COLUMBIA, S.C. -- This hasn't started extremely well. Columbia Metropolitan Airport has 10 gates, one small baggage claim and I'm standing directly outside of the latter waiting for Rangers scouting director Kip Fagg, as I thought I was directed.
The phone rings.
It's Fagg.
"Are you sure you are in Columbia ... South Carolina?"
So it begins. Welcome to the road, scouting meat. For three days in early May, I'm going to shadow the Rangers' energetic scouting director to get a sliver of a picture of what goes into the massive, little-understood operation of preparing for the amateur draft.