A Woman’s View Of The NFL Draft

**Post by CY Cooper

The 2016 NFL Draft took place on April 28-30 in the Windy City of Chicago and yours truly had the opportunity to cover it along with my good friend.  I am a huge football fan.  It was an absolute BLAST. Now the weather didn’t exactly cooperate.  Even though the calendar said it was spring, it was cloudy, cold, windy and rainy in Draft Town (Chicago).  However, the weather could not dampen the enthusiasm of the thousands of NFL fans that attended this years draft.  The first night of the draft we sat in the front row at Selection Square behind The Pit, where representatives from all of the NFL teams were seated and where they sent in the names of their picks.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made an appearance at Selection Square before the draft began.  The event at Selection Square was hosted by analysts and commentators from the NFL Network.

The following day we had the chance to visit the actual stage (the auditorium at Roosevelt University) where the commissioner greeted the new members of the league after announcing their names.  What followed next was the one of the best parts of the entire weekend.  We were invited to attend a luncheon at Ditka’s Restaurant where we met the winning Super Bowl Coach and Hall of Famer Mike Ditka along with former Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback and ESPN Analyst Ron Jaworski.  The meal at the luncheon was championship goodness, but the question and answer session with the two NFL legends was even better.  Although the draft was the main focus of my visit to Chicago, we did make a stop at two of the city’s legendary hot spots–Garrett Popcorn Shop and Giordano’s Pizza.  Now I see why they are legendary–they were fantastic.

All in all, it was a great weekend, and a lot of fun.  Next years draft is said to be in the city of brotherly love, we’re hoping to make it the city of sisterly love as we put a woman’s take on the NFL draft in 2017.