Suh, McCoy living the dream at NFL Draft

It was a dizzying Wednesday for the head of the class of the 75th NFL Draft, the first to be televised in prime time. Late in the afternoon, the prime-timers stepped atop the marquee at Radio City Music Hall in midtown Manhattan for a photo opp, the kill shot. They waved like princes to fans who'd gathered below. A freight truck driver, stuck in traffic, blasted his horn. The princes waved.

"Where's Tebow?" someone screamed.

Tim Tebow won't be doing prime time. But there in the group atop the marquee were two friendly giants. They wore suits and ties lest they be mistaken for office towers - defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy. One of them probably will become a Buccaneer early this evening.

Suh smiled softly, curiously, to the crowd below. McCoy clowned with the fans and other draft prospects, much his style, and sported stylish new designer eyeglasses.

"Don't get it wrong now - I really can't see," McCoy said.

These players had never seen anything like this.

What a beast the NFL Draft has become. But the big show can hide what it's about for kids like Suh and McCoy.

"It's a dream come true," McCoy said. "It's not even real. It's like I've been telling everyone, I'm living my dream, feeling my dream, it's like am I still dreaming about my dream or is this really happening?"

"A lot of joy," Suh said.

Former Tennessee safety Eric Berry, a possible sleeper pick for the Bucs, said he wouldn't sleep Wednesday night.

"I've been waiting for this my whole life and now it's tomorrow," Berry said.

Wednesday was the whirlwind. It began with interviews at CBS. Then a visit to the NFL offices, where they met with Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was glad to put down his Roethlisberger and chat up this Feel Good Class.

Then the small luxury buses carried America's best college football players to Central Park and a football clinic with city youth. It was right up McCoy and Suh's alley. They love kids, love giving back. McCoy has a 4-year-old daughter.

McCoy was president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Oklahoma and dreams of building day cares and community centers. Suh, his draft powerball assured, has pledged $2.6 million to his alma mater, Nebraska, including the endowing of a scholarship at the school of engineering, where he earned a degree in construction management.

At the football clinic, McCoy couldn't resist cutting into former OU teammate and quarterback Sam Bradford's on-field press gathering by planting a wet kiss on Bradford's cheek.

"That's my man, right there," Bradford said.

Suh threw an interception to a 9-year-old at the clinic, but also picked off a pass from a 12-year-old and took it to the house, the joy on his face the whole time. The kids laughed. When the prospects went uptown to visit children at a hospital, McCoy lost at Uno and Suh got paste on his suit making arts and crafts. The kids tried to climb on them as if they were jungle gyms.

Then the buses rolled to lower Manhattan, where the impending millionaires hit Wall Street to end trading at the New York Stock Exchange. McCoy pounded the gavel. Suh rang the bell.

At the youth clinic, McCoy and Suh talked Bucs. They both made pre-draft visits to Tampa.

"I had a lot of fun," McCoy said. "They've got a great history of defense, with Warren Sapp, of course, the three-technique, and that's what they're looking for, another three-technique to come in and be the face of the program and bring them back to that style of defense that they played."

"I've had the pleasure to talk with Sapp and get his views on myself," Suh said. "I definitely think I can follow heavily in his footsteps, without a doubt."

Tonight, Ndamukong Suh will look at his parents, as well as his sister, who was a soccer star at Mississippi State and for the Cameroon national team - talk about footsteps. And he'll think of his first name, which is his great grandfather's name. In Cameroon, it means "House of Spears."

Gerald McCoy will have his mom on his mind. Patricia McCoy, Tricia, died in 2007. He is dedicating tonight to her.

"My draft night suit even has her initials in it and everything."

Wednesday night, there were two parties for the prospects. Then it was back to their hotels for No Sleep At All. Now comes their moment.

"I've already prepared myself for a breakdown," Gerald McCoy said. "I've told myself, 'G, you got to be tough, everybody will think you're soft.' But I'm not worried about it. How can you not be overwhelmed with emotion when your dream is coming true?"