LIVE BLOG -- 2007 First-Year Player Draft

CINCINNATI, OHIO -- Hey, everyone. I'm finding myself with a bit of downtime this afternoon so I'm going to pass it in the most productive fashion ever-- live-blogging! The first round of baseball's 2007 First-Year Player Draft is going to be on ESPN2 so I figured it would be a fun way to try something new with the blog. I only know so much about what's going on (part of why I'm watching the draft in the first place), so I will do my best to make this an entertaining as possible. I'm starting at 2 p.m., so check back! Until then, check out the Draft's main page on MLB.com...

1:55 p.m. -- Draft, draft, draft, draft. Draft, draft, draft, draft. DRAFT, DRAFT, DRAFT, DRAFT. DRAFT, DRAFT, DRAFT, DRAFT...Draft-draft, draft-DRAAAFT, draft-draft! CHARGE! Ahem, excuse me. Let it be known that I have NEVER been this...excited?...when it comes to watching a draft, be it NFL or NHL. So yeah, maybe this is a good idea, even if this first post isn't proving that.

1:59 p.m. -- Did I mention there are 1,588 players available in this draft, which is the largest in all of sports. Baseball, still the sport with the most ridiculous talent pool in America. I wouldn't be surprised to be a few ex-Ohio Bobcats here and there...just maybe not in the first round.

2:00 p.m. -- This is the first time that MLB's draft has been televised. I hope that wasn't for a reason. Hmm. the promo featured A-Rod, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, Manny Remeriz and Joe Mauer. I only hate about half of them, be it due to (alleged) steroids use or their affiliation with the New Tork Yankees. Off to a good start.

2:06 p.m. -- I still have an unexplained affinity for Peter Gammons. He's just the man.

2:11 p.m. -- "Yeah, Bud. Yeeeah!" I see that baseball fans like their commish more than say, NHL fans (die, Gary Bettman!). Bud did make a good point-- coverage on ESPN will make the Draft a success in the future. Again, something I wish ESPN would realize about the NHL. The Devil Rays are on the clock! It's on! T-minus five minutes and counting...

2:21 p.m. -- David Price, a LHP from Vanderbilt University is your first-round, first-overall pick. and, man, he let the cliches roll! Enjoy these nuggets of joy from his Vandy bio: Major: Sociology ... Favorite movie: Coming to America ... Favorite TV shows: Family Guy and The Fresh Prince ... Dream dinner guests: David Justice, Will Smith and Christina Milan ... Craziest ambition: To sky dive. Stellar. Just pack the parachute right, that may void your contract real quick.

2:28 p.m. -- The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the clock. Even though I know they're a train wreck, I think that if I could adopt any MLB team as my own, it'd be the Pirates. Why? A) They're Pirates. B) They're in Pittsburgh, and I love that city. C) I love underdogs. It's something I will have to think about in the future as a further define my teams in the major sports.

2:43 p.m. -- So many high schoolers being drafted. I still think you should have to play a year of college before you can head to the highest level in any sport. That's just me (a jealous me who wants the money these guys are going to get). Also, I think it's ridiculous that players can be drafted, refuse to sign and then be drafted another year. "I don't like you (or your money offer), so I'm out of here. See ya'!" Baseball...yep.

3:00 p.m. -- Nine teams down in an hour. Twenty-one to go...

3:07 p.m. -- The San Francisco Giants select LHP Madison Bumgarner with the 10th overall pick. Bumgarner has the best name of those drafted so far, so good for him.

3:12 p.m. -- We have our first Canadian selected by the Seattle Mariners with the 11th overall pick, RHP Phillippe Aumont. That's what I'm talking ab-oot.

3:23 p.m. -- THEME OF THE DAY 1: Pitchers, especially left-handed pitchers. It's tough to find leftys with power, as most are control pitchers. All the guys I'm watching get selected have 90 mph fastballs at least, so maybe old stereotypes are starting to break.

