As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Cincinnati's Good Samaritan Hospital, Kim Brady knows all about rookies. Throw in the fact wife Whittney is co-director of the neonatal care unit at Children's Hospital and the NFL Draft is another day in the nursery.
So he's prepared and Brady is already painstakingly scrubbing in for next week's trip to New York City. While the NFL suggested using local celebrities or former players to announce the fourth-round picks during Saturday's final day of the draft, the Bengals opted for Brady, a 20-year season-ticket holder who drives a Bengals bus to every pregame tailgate in Lot 1 and sometimes performs surgery in striped scrubs.
He plans to wear a Bengals jersey when the Bengals remove one of their prospects off the board and it looks like he may be donning a No. 91 Robert Geathers, a No. 94 Domata Peko, or a No. 97 Geno Atkins. And if he could find a No. 73 Anthony Collins, that would be fine, too.
"In honor of a fourth-round pick we have now," Brady said Monday night. "The Bengals always seem to do pretty well getting players at that point in the draft. It's exciting. Kind of like being in Jerry Maguire."
Brady, 59, considers it an honor to get the call. He may have grown up in Montana, went to undergrad at West Point, attended med school at Baylor and did his residency in Denver, but there has never been another team in his eyes.
"I always liked Kenny Anderson," Brady said. "My brother liked the Vikings, but I always liked the Bengals because of Anderson. You couldn't help like him because of the way he threw the ball."
Brady is high percentage like Anderson, too. He can't recall missing a game at Riverfront Stadium or Paul Brown Stadium.
"There have been some games where my wife said, 'It's raining,' or 'It's snowing,' or 'It's cold,' but that doesn't seem to matter," Brady said. "I still go."
That's because it sounds like sports is a family deal. A father of five, he's also a big supporter of University of Cincinnati football and basketball, where he's been known to switch out a Bengals sign on the side of the bus to a Cattitude sign during the proper day of the week. Brady is taking his 24-year-old son Kyle, a UC law student, as his guest on the trip to New York.
Who may be a budding Jerry Maguire.
"He'd like to get into sports; maybe with a team or even as a player agent," Kim Brady said.
Since the Bengals called Monday, he's been undergoing some pretty good ribbing in the Good Sam hallways.
"I'll probably get down there, get all set to go, and they'll trade it," he said with a laugh.
He knows there are going to be some positions of need filled with the first three picks, so Brady has an idea what spot he may be calling next Saturday.
"Offensive line or cornerback; I could see them going that way," Brady said.
The good doctor doesn't know who it is going to be. But whoever it is, there will be a Ken Anderson-like bond.
"I'll have to get a signed jersey," he said.
