Man, it was cool seeing Bo Jackson at the draft representing the Royals

Bo Jackson knows something about draft. He was selected by the Yankees in the second-round of the draft out of high school, and again by the Angels after his junior year at Auburn. But he stayed in college all four years and won the Heisman Trophy as a senior runningback for the football team, leading many to believe he would turn to football, where he was expected to be the #1 overall pick. Instead, a dispute with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers led Bo to keep his eye on baseball, and the Royals took a gamble on him in 1986, spending their fourth round pick on him. The rest is history.

So it was a real treat to see Bo sitting in the room at Monday’s Major League draft, representing the team that took a chance on him over 30 years ago. Bo kept his distance from the Royals for several years, perhaps still bitter about his release in 1991 after he suffered a career-threatening injury on the football field. But he has started to make more and more appearances at Kauffman Stadium in recent years, appearing at the Celebrity Softball Game at the All-Star Game in 2012.

But this year, Bo has been everywhere Royals-related, from Royals Fantasy Camp to Opening Day and he has even lent his name to ticket flex plan (BO KNOWS SAVINGS!). The Royals even sent Bo to the draft, where he yukked it up with Harold Reynolds.

Bo just has the gravitas and presence to make the announcement of these picks so much cooler.

The presence of Bo made everyone following the draft a kid again.

Bo even had some pretty good advice for Kyler Murray, the two-sport athlete taken by the Athletics at pick #9 who is also quarterback at Oklahoma.

These young pitchers the Royals have selected may or may not make the big leagues, but at least they will always have the glory of having their selection announced by BO FRIGGIN’ JACKSON.