Sports
The Draftnik: A Fan For All Seasons
These diehards aren't watching the Superbowl; They're watching the NFL draft on ESPN.
With each enthusiastic cheer or exasperated groan, the atmosphere in Kevin
Fulcher’s Walpole home shifts.
Fulcher and his friends are glued to the big screen television, and their
emotional reactions tell even the most clueless football fan a full
account of when a great play happens, or when the team has let its fans
down.
The crockpots of chili, platters of sandwiches, spreads of chips and dips,
home-team jerseys, and a 46-inch plasma on high volume give the room a
first-Sunday-in-February feel.
But these diehards aren’t watching the Superbowl. They’re watching the
2010 NFL draft on ESPN.
Fulcher and his friends are Drafniks. A community of football followers
who live and breathe the NFL draft.
“Football season is my favorite season,” says Fulcher.
For Draftniks like Fulcher, the season doesn’t end with the Superbowl.
In 2010, 7.3 million watched the first night of the draft. Draftniks are
part of an even-more-enthusiastic group of 1.8 million who tuned in to the
coverage of rounds 4-7.
“During the regular season I’m invested in the games, the players, my
fantasy team,” says Jason Behan, a Giants fan who attends Fulcher’s yearly
draft celebration. “It’s hard to just watch everything end with the
Superbowl.”
Americans seem to agree with Behan’s sentiments.
Draft viewership is up 62 percent over the past six years. And with 12.5
million visits to NFL.com during draft coverage, fantasy leagues are no
longer the only draws luring football fans to the Internet.
Surges in television viewership and Internet traffic are just two examples
of media outlets embracing the group of fans who crave all aspects of
draft coverage. Periodicals are also getting in on the action.
Catering to Draftniks, sports magazines published by the likes of USA
Today and Sports Illustrated are top choices for getting information about
players who may make it on to the roster of beloved NLF teams.
Although not necessarily followers of college football, Draftniks are
familiar with the abilities and skill sets of college players eligible for
the draft.
Despite not following the actual college games, Fulcher - the Draft
enthusiast and party host - avidly follows the players’ careers.
“Following college guys who are draft-bound is exciting” he says, “For
months you read their stats and get a feel for their style.”
But Fulcher says the real excitement of the draft plays out during the
subsequent season. “People were pissed when the Patriots picked up [Devin]
McCorty,” he says with a chuckle. “Some of the guys I talk draft with
loved the pick, and their redemption came when he showed New England what
he was capable of.”
Like Fulcher, Madeline Shoemaker - a Denver transplant now living in
Foxboro - gets her thrills anticipating draft action that will carry over
to the regular season. She relishes the glory of making an accurate
prediction. “When Denver took Tebow, everyone thought it was a bad move.”
But Madeline thought otherwise.
And she was right.
“It was like my entire life had meaning. I knew it would happen. I had
told everyone ‘Tebow will play and be great. He’s one hundred times better
than Orton’ – And what? Oh was I right? That’s what I thought.”
Drafniks, this special community of football fanatics, believe that the
draft – their Holy Grail – is more than just a shot at redemption for poor
performing teams of seasons past. For them, it’s like the entire
off-season has meaning.
