The standard explanation for draft mania is that Americans are so utterly obsessed with football, they're willing to spend draft weekend just talking about the sport -- not watching games, merely talking. Another factor is that all 32 teams are active in the draft, and thus all 32 sets of fans have a stake in the day's outcome. When there's a playoff game or a "Monday Night Football" contest, only two of 32 sets of fans have a direct stake. But Tuesday Morning Quarterback thinks a different force accounts for NFL draft mania. Namely, that the NFL draft is a major flashback to high school.That thing about high schoolers picking sides for teams only to face the humiliation of being, oh no, picked last, would be so apt if only it were true. Clearly Gregg's been attending night classes at the David Brooks school of bobo-journalism.
The obsession of the draft is that it is the perfect storm of American sports: it embraces all 32 teams, as he notes, and gives those fans a moment to imagine what their teams would be like if they were any good (hope springs eternal); it embraces the dozens and dozens of College teams and their alumni and fans who find validation and sometimes vindication in how their players are picked; it embraces the uber-nerdism of millions of fantasy football fans who themselves draft teams each fall in anticipation of the season; and it embraces the ESPN invented format which somehow manages to thrive on having four people sit at a long desk and hash out the day in sports (regardless of whether anything is happening or not). It's the ultimate.
Unlike the NBA where many of the most talented players can jump immediately into the big leagues, and Major League Baseball which can often require a long apprenticeship in the minors, Football has a visible learning curve that you can watch and appreciate: the nervous underclassmen grows up to become a bowl game hero, only to face a new challenge in the "real world" as the rookie on a team of hardened veterans. It's a near perfect mirror of how most of us make our ways into the world: we go to college or find some other way to train ourselves for a few years. Eventually we move on to big and better things and in the end find our long term career path. Or we bust, and move on to teaching or selling insurance. Meh.
The draft isn't high school, it's that first big job interview after you've gotten your diploma. And like most of us, that first interview comes with a goofy haircut and an ill-fitting suit.
