Draft Daze

"It's the suspense, the rumors, the potential, the unknown. It really adds up to make for a very, very compelling event."-John Wildhack, ESPN's Executive Vice President of Production. "It's reality television at its most voyeuristic." - ESPN's Jeremy Schaap, in an episode of E:60. For a country obsessed with reality television, the NFL Draft might be the ultimate experience, a broadcast that blends real-life drama with the rooting interests of sports fans. Every spring, millions of football fans stare through the window at their favorite sport, watching seven rounds of unscripted interaction between college players and professional teams. Grown men cry on stage. Futures are determined live, with cameras rolling and small fortunes riding on each pick. Surprises show up. And for a few days, every team - and every fan too - seems to have some semblance of hope. Since moving the first round to prime time in 2010, the NFL Draft has been averaging about 40 million viewers each year, even though there's no score, no winner, and no plays run from scrimmage. The draft is so downright compelling that it gets better television ratings than playoff games in other sports. Here's why: There's a story behind every pick, and often a bit of controversy too. Dreams come true. Expectations get trampled. Even the personalities themselves have narratives that are better than anything a script could conjure up. ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr, arguably the face (and hair?) of the NFL Draft, narrowly missed a career behind the scenes as a personnel man for his hometown Baltimore Colts. His colleague Todd McShay may have never made it to television without an injury that ended his playing career and a walk-in closet that launched his professional aspirations. And the NFL Network's Mike Mayock was a second-generation draft pick, a player born to a father who essentially ignored the whole process, opting to start his own career as a teacher and a coach instead. Off camera, th