Barring an unforeseen boycot drawing steam on NFL draft sponsor Bud Light's Dillys Dilly (or not) upwards of 200,000 NFL fanatics will converge on KC's Union Station for this weekend's NFL draft.
Last year, 600,000 went to Vegas for the event, and in 2019, some 300,000 made their way to Nashville for same. Of course, Vegas has gambling, Nashville has music, and we (KC) have BBQ, so, expect a whole lotta fat guys like me, roaming the streets in the gear of Lions and Jaguars and Bears OH NO!
This year, 17 'can't miss' prospects (and their families) have been invited to sit in The Green Room, steps away from the podium where NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell might call their name once drafted. I say might because even though they're 'can't miss', sometimes all 32 teams pick in the first round Thursday night, they do miss occasionally. Among those past to walk out Thursday night with that hang-dog look: Geno Smith, Johnny Football and Aaron Rodgers. It's completely up to them if they wanna come back for Friday/Saturday, and it's the NFL's call whether they pickup their expenses (or not).
Feel sorry for those snubbed Green Room guys? Don't. First round guys get 4 year contracts for $20 to $40 mil...2nd round $6 to $12 mil; 3rd $6.25 mil; 4th $4.5 to $5.4 mil; 5th $4 mil; 6th just under $4 mil, down thru Mr. Irrelevant who makes $3.925 mil.
What's a 'Mr. Irrelevant'? The title belongs to the very last player selected. Don't feel too sorry for him however either, for in addition to the nice contract, he travels Scot-free to Newport Beach, CA for a weeklong celebration in his honor. Once there, he will get 'The Lowsman Trophy', a spoof on The Heisman Trophy that depicts a football player fumbling the ball.
It's snotnose heaven... they can run a 40, kick a field goal, do the vertical jump, try on actual NFL gear, cardboard cutouts for pics, and even a FB clinic.
Wanna go? It's free but ya gotta download the NFL OnePass app. Wanna sit close? Close to Roger? That'll be $4,200 for a 3-day ticket, but you do get some kinda gift...yippee.
If you do go, no booze, hounds, weapons, glass bottles, laser pointers or drones.
Hungry? Booths from 20 local restaurants will have donuts, steak, gourmet mac and cheese, Thai, Italion sausage, and of course quite a few BBQ options.
Thirsty? I got nuttin, I assume pop, tea and water.
Gotta pee? Depends. I ain't seen anything on # of Ori's.
History? OK. At an owner's meeting in 1936, small market teams expressed their frustration for continued losing (rings a bell), and current player acquisition method. No draft, whoever paid the most, got the player. Sooooooo, somehow they agreed to hold a draft, going in inverse order from win-loss records the previous year.
Worked, kinda sorta...
But, that very first guy taken, Jay Berwanger, couldn't agree to salary terms with the Eagles, so they traded his rights to the Bears, and they got nowhere with him so he became a foam rubber salesman. He does live in NFLdraft infamy for that AND for being the only NFL draft pick ever tackled by a US President.. 1934, U of Chicago versus Michigan - the tackler, Gerald Ford.
I was gonna tell you some pretty decent players who were not drafted at all, (Tony Romo, Emmitt Thomas, Night Train Lane, Lou Groza, Warren Moon, Kurt Warner, Antonio Gates and Deron Cherry, a free agent punter) and a couple that were drafted but chose baseball (Kirk Gibson and Dave Winfield) and that there are a few fun names expected to be drafted this year (Bumper Pool, Money Hunter and Chris Blewitt, a kicker of all things) and that Tom Brady was the 199th pick in his draft, but names and lists can be boring.
And that one time, band camp, AFL draft day (before the merger, WAY before cell phones), an NFL group labeled "Babysitting Policy", sequestered 27 top college players in a hotel, unkown whereabouts to anyone - so the AFL guys couldn't contact 'em after they drafted 'em.
Whew, quoting Forrest when he ended his run, "I'm pretty tired, I think I'll go home now."
Love, Victurd
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