So far the Championship Gaming Series' first ever draft is every bit as surreal as I had hoped it would be.

Mike McWhertor and I caught up at a parking lot outside of some shopping center in Beverly Hills where we boarded a bus that took us to the Playboy Mansion.

Once inside we were elbow-to-elbow with a bunch of other "VIPs", media, competitors and women that I wasn't thoroughly convinced were really playmates. Mike assured me they were, adding that he knew most of their names.

After an hour or so of standing around, eating, drinking and talking, the whole mass of people were rushed into an outdoor tape where a draft stage had been set up. On the stage were six desk manned by the managers for the new league's six teams. Facing the stage were the finalists for the draft. Mostly men, though I did count about a dozen female gamers who made the cut.

Right now I'm sitting at the table waiting for the draft to get under way. We are, I'm told, about five minutes out. They're streaming the draft live over on www.thecgs.com. You can go there to check it out or hang here and follow along with me as I sorta live blog it. I suspect I'll mostly be making smart-ass comments. Hit the jump to sing along. Brian Crecente

They just introduced the six team managers for the league and showed a short clip on the managers.

Now they've got Fatal1ty and some other talking heads yapping away like we're watching football. I like video games and they've lost me.

The first selection for the first pro-gaming draft ever is.. a woman. DOA gamer Vanessa Arteaga, 20, who hails from Clan PMS. Now she's playing for the San Francisco OPTX. Second choice is Counter-Strike team compLexity who will now be playing for... LA Complexity. At least they won't have trouble remembering their new team name. Pick number three is Emmanuel "Master" Rodriguez for DOA 4 who will now be playing with the Dallas Venom.

I spotted Master earlier this evening grooming himself near the bar talking to Arteaga about which one of them would be picked first. He does have a nice hat. Pick number four for this draft is Team 3D who will, oddly enough be playing for 3DNY. Again, easy name to remember for them.

That's funny. I just noticed that there are a bunch of strobe lights attached to the frame holding the tent up. When a draft select takes the stage they all fire off randomly as if hundreds of photographers are taking their pictures. Trust me... they aren't.

The fifth pick in the draft is PGR 3 gamer Wesley "ch0mpr" Cwiklo for the Chicaco Chimera. And the final pick for the first round for this first draft ever is DOA 4 gamer Ryan "OffBeatNinja" Ward for the Carolina Core.

We're into the second round now, but I'm not going to track every selection. I think it's not going to get interesting until the last round when there's a whole bunch of people out in the competitor pool who realize they may not become a salaried pro-gamer afterall.

I happen to be sitting at a table that is right next to where the men, women and teams that are selected walk past right after finding out that they are now officially pro-gamers. It's kind of interesting to see their reactions. Vanessa, for instance, was visibly shaking when she came off the stage, but Master seemed as cool as a cucumber, a cool cucumber. It is obvious that no matter what this draft means to those outside of pro-gaming, to those in the league it means everything, which is certainly a good start.

Alright two rounds down, FOUR MORE TO GO.

Whoops sorry for that sudden ending. The press WiFi just died on the vine in the middle of the event.

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