NFL Draft: backstage with Tiki Barber and Sam Bradford

Tiki Barber 

The 2010 NFL Draft has it's surprises, from three of the four first picks being Oklahoma Sooners (for the first time in NFL history that one college so dominated the early first round picks, to of all people Tiki Barber (yes, the same Mr. Barber who's the focus of gossip about leaving his wife while she was eight months pregnant with twins) waiting backstage as a representative for Yahoo Sports for new St. Louis Rams Quarterback Sam Bradford, to trading videos with "McLovin" from the Dan Patrick Show and remarking how wrong Dan and "The Danettes" were about President Obama and The Chicago White Sox.

But I digress. This is, after all, the 2010 NFL Draft and the business at hand is one of picking the future stars of the NFL. The surprise as this is written is that at the 16th pick, the Cal Golden Bear that was drafted first was not Jahvid Best.

In fact, "McLovin" asked me "Who's that Tyson Alualu?" I remarked that Tyson was an incredible run stopper for Cal and pointed to games the NFL Network flashed on the screen in the interview room that I attended where Tyson made an obvious contribution; there were a lot of them.

The nice part was just to see Oklahoma's Gerald McCoy so happy. Gerald McCoy lost his mother two years ago, so the pain of not having her here at Radio City Music Hall came out on television when he cried, and continued in the interview room, when he said "My dad and I talked about how we wish she was here and how she would sit in that chair."

The other surprise, now that the 49ers took Mike Iupati from Idaho, making this the second offensive lineman the Niners have taken, is just that. It's a clear signal of how little the quarterbacks and running backs are valued. Only one quarterback, Sam Bradford, has been taken as of now pick 18, and one running back C.J. Spiller and that was to Buffalo.

Tim Tebow still sits.

Oh, and Tiki Barber?

I asked Tiki about the hoopla and media attention he received and said "Man, when I heard that, my first thought was 'his wife's hot.'" Tiki got a good natured chuckle out of that, and said "You can't fight city hall." I said he should have a YouTube channel to tell his story. "That," Tiki Barber said, is a good idea. I should do that."

There's more. Gotta go back and collect information.

Stay tuned.