It was sometime in mid-March. Jean and I were watching TV, and a promo came on about the NFL Draft.

“When is that,” she asked? “Oh not until the end of April,” I replied. “You mean they will be talking about this for the next month?” was her somewhat exasperated response. I simply nodded in the affirmative rather than go into detail that the talking heads speculation as to which team would draft who has been ESPN’s staple programming for the past several months.

I get it. The NFL is BIG business and football fans are interested in who their favorite team will grab for the upcoming season. You’ve got to give the NFL’s marketing gurus credit. They sure know how to make a big splash over what in reality is a corporate employee search.

The fans? Give them a reason to party and turn a few TV cameras in their direction, and you have the foundation for a drawn-out three-day, seven-round festival that generates advertising revenue unmatched by any other hiring process. It’s pure speculation, but I would guess that after the draft’s first round most of the fans dressed in their team’s colors and wildly cheering each announced selection have very little clue as to the identity of the players that are being picked.

“With the 185th pick in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft the Denver Broncos select Joe Blow, cornerback of Northeast Louisiana State,” comes the announcement from the podium. Cameras focus in on Bronco fans who are cheering the selection. Come on, man. Chances are very great they’ve never heard of this guy.

Each year I usually give some passing interest to the first round of the draft when many of the big-name college stars are chosen. Then my attention turns back to baseball, yard work or what’s for dinner. But this year, oh that was a different story. And surprisingly Jean also spent quite a bit of time checking in on the proceedings.

The reason was simple — Dominick Bragalone. It was a long shot that he would be drafted, but if he was, we certainly wanted to be tuned in to witness the fulfillment of a longtime dream of a young man who had thrilled us and so many during his high school and college days at South Williamsport and Lehigh University.

I don’t know how Bragalone passed the time during what had to be a three-day ordeal for him and all the other college players who agonized if their name would be called each time a selection was made. But I know this was something Brags really wanted to achieve. I vividly recall sitting in his family living room in January a year ago and asking him the question; ‘How he was approaching his upcoming senior year at Lehigh?’

He responded by telling me the coming year was very important to him because he wanted to play at the next (NFL) level. Although by Bragalone’s standards his senior year at Lehigh was not what he anticipated as both the team’s record and his own personal stats were the lowest of his four-year college career, his NFL dream continued to burn.

Although he did not receive an invitation to participate in the NFL’s March Combine in Indianapolis he did take part in post-season all-star games, individual NFL Pro Day team workouts and a combine-like event comprised of other college hopefuls also shunned by Indianapolis.

The 5’11”, 230-pound, hard-running, soft-spoken Bragalone shattered the record books at both South Williamsport and Lehigh and left his mark on those evaluating talent the past several months.

“Before the Pro Days, I got on the combine website and looked at the results of the running backs. My goal was to be in the Top 5 in every category, and I did that,” Bragalone said.

He certainly did. He ran 4.45 seconds in the 440-yard dash, benched 225 pounds 31 times and had a 35.5-inch vertical leap. He also had a broad jump of 126 inches, and all placed him in the top five finishers of the running backs attending the NFL Combine.

“I feel like I performed to my full potential and there’s not anything else I could have done. I’m happy with what I’ve done. All I can ask for is a chance.”

As the NFL Draft labored on through its three-day Thursday through Saturday TV run Bragalone’s wait went unfulfilled. Despite his impressive workout achievements NFL teams selected 25 running backs not named Bragalone in the 2019 draft. Despite the draft omission that ‘chance’ he has hoped for remains alive.

Hours after the NFL Draft concluded Bragalone received an invitation from the New York Giants to take part in the team’s undrafted free agent camp that was held this past weekend. At press time ten other undrafted college players were also invited including one other running back — Jonathan Hillman of Rutgers.

I couldn’t help but think of the irony. During his high school days Brags was high on the interest list of then Penn State coach Bill O’Brien. When O’Brien left for the Houston Texas and James Franklin arrived at PSU the recruiting attention switched to Saquon Barkley. Now, if things go right with his ‘chance’ Bragalone and Barkley could end up being NFL teammates!

On a pre-draft questionnaire Bragalone was asked to fill out, one question asked was — ‘If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?’

His response? “1. Happy & successful life, 2. Healthy family and 3. Three more wishes.”

Here’s wishing that ‘chance’ Bragalone is looking for lands him a spot on an NFL team roster.