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NFL draft: 5 reasons it is must-see TV

All the hullabaloo surrounding the NFL draft can be a bit baffling to the uninitiated. Commissioner Roger Goodell just walks onstage, calls a name, and then shakes a hand. Hardly gripping stuff. But here are five reasons it is such a big draw: 

5. Rooting for our teams

Mark Leffingwell/REUTERS/File
Here is our obligatory Tim Tebow photo.

  • By Schuyler Velasco Correspondent

The draft plays on the allegiances of every football fan, both in the college game and the NFL. If you’re a rabid Alabama Crimson Tide  fan, you watch the draft to see where Trent Richardson ends up. If you’re a fan of a middling NFL team, the draft presents renewed reasons for optimism that you may not have felt, well, since last year’s offseason. Maybe this wide receiver is the piece of the puzzle that will make your offense great. Maybe this late-round quarterback is the next Tom Brady. Cold reality sets in for most of us once the season actually starts, but for now, why not dream of the postseason?

And it’s an opportunity for rivalries, especially in the college game, to take on new life. When the polarizing quarterback Tim Tebow was drafted way higher than expected by the Denver Broncos a few years ago, his detractors (mainly fans of teams he repeatedly trounced while at the University of Florida) relished the possibility of his spectacular NFL flameout. Florida Gator fans, meanwhile, bought Broncos jerseys and hailed Tebow’s future Hall of Fame-bound career.

The jury’s still out on which group was right.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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