Sports drafts, be they of the NFL, NBA or MLB variety, are first and foremost about business. A team's primary goal: find the next blue-chip talent that will put their franchise into the championship discussion for the next decade.
It's dollars and cents…MILLIONS of dollars and cents…and while of vital importance to the franchise-building process, actually talking about the astronomical financial figures in play just suck all the joy and pride out of athletics.
But as soul-crushingly robotic as the draft process is in major professional sports, there's another inescapable pull that almost entirely counter-balances that cynicism. And watching the moment of pure joy and relief as these young men celebrate the decade of hard work and personal support that have now climaxed in the literal fulfillment of all their childhood dreams is hard to ignore.
Like watching 21-year-old pitcher Kyle Freeland realize that dream Thursday night as the Denver native was drafted 8th overall by his hometown Colorado Rockies. As posted by Crave sports site NESN, watching Freeland fall into his father's arms as family and friends explode in cheers around him is almost enough to make you forget all that crap about sports that we hate.
If you don't at least feel a slight tug on your heartstrings with this, they may not be any strings inside you to tug.
Just watch the video.
