Jebus, this fucking draft cannot get over soon enough.
For the past three weeks, Every. Single. Minute. of local and national sports talk radio has been idiots trying to divine who is going to go first, who is taking what position, what team needs what, what the fucking walk up music for the athletes should be, what trades are going to happen, what the craft table will look like at the draft, and Oh My God, who cares?!?
When did this happen? When did the draft become this monstrosity of hype and endless, endless speculation?
The baseball season is underway, hockey and the NBA are in the playoffs, I’m pretty sure Soccer is being played somewhere. If I hear one more report about “Johnny Football” or someone’s office “Big Board” I’m taking a hostage. And it will not end well.
I love football, I can’t wait for the preseason games to start, and for my Sundays to be full of reports and analysis of the upcoming season. But this is ridiculous. This is no longer bordering on the ludicrous, it has passed over ludicrous and entered into insanity.
Is sports talk radio all that great that not listening to it for a few weeks is a hardship? I don’t think I’ve ever in my entire life listened to sports talk radio, so I wouldn’t know how to miss it.
I agree with the OP. Seems much worse this year. The Seahawks get the last pick, and it’s still wall to wall coverage even though nothing has happened yet. I can see a discussion of the draft once it has occurred, but all this talk in advance is crazy. Plus, the Mariners are suddenly playing better then they behave in over a decade, and no off season football is all everyone is talking about.
This sort of thing is one reason why I don’t pay much attention to pro sports anymore. Heck, I couldn’t be bothered to listen to any of the Super Bowl pre-game talk (even though “my” team was in the Super Bowl this year) so I certainly don’t make time to listen to any of this pre-draft B.S. (okay, I’ve been reading a little bit about how to succeed in the draft in my local newspaper but that’s as far as I’m going to go with all of this). As to when all of this became “such a big deal”? Probably when, as my wife puts it, pundits started (seemingly) getting paid by the word to offer opinions and speculation on this sort of thing, is what I’m guessing.
It’s not that I can’t go without it for a couple of weeks, it’s just that they have nothing to talk about. Nothing. And yet, they spout shit like it’s gospel.
The analysis and hype do seem to have been going on for longer than any other year I can remember but I’m still pumped to watch tonight. Two things I like are the depth of this year’s class and the fact it’s not entirely the usual quarterbacks and/or runningbacks dominating the discussions and expected to fill the top spots. Mike Mayock’s mock draft (YockMock) has 4 OTs going in the first 9 picks. It’s refreshing to see the focus and interest spread among the rest of the field.
Also, it seems there’s a lot more ‘positioning’ going on by the teams, smokescreens, feigned indifference, etc. Sometimes it jibes with their free agent and contract activity, sometimes it doesn’t and you know it’s their last chance to fill a need. That’s about to all be laid bare when the trades start flying and it’ll be fascinating to watch.
yancey, you know a re-energized Round II is coming next, right? Immediate post-draft analysis and specific prognostications on how acquisitions are going to impact each team’s entire season.
They purposely moved the draft back a few weeks to try and extend the NFLs brand in the off season. This is the first year and already a lot of pundits, scouts, teams, are complaining because of how long it feels. It used to be in April.
I just want you to know, I didn’t read this thread. I decided to read the Best Pit Thread Available instead of reading a pit thread to fill an immediate need.
I work in San Jose, CA. They have shut down the San Pedro Square Market for the 49er Draftapalooza.
Which means that I couldn’t get my favorite coffee, couldn’t go to my usual lunch place, etc. I am sure the merchants will do fine, but I can’t wait to fly out of here. Of course, I will fly around the time Obama flies up from LA, so my entire day is probably FUBARed.
I went to the 49ers draft bash last year. It’s really no different than any other big street party, except you have to get a (free) ticket to get in. It was fun but I’m staying home this year.
The extra few weeks is really wearing it all out. Too much draft is possible. Most teams don’t like it, either. There’s no purpose for it beyond the venue being booked for something else (since cancelled, actually). I hope Goodell changes his mind for the future.
The NFL draft is pure hype, since the probability of any of the picks having an immediate positive impact on the team is minute. The NBA draft, on the other hand, deserves more attention since a good pick can completely turn around a team.
That said, I will be watching as I’m a sucker for all sports events. And this year, the draftees in attendance get to pick their own music for when they walk up after being selected.
Even worse, there’s talk about extending the draft to FOUR days sometime in the near future. Round 1 by itself on a Wednesday, I guess, followed by Round 2 on Thursday and Round 3 on Friday. Then the rest of the rounds have to have Saturday all to themselves.
I think the draft is interesting, although not really exciting … but I see no need to extend the thing past one day, maybe two at the most. How did they ever handle the 1983 draft with all those marquee quarterbacks in just one day?
Oh, and mock drafts? Talk radio and internet fuel, of course, but they don’t really mean anything. Just more topics to take up time while we wait for the actual picks. Heck, my local paper ran a feature about some of the draft possibilities for the state’s D-1 players. The local guy had apparently mocked his own draft all the way through 7 rounds … he had predicted draft positions and teams for these guys, even in round 6 and 7. You got way too much time on your hands if you’re doing that …
