Remote Patrol.(sports on television)(Brief Article)

TV, not baseball, is the draft dodger

See baseball's draft? Me neither. It wasn't televised. On June 5, as the picks were made, ESPN showed X-Surfing; World Cup Rowing was on ESPN2; Fox Sports Net aired infomercials, etc. (Memo to Springsteen: Update your lyric to "Fifty-seven SPORTS channels and nothin' on.")

NFL drafts are cable staples, as are the NBA's. We've seen NHL drafts, even the WNBA's. But not The Pastime's. Ask TV and baseball types why we can't watch and you get "We-wish-it-was-televised-but" spins ... except from Jim Duquette, Mets senior assistant G.M., who says: "I haven't heard one good argument why we shouldn't." Attaboy.

Amazing how in the broadband age our vision of baseball's selection process is limited to our imagination.... Are there draftniks in the balcony? Do the Mets faithful chant "M-E-T-S Mets Mets METS!"? Does baseball's Mel Kiper Jr. have blown-dry hair? Do they call in picks on phones shaped like batting helmets? Like escargot, I'd like to sample this draft someday.

Cones of silence come off the draft at a snail's pace. Until 1998, only first-round picks were announced day-of. Names in Rounds 2 to 97 were kept secret for one week to shield them from agents, college scouts and maybe Out magazine's editor. This year, MLB.com offered live pick-by-pick coverage. But seeing Mark Prior as the next Dave Winfield or Brien Taylor is believing.

Anyway, Sandy Alderson, the commissioner's draft deputy, says he would start the ball rolling if a telecaster stepped forward. Fox and ESPN--baseball's official corporate TV partners--have backpedaled.

Mike Ryan, ESPN's director of brand management/baseball (nice title!), recites the bogeys: "The audience--can we put enough eyeballs out there? Then factor in cost and resources ... The calendar. Whether you have ingredients for a show."