A hectic weekend for NFL fans

By Jeff Orvis

For parts of three days late last week, pro football fans were glued to the TV set, watching what amounted to a sophisticated slave auction. Thankfully, actual slave auctions ended in this country about 150 years ago. What I can remember from school studies and various movies is that these brutal events determined whether men and women would live or die and how they would be treated the rest of their lives, depending on their owners.

It might seem a stretch to compare slaves to potential pro football players. Slaves hoped and prayed that they would have a warm place to sleep and food to eat, while rookie football players who make their team's final roster will earn at least $390,000 their first year.

But as we watched the “experts” critique each draft pick on Thursday and Friday nights and Saturday afternoon, it wasn't difficult to notice some similarities in slave vs. pro athlete. As each draftee's name popped up on the screen, we heard a rundown of his physical attributes, his size, speed in the 40 yard dash, amount of weight he could lift in the weight room and what he did during his collegiate career that drew the interest of the pro teams.

While it can be argued that a drafted player can decide not to join the team that drafts him, if he wants to play in the NFL, he can only play for that team until the team decides to trade or release him.

It must have been a humbling experience for hundreds of young men. One minute, they are the big men on campus, hearing the cheers of tens of thousands of fans on a Saturday afternoon. The next minute, their futures were being decided by a room full of men who may or may not decide to place a call telling the player that he would have a chance to continue an activity which had consumed him for 10 or 15 years.

The whole process begins earlier in the spring, when the top players are invited to a tryout, called the NFL Combine. They are run through a series of drills, measured, interviewed, and unfortunately, tested. Note to prospective NFL players: be prepared to be in the best physical shape in your life, be humble, yet confident when you speak to the coaches. And for heaven's sake, don't fail the drug test! Yes, there were at least a couple of idiots who failed the league's drug test during the combine. Smoke a little weed and be prepared to forfeit a chance at millions of dollars. Hope it was worth it.

The draft was “must see TV” for many football fans. But after awhile, I got exhausted listening to Mel Kiper and others on ESPN or the NFL Network dissecting each potential draft pick. It still was nice hearing what they had to say about the Iowa and Iowa State players chosen. I was watching to see who from those two teams might be drafted, as well as who were picked for the Chicago Bears.

After the smoke cleared, Iowa had six players drafted and another five who quickly signed free agent contracts, meaning they were invited to try out for a specific team. Later this summer, as we get closer to the Iowa-Iowa State game, here's a stat for Hawk fans to use in their discussions with their Cyclone neighbors as to whether or not this is a Hawkeye State. Since the 2008 season, 24 Hawks have been drafted. That's six players each season.

The excitement of draft weekend is over. Several more free agents will be signed by each team. Then we have a couple of months before training camp opens, when each team can a maximum of 80 players in camp. That's 2,560 veterans and rookies vying to be among the 1,696 who will begin earning a pro football paycheck. When the first game of the regular season rolls around in early September, that means 864 men who at one time had visions of hearing the cheers on Sunday afternoon suddenly will be faced with finding something else to do with their lives.

 For pro football fans, the countdown begins!