On Saturday, when we decide on our fourth-round pick in the 2011 Draft, the first person outside our War Room to know will be Kim Brady, a physician from Milford. Moments later, at NFL draft headquarters in New York, Dr. Brady will officially announce the pick to the assembled crowd and national media. You may not recognize his name, but Dr. Brady is a respected maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Good Samaritan Hospital. He is also a longtime Bengals season ticket holder.
The NFL permitted teams to invite a designated club representative to announce the club's fourth round draft selection. While we might have chosen a local "celebrity" for the guest-announcer spot, we saw an opportunity to express our appreciation to someone important to us. There are numerous groups that could qualify in this respect—alumni or employees—but we decided instead to use this opportunity for the "Fan." We thought that having a fan make our announcement would be a fun and visible way to send that important message of THANK YOU.
So we chose longtime season ticket holder Kim Brady to make the Bengals fourth-round draft selection announcement. We are sending Dr. Brady and his son to New York to participate in the draft day experience in a way that should be exciting and memorable for both of them. But in announcing our draft selection, Dr. Brady really stands in the shoes of all our fans. So please know that when I think of Dr. Brady announcing our draft pick, I envision all our fans at the microphone. You are the reason we're able to do what we do. We know that, and we thank you for it. And of course we expect that whomever he announces will cause fans to cheer for years to come.
(Note: To see archived versions of The Who Dey Perspective, click here.) *