3: 32 p.m. -- THEME OF THE DAY 2: Lots and lots of high school players getting drafted. Word on ESPN2 is that its been predominantly college players in the past few years, so snagging talent early seems to be the thing to do in 2007.

3:41 p.m. -- The steroids commercials that show the "something ELSE" that can happen to guy if they abuse them, modeled by a deflating basketball, scares me...a lot.

3:44 p.m. -- THEME OF THE DAY 3: Drafting from your home state. The Texas Rangers took RHP Blake Beavan from Texas, the Atlanta Braves selected Georgia-native OF Jason Heyward...and so on and so on. Makes sense financially, of course, to keep the scouts close to home as much as possible, and who doesn't like a hometown, feel-good story?

3:55 p.m. -- The second college player is selected with the 19th overall pick by the Philadelphia Phillies, LHP Joseph Savery out of Rice University. Savery is in the running for 'best name' in the draft as well.

3:58 p.m. -- Los Angeles Dodgers pillar Tommy Lasorda-- still looks old.

4:00 p.m. -- Twenty teams down in two hours. Ten to go...

4:05 p.m. -- THEME OF THE DAY 4: Freakishly tall players. I know you want your pitchers to be able to throw downhill and everything, but, yeesh. Everybody selected has been six-feet tall, or taller (and again, they're mostly high school kids)! Where's the marginally tall guys with the quick legs?

4:15 p.m. -- OK, I don't mean to make the connection just because this is baseball, but there are a lot more steroids ads on TV during the draft. With hockey it's Sonic and Dodge, other sports maybe Gatorade and...I dunno, Big Macs. But baseball and steroids, even the ads are synonymous.

4:25 p.m. -- Man, the ESPN commentators are plugged into the place's PA, and it's just giving me a headache listening to them talk. It's not the topic or the amount of time they've been talking, it's quite simply the reverb. Talk, talk talk...echo, echo echo. Ugh, even the scouts seemed annoyed by it because whenever they show (and discuss) the draft room, the scouts all look around like God is speaking to them. They seem pretty annoyed as well, so it's not just me.

4:32 p.m. -- I wonder what Bud Selig does in between announcing picks. Does he sit there saying the players name over and over to make sure he can pronounce it? Wind sprints? This thing is set to go until 8:30 p.m. tonight so I hope whatever he's doing is exciting.

4:36 p.m. -- Usually when you hear the word ceiling used this much, it's referring to women in the work place. It's interesting that high school players are so heralded in this draft. It's almost like MLB organizations see player with potential, and they want to get their hooks into the kid ASAP to teach him their way to do everything. College players almost sound like tainted goods because they've been honing their game...not with a pro organization. I hope that degree is worth it, fellas.

4:39 p.m. -- I'm slowly becoming a Tigers fan, and it scares me because I equate Detroit with evil. They just drafted the best high school pitcher available, RHP Frederick Porcello, with the 27th overall pick. If they're willing to throw him cash, which they've had no problem with in the past, they steal another great player late in the first round. Solid.

4:46 p.m. -- I saw former San Francisco Giants manager Felipe Alou when I was in San Jose chilling with those Giants (and Gigante). Cool to see him on the TV on Draft Day.

4:47 p.m. -- The San Francisco Giants just had their third pick in the first round, the most by any team, and they finally didn't take a pitcher. With the success they had developing RHP Tim Lincecum into a MLB force this season, I'm optimistic about the Giants pitching staff in the future.

4:48 p.m. -- The damn Yankees are on the clock, but they end the first round with their pick.

4:53 p.m. -- The Yankees select RHP Andrew Brackman (dude's almost seven feet tall!) with the final pick of the first round. The commentators proceed to sit around and talk about his elbow possibly exploding. Nice.

As much as I'd like to stick around and watch the hour of commentary that follows analyzing the past three hours, I need to hop in the shower. While I doubt anyone was actually following this live, it was still fun to do. I hope those of you who took the time to read through this after the fact enjoyed yourselves.

Check back in the next few days for more stories. Until then, later on...