If not for the televisions at the gym, I would have totally forgot today was the NFL Drafts, one of the biggest traffic drivers for ESPN.com.

In my former Bristol, CT life, I worked as a Web developer for the sports data group. 

This group oversees virtually all applications that rely on automated data and are Fantasy-related. Think scoreboards, box scores, live game pages, standings, statistics, etc. But more importantly for the current discussion, we built and powered the Draft applications.

If you haven't seen this, just check out the Front Page today. It's actually a lot better than it was any year that I was in the group, so congrats to those guys.

Part of overseeing this application meant we would send two people to the Draft in NYC to input the picks as they were made. Don't ask me why this couldn't be automated and or synced with television because I asked that same question and don't think it was ever answered.

Anyway, this never went smoothly. Our connectivity would get dropped or four trades would be announced. It was always something that had us scrambling at spurts.

Despite that, our product never suffered. If we had to, we'd get on cell phones and call in picks and trades to a stand-by engineer in Bristol waiting to run stored procs if necessary.

Overall, I really enjoy the NFL Draft. I always watched it growing up, covered it a few times when I was a reporter eons ago and then made the trip three times for ESPN.

The first 10 picks or so are really exciting. Most of the players getting drafted are there, and it's like watching the next NFL superstars start their careers.

The later rounds, especially the second day, can be pure torture. My first year with ESPN at the Draft, I started off the day with a migraine, which lasted the complete nine-mind numbing hours as guys I had never heard went to teams that would end up cutting them the first day of camp. Not only did I have to stay on top of these picks, but I had to handle situations where the 287th pick was traded for a sixth ad seventh round pick in next years Draft. Ugh.

Overall, though, it's a good time and has really become a big event. The NFL and ESPN do a great job putting it on and covering it. 

Just skip the second day and catch up with it the following day when it's all over.