore. He even had his phone number on the front of his NFL draft report.
In addition to his draft day celebrity, Kiper now does a weekend radio show, writes a column and lives and breathes the draft for 52 weeks of the year.
The draft, which was held on a Tuesday and Wednesday, was moved to a Sunday and Monday in 1988, mainly because the Marriott Marquis offered the NFL a better weekend rate. Six years later, it was given the weekend slot it has today, giving it the drawing power of a college football Saturday and an NFL Sunday.
About 30 million people will watch at least part of the 17 hours of coverage on ESPN and ESPN2, with the network filling time with video clips, interviews, analysis and history. A ticker at the bottom of the screen will give continuous updates.
Viewers are apt to hear inane blather about how collegians run well in space, possess quick feet, turn heads with their vertical leap and have tremendous upsides -- and judging from the size of them, they have tremendous backsides, too.
Whiz-bang gadgetry connects all 32 teams to draft headquarters. Pick-by-pick reaction and interviews with coaches, players and team officials are provided to ESPN through Glowpoint Inc.'s IP-based video communications service provider and Sony Electronics Inc.'s video conferencing system.
The NFL, which has its own TV network in 26 million homes, has also monitored a huge increase in Internet interest. When draft information was first posted on the NFL Web site in 1994, 50,000 hits were registered. Last year, there were 4.8 million hits.
"For fans, the draft symbolizes the great hope," Steeg said. "It's like a rebirth every year."
Subscribe and save
Report news to the PG
Get Email headlines
Place a Classified Ad
Subscribe to RSS feeds
Place a Celebrations Ad
Pittsburgh Mom
Post your pictures
Games
Coupons
Shop the PG store