Sunday, April 25, 2010

Is It August Yet? 2010 NFL Post Draft Thoughts

I love football. Really I do. And I very much enjoy having the NFL Draft in April, allowing fans to at least have some level of involvement to hold us over during this tortuously long drought from the sport that exists between the Super Bowl and the pre-season. But am I the only one that thinks this draft has gotten a little bit out of control lately?

First of all, our desire to have the draft during prime time has made the wait these young men have to bear that much more difficult. Why did they only do the first round on Thursday night? This was especially mid-numbing for players like Colt McCoy, and Jimmy Clausen, who were expected to go in the first round, but fell to the second. In a normal year, this wait to find out where you end up would've lasted a couple of hours longer at most. With this ridiculous new system to increase TV ratings, these guys had to wait over 24 hours longer to find out what team they would play for and what city they would now call home.

To add insult to injury, ESPN cameras were at the homes of dozens of players, waiting to capture the elation of the players and their families as they discovered they had been drafted. On the surface, this sounds like a great idea. However, the shots of them sitting at home on the couch sending text messages were a bit much. These guys' futures are on the line and the last thing they need is a camera in their face while a commentator is in New York talking about why they haven't been drafted yet. It's especially bad towards the end of the draft while discussing the players who may or may not get drafted, as they play a live feed of LeGarrette Blount asleep on his couch.

It is great though they highlighted some players that organizations were overlooking during the draft. The coverage of Myron Rolle was especially great not just for fans, but for young kids who look up to football players. The off-season is riddled with stories of the transgressions of athletes, so it's great to see a story about a young man doing positive things with his life. Many had Myron on their draft boards as a top 5 strong safety, but team after team passed on him because they weren't sure he was dedicated to football. They guy took a year off to a be Rhodes Scholar for crying out loud. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that most people wouldn't give up. Now that he's back and focused on football it's good to see the Tenneesee Titans take a chance on him. Many other teams will probably wish they had as well.

Unfortunately the ridiculousness for next year has already begun. I shouldn't have been surprised to see an article on ESPN today already beginning to discuss the 2011 draft. Don't you think it's a bit early for that? Most people would, but of course Mel Kiper needs something to talk about. He's already wrapped up this draft and given out grades to all the franchises, so it's time for him to start postulating on next year's festivities. The only value of this type of debate is the ability to look on it a year from now to see how accurate Mel was a year ago. But since he's been covering the draft almost as long as I've been alive, I'm sure he's gotten pretty good at this. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm anxious to see how the season is going to shape up. Can't wait for August 8th, Bengals vs. Cowboys. Are you ready for some football?!

Friday, April 16, 2010

The Rebirth

Something told me to check and see if my blog still existed...and it does. It's absolutely hilarious to go back and read some of the things I was writing about five years ago. I love that I was lamenting about being old just before my 25th birthday. As I approach 30 years old, that just seems silly.

Reading things that I wrote about OJ needing to go sit down before he got arrested (told you so) and the prospects of whether America was ready for Obama to be president (Yes we did!) have an entertainment value that I just can't describe.

So I'm back to blogging (hopefully). If I can keep this up for a little while, it will give me just enough good material to laugh at in another five years, allowing me to once again reminisce about the "good old days". Let the journey begin...again!