I don't get it.
Well, there are a lot of things in this world I don't get, like how flammable and inflammable mean the same thing, or why Steven Seagal is still allowed to make movies, but this one takes the award as the thing I get the least.
I am, of course, talking about NFL Draft Day.
I mean, I get the general purpose and idea behind it. NFL teams get to decide which lucky college students get to become America's newest millionaires. That much I understand. Unfortunately, that is where it ends.
Why is this thing considered such an event? It contains, as far as I can tell, one exciting moment. That moment is when the commissioner steps up to the podium to announce this year's first pick. But we didn't even have that exciting moment this year. The expansion Houston Texans had already negotiated a contract with now ex-Fresno State quarterback David Carr days before the draft. Carr was seen house shopping in the Houston area weeks ago. Absolutely no one was surprised his name was called.
This brings up another thing about Draft Day that bothers me. Even though the Carr pick was a surer bet than Vanilla Ice never winning a Grammy, the Texans still took a good deal of the 15 minutes allotted to them to make the selection. Why? Were they thinking about changing their mind at the last second? Of course not.
Now, there will be people who read this and say, "Well, there is always the possibility of a trade." Blah, blah, blah. The entire league knew the Texans had the first pick and that they were going to take Carr. If they had wanted to do anything to try and alter that, they had plenty of time before Draft Day.
Because the first pick was a certainty, one could assume the team with the second selection in the draft, the Carolina Panthers, would be ready to announce their pick instantly following the Texans, right? Nope. That would have been too easy and could have saved the commissioner another trip to the podium. So, time ticked off the clock again, and I remained in suspended boredom.
At some point I must have blacked out or something because I missed about 25 selections in the middle of the first round. Fortunately, I came around in time to see that my favorite team, the Chicago Bears, was on the clock. Who were they going to pick? The passing rushing defensive end they have been craving, or the young quarterback who would become the Bears' first real leader since Jim McMahon? The answer: neither.
They picked Marc Colombo, an offensive tackle out of Boston College. Then I said to myself, "Ah, Colombo. How could I have forgotten about him?" That's when I realized it was very easy to forget about someone of whom you have never even heard.
So, that was enough of Draft Day for me, but apparently I am a freak among sports fans for not loving the draft. ESPN and ESPN2 (Remember when ESPN2 was called "The Deuce?" Those were the days.) covered the whole thing -- both days, all seven rounds, all 261 picks. And you know what? They are going to analyze it for the next month, too.
Ugh.
Write to Cole at cpmcgrath@bsu.edu
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