Tradition is a splendid thing

We celebrate it in sports. We honor it when it comes to family. And we rejoice in it when established among friends. Tradition is essentially a benchmark of success.

I’m lucky. I’ve discovered tradition amongst friends who are family, born during a time I once wished to forget. Now, I’m appreciative of the gift that keeps on giving each April under the soundtrack of Mel Kiper Jr. and a constant ticker of names and schools which now lasts 72 hours.

The NFL Draft is more than just must-see TV for me. It’s now a destination for me, an event I schedule work and family around. Since 2002, watching the NFL Draft coverage has been an informal reunion amongst Army buddies, guys I spent two years with away from home on deployment to San Antionio, Tx., and Baghdad, Iraq. During those years, we bonded through stress, fear and the unknown. Our reward, an annual weekend set aside for brew, dirty jokes and simple immature mockery. Oh yea, there’s the draft.

Born from a simple jester from one Army buddy who was unable to deploy with us to Iraq due to a knee injury visiting us weeks before shipping out to hang out, which we did coincidently over the draft. Another guy says, “This has been great, we should do this every year.”

And we have … 10 years running. Our draft party has been quite resilient. It’s survived girlfriend break-ups, relocations, new jobs and even our of own personality changes. It’s always been there, something to look forward to every spring. And we always have a good time, even when our teams do their best to force otherwise.

The names have often changed, as not everyone has made each draft party for reasons as noted above. Some new guys appear and stranglers return from a year or two absence. There has been a core three guys, me included, which may dwindle down to two this year. It’s sad. As we grow older and have children the allotted free time obviously becomes as plentiful as an Oakland Raiders draft board.

I understand. That’s life. It’s been a good run, and we’ve gotten some great memories out of it. Such great quotes as “just because you’re drafting for a third-strong quarterback, doesn’t mean you need to draft a third-string quarterback,” and “I don’t trust the glossy magazines” have come from draft party conversations. And great memories as the mysterious girl (a plus-one) who dropped an impressive deuce and left without flushing, and the unnamed guy (a plus-one) who attempted to chop down tree limbs in the backyard with a butter knife have been made.

What do I expect this year? You never know. There’s always at least one surprise. One thing I am sure of. My Miami Dolphins will drive me to the beer bottle … not once, not twice, not thrice, not … 

- Jaime North