NASHVILLE
Randall Cunningham Jerseys Stitched , Tenn. (AP) — to get even.His creation, the NFL draft, has become an
industry unto itself and the league’s third-most popular annual event behind the
Super Bowl and opening weekend.Bell owned the Philadelphia Eagles in 1933 and
was hot to sign Stanley “King Kong” Kostka of the Minnesota Gophers. All
collegians were free agents back then — college football was far more popular
than the pros — and Bell saw the bruising fullback/linebacker as a building
block for his team.But Kostka signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers; yes, that was a
football franchise back then. Never mind that Kostka lasted one season in the
NFL. Bell had a calling.“I made up my mind that this league would never survive
unless we had some system whereby each team had an even chance to bid for talent
against each other,” he later told The Associated Press.With some negotiating
and arm-twisting — Bell was so good at that he soon would become NFL
commissioner — he persuaded owners of the other eight clubs to try a draft. The
team with the league’s worst record would pick first and the rest would go in
reverse order of their success in the standings.On Feb 8-9, 1936, in a
Philadelphia hotel owned by the Bell family, the draft was born. And guess who
had the first selection: the 2-9 Eagles.That they took halfback Jay Berwanger,
the first Heisman Trophy winner, who played at Chicago University — yes, that
was a college team back then — and couldn’t sign him was somewhat embarrassing;
Berwanger chose to go into the “real world” where he could earn more money than
the Eagles were offering.Regardless, the draft was established, with nine
rounds, increased to 10 the next year and to 20 in 1939, with this oddity in
1938 and ’39: only the five teams with the worst winning percentage in the
previous season made selections in the second and fourth rounds.The number of
rounds fluctuated through the years, in part because of competition from the
All-America Football Conference in the 1940s, but also because college football
grew and more players were available. For a span of a dozen drafts, there even
was a bonus pick to start proceedings, with one team each year getting until
every team had gotten one.When the AFL began in 1960 and soon started pirating
NFL players and hiding college seniors, the NFL moved its draft up from the
spring. Cloak-and-dagger stories developed
http://www.eagleslockerroom.com/authentic-corey-clement-jersey , as soon-to-be Pro Football Hall of Famer Gil Brandt told Ken Rappoport and me
for the book “On The Clock, The Story of the NFL Draft.”“Our battle for players
with the AFL featured the so-called baby sitters who would hide players so the
other league couldn’t find them,” said Brandt, who scouted the colleges for the
Dallas Cowboys for three decades, drafting the likes of Roger Staubach, Bob
Lilly and Tony Dorsett, and now is the lead draft consultant to the NFL. “There
was a group of people, ex-coaches, ex-players, even the governor of Oregon, who
were involved.”The merger led to a common draft, but the grab bag for talent
wasn’t a big deal whether staged in Philly, New York, Washington, Pittsburgh,
Milwaukee, Los Angeles or Chicago. Then television stepped up.This brand new TV
entity called ESPN approached NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1980 offering to
broadcast the proceedings from the New York Sheraton. Rozelle couldn’t fathom
why ESPN boss Chet Simmons made the offer.“Pete thought Chet was out of his
mind,” said former ESPN vice president John Wildhack. “But Pete said, ‘Let’s try
it.'”Desperate for programming, ESPN hired Bill Fitts
Womens DeSean Jackson Jersey , who had worked games on CBS and NBC, as producer of the draft show, which Fitts admitted in “On The Clock” was
rudimentary.“I would say at the beginning it was like with our golf coverage —
we started covering one hole,” Fitts said with a laugh. “Look what it went
to.”It would not be an exaggeration to say the draft has exploded beyond the
selection meeting tag the league hung on it. And don’t underestimate the credit
TV deserves, first with ESPN’s gavel-to-gavel coverage and then with NFL Network
joining in since 2006. Plus a move to prime time for Thursday’s first round in
2010, and to the early evening for Rounds two and three on Friday.Would Mel
Kiper Jr., Todd McShay and Mike Mayock have become household names to draftniks?
Would there even be draftniks? Would mock drafts begin appearing as soon as
college underclassmen declared for the pros in January; in 1990, the NFL began
allowing collegians whose class had been in school for three years to apply for
the draft.Just as television has been a powerful force in the popularization of
pro football, it has been irreplaceable in the universalizing of the draft.When
the league moved the proceedings to Radio City Music Hall, where it held nine
drafts, it also turned the fans loose in the art-deco landmark. That meant
several thousand folks dressed in jerseys from all 32 teams howling and
screaming — and often booing — the selections.That made for great TV, naturally.
And it gave the draft an entertainment element it never had, with red carpets to
follow.Those fans would follow the draft when the NFL turned it into a road
show. In 2014, Radio City, owned by Madison Square Garden, had scheduled a
spring spectacular for the usual draft dates in late April. The league had to
move the draft back into May, only to see the Radio City show switched to
2015.Annoyed by the Garden’s machinations, and intrigued by the possibilities of
moving around its biggest offseason event, the NFL abandoned the Big Apple for
the Windy City. After two highly successful years in Chicago in which the league
used iconic local settings and fan festivals to boost the draft’s profile and
the size of the crowds, it headed to Philadelphia — the original site back in
Bert Bell’s days.There
Cameron Johnston Jersey , using the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with the “Rocky” statue and all, as a backdrop, the NFL saw an astounding 250,000 attend
over three days.“Philadelphia is raising the bar,” Commissioner Roger Goodell
said.Last year, a stadium was the site for the first time, at Jerry’s Palace
near Dallas. And now, we head to Music City, alongside the honky tonks on
Broadway.Next year, Las Vegas.What would Bert Bell think? Read on for today’s
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About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ?Live updates from Eagles vs. Ravens
joint practiceNew,21commentsRead on for today’s news!EDTI have some bad news and
some good news.The bad news is that today marks last day of Philadelphia Eagles
training camp session open to the media. There will be no more practices notes
after today. :( The good news is that the Eagles still have one more interesting
joint training camp practice against the Baltimore Ravens today. Not to mention
the end of practice notes means the regular season is right around the corner!
So, let’s look on the bright side. Today’s two-hour practice will begin at 1:30
PM Eastern. Eagles head coach Doug Pederson will speak prior to practice around
11:30 AM. Carson Wentz’s presser will take place right after Pederson’s is
over.Players from both teams will also be available to reporters after practice
ends around 3:30 PM. Follow me (@BrandonGowton) on Twitter for live practice
updates. I’ll be covering the entirety of Eagles training camp daily from the
team’s headquarters at the NovaCare Complex.Don’t forget to also like on
Bleeding Green Nation’s Facebook page (CLICK HERE) to see live videos from
practice and press conferences. Check out more scenes from training camp via the
BGN Instagram (@BleedingGreenInsta) and BGN Snapchat (Bleeding-Green) accounts.
Find tweets from myself and other Philly beat reporters that will appear in the
list below.Make sure you keep checking BGN for today’s: practices notes, BGN
Radio podcast recap, and much more!READING AND LISTENING MATERIAL WHILE YOU WAIT
FOR UPDATESEagles vs. Ravens Practice Notes: Carson Wentz to Alshon Jeffery is
the play of the dayAndre Dillard hasn’t allowed a single quarterback pressure so
farMike Groh, Jim Schwartz talk Eagles’ first joint practice with the
RavensThese are the best (and worst) backup QB seasons in Eagles historyRichard
Rodgers carted off during Eagles-Ravens joint practiceEagles 53-man roster
prediction after two preseason games [UPDATE]How to listen to BGN PodcastsA
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