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?!

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!

FutureSex/LoveShow

Justin Timberlake is officially one of the greatest entertainers of our generation. Yeah I said it. Last night I went to the FutureSex/LoveShow in Anaheim and all I have to say is DAMN THAT BOY GOOD! I was 5 rows from the top of the Honda Center and it was STILL one of the best concerts I have ever been to. He sang all his hits, played the piano & guitar along with his band and his choreographer has to be one of the greatest people to ever walk the earth. Justin is officially much more than a former Mouseketeer and member of *NSync. He's a grown @$$ man with more than his fare share of talent. All I gotta say is if you get a chance, GO SEE THIS CONCERT. I don't care how much it costs...it's worth the money!

Maybe Outsourcing Ain't So Bad

Over the past few years, the outsourcing of jobs from the US to foreign countries has been a hot topic. Countless number of American jobs are being sent overseas so that foreign workers can do the same job for less pay and save US companies money, something that most Americans are NOT happy about. Anyone with an American Express account can tell you that when you call customer service, you're definitely not calling Miami...you're calling Bombay. One of my high school friends had her call center job outsourced to the Phillipines. Her final assignment: a two week trip to the Phillipines to help train the people that were taking her job. Yeah it sucked...

But this is what I'm wondering. Why is it that we can train a bunch of people in another country to speak pretty good English in order to communicate with us, but we can't train people here in America to speak good enough English to communicate with us? Confused? Think back to the last time you went to the drive through of a fast food restaurant. How well did you understand the person taking your order? Why can I properly get my American Express account handled from Bombay but I can't order a quarter pounder with cheese here in LA?

I'm bringing this up after a rather exhausting experience with a call center employee from FedEx. I would have to say that it sure never take 30 minutes just to call 1-800-Go-FedEx and tell them not to try and re-deliver my package and that I would come pick it up myself in the morning. Sounds like a simple task right...wrong! I not really sure if I was calling the US or Tijuana, but I do know that the guy could use a couple of English lessons before he answers the phone again. I mean is it too much to ask that employees know how to speak the language in which they are meant to communicate? If I went to go live in Tokyo right now, I could probably find a job, but I probably wouldn't go searching for a job based solely on me communicating with people on the phone all day in Japanese before I even learned how to speak Japanese!

All I'm saying is that if I can get better service from the American Express guy in Bombay than the FedEx guy in Los Angeles then maybe outsourcing ain't so bad...

New Year....New Me....New You....

OK so I'm gonna start this post by saying...I hate new year's resolutions. We never keep them and then we make the same ones again the next year. So I'm not making new year's resolutions. I'm just setting some goals for myself in the New Year. These are things I've been putting off FOREVER or starting and stopping. The hope is that by putting them to paper (or blog) that I will be more likely to work towards accomplishing them. Or I could just abandon this blog and forget that it ever existed...

NO only happy thoughts! So here I go:

1. Lose 10 lbs a month. I made this exact same promise last year. Total weight loss since Jan 2006: 5 lbs. But looking back I have changes a lot of my habits from a year ago which will help me now get focused. I know you're thinking "well how many months does she need to reach her overall goal"? I'm not gonna tell you now, cuz then you can figure out how big I am! I'll tell you how much I lost, after I lose it! :o)

2. Actually I think I'm gonna stop here for now...there are plenty of other things swirling in my head, but honestly I think 2007 is the year to focus on getting healthy. Those of you that know me know that my health can get really crazy at times, and most of my problems can be traced back to being overweight. So how about I just focus on this one until something else comes along that I need to address. Like I said I'm setting goals, not resolutions. You set resolutions once a year, but you change your goals anytime you want.

Told You To Go Sit Down...

So I have proof that OJ is an idiot. You can recall from my previous post about him, that he sought to publish a book about how he "might have" killed Ron Goldman & Nicole Brown. The book and TV interview were cancelled. No harm done right? Wrong.

So OJ is now being sued by Ron Goldman's father for the money that OJ made in an advance for the book. He's asking for $1M. OJ still hasn't paid the $30M from the civil suit where he was found liable for the murders.

I'm not usually one to say I told you so, but...

Why not Obama?

So I was reading an article about Barack Obama running for President in 2008 in the LA Times. I'll be honest I don't really keep up with politics much, but I think it was a damn good piece with a lot of accurate points. Apparently many people are criticizing Obama, stating that he doesn't have a lot of experience. And I have to say that maybe that fact is a good thing.

Having experience would mean that he would be deeply entrenched in the way America has been doing things for the past 6-8 years. Honestly the country needs someone completely different, because I don't really think what we're doing now is working out so well.

But I'm afraid for Barack. I'm just not sure if America is ready for a Black president. While there maybe millions of Americans across the country that support him, it only takes one crazy person to bring it to an end...ask John F Kennedy. I dunno, maybe I'm just being scary, but I wonder what would be better first: a female president or a black president. A black female president would definitely be doing too much right now. Maybe if there was a female president with a black vice president then we wouldn't have to worry as much. Nobody is going to assassinate the woman so that the black man gets into office.

So maybe Hillary should run in 08 with Barack as her VP. Then after her terms in the White House, after the country is more comfortable with Barack, he could become president. We'll see how it goes, but I know one this is for sure...I can't wait for Dubya to be gone! Back to your ranch with ya!