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NFL Draft Draws Fans From Across the Country to Radio City Music Hall

By Patrick Hedlund | April 23, 2010 9:39am | Updated on April 23, 2010 9:37am

By Patrick Hedlund

DNAinfo News Editor

MIDTOWN — Football fans descended on Manhattan from as far away as Kansas and Minnesota — and as close as Yonkers — to cheer on their favorite teams at Thursday’s NFL Draft, the first time the event has been featured in prime time.

The Jets and Giants each had a pick in the opening round of the draft. With the 15th pick, the Giants chose Jason Pierre-Paul, a defensive end from the University of South Florida.  With the 29th pick, the Jets added to their top-ranked defense by adding cornerback Kyle Wilson from Boisie State.

Throngs of football devotees sporting their team’s colors crowded along either side of Sixth Avenue outside Radio City Music Hall to take in the spectacle and size up some of the talent they hope to land for next season.

As chants of “J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets!” rung out along Sixth Ave., Gang Green fan Saul Alvarez, 50, had high hopes for his upstart team.

“I don’t think the New England Patriots are what they used to be,” he said of his multiple Super Bowl-winning division rival. “It’s a two-team race to me — the Jets and the Miami Dolphins.”

Alvarez came from his home in Yonkers to attend his first draft ever after missing it last year because of work.

“I always wanted to come to the draft and support my team,” he said. “I’m a die-hard Jets fan.”

With New York Giants fans a little more subdued after last season’s disappointing campaign, draft-goers like Thomas Schiano expressed cautious optimism about their odds this year.

“They got all the pieces there, so we’ll see what happens,” said the 23-year-old, from Hackettstown, N.J., adding he had “10 and 6 feeling” about this coming season’s record.

“We just flew in this morning,” said Bob Harron, 42, a Minnesota Vikings fan who scored last-minute tickets to the draft and hopped on the first flight out of Minneapolis with his son, Cooper, 11, to attend for the first time.

With veteran quarterback Brett Favre’s return to the Vikings still up in the air, the Harrons hoped their team would opt for a player to fill out the defense.

“It would be nice to have a young stud come in and play next to Kevin [Williams],” Bob Harron said of a possible pick to pair with the perennial Pro Bowl defensive lineman. “I really trust the brain-trust with the Vikings.”

Bruce McFarlane, 27, arrived from Stamford, Conn., to show support for his squad — though it wasn’t the first draft he’s attended as a Cincinnati Bengals fan.

“It’s the experience, the first taste of football for the season,” he said, attributing his lifelong affinity for the hard-luck Bengals to “family tradition.”

McFarlane hoped the team would pick a tight end in the draft, a position that’s “been a big hole” for Cincinnati the past couple of years.

His friend Brian Carman, 29, a Kansas City Chiefs fan, wanted his team to address defensive needs with the fifth overall selection in the draft.

But aside from all the top talent his team had to choose from, the fanfare of the draft proved worth the Kansas City native's trip out.

“We’ve talked about [doing] this several times,” Carman said. “To get out here for this opportunity, you can’t pass that up.”

Added McFarlane, “It’s an addiction. I could watch from home, but it’s so much better being here.”

The first round of the NFL Draft starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, with the second through seventh rounds taking place on Friday and Saturday.