Mean Gene

An NFL Draft Recap; or, I'm Wasting My Life

I watched a lot of the NFL Draft, but not all of it. Not even close. Heck, I even went out during the first hour of the first round. As I get older, my capacity to sit around and do nothing and not feel like crap diminishes. Not so long ago I could sit on the couch and watch 10 hours of draft coverage and enjoy every second of it, but now I find myself thinking that I could be doing laundry, or going for a walk, or even writing, and I can't fully enjoy the inertia. Last night I watched the NASCAR race while we had the draft on the split-screen, and it's amazing that people used to watch just ONE sporting event at a time. What do you do during commercials? Cautions? Time-outs? Talk? Not with my friends, thank you.

Today I watched some of the draft, just to see what the Steelers were up to. I think they just draped a cloth over Mel Kiper when they went off the air last night and gave him a quick dusting this morning. Suzy Kolber chaired today's festivities, a good thing as I might have shaved my head and started shooting at passing cars if I had to endure another 10 hours of Chris Berman. I like Berman okay, but in such economy-sized doses he warps the mind.

Speaking of warping the mind, what the hell has gotten into Merrill Hoge? I was a big fan of #33 when he played for the Steelers, and I think he's an excellent analyst. Plus I've always dug the wild suits he wears. But he and Ron Jaworski have this contentious on-air chemistry and it went loco today. They're talking about which rookies will have the biggest impact and which teams have improved the most since the end of the season and Hoge would not stop talking. He talked over Jaworski and Randy Mueller and Trey Wingo...at one point all four of them were blabbing at the same time for like 10 seconds straight, you couldn't understand a word of it. Every time Jaworski said something Hoge would start yakking. And they kept ripping on each other's selections. It reminded me of the Digger Phelps-Andy Katz chatwar before the NCAA tournament. Enough talk--I wanna see some punches thrown. Though not at Hoge's head, as he's had post-concussion syndrome. Maybe some kung fu moves.

Speaking of which, saw Kung Fu Hustle Friday night. I like my chopsocky, and the flick was funny and entertaining, but...well, you'd expect a Chinese movie to be different from an American one, and this was differnt. A bit bizarre in places, but I like bizarre, so I give the flick a thumbs up.

Back to the draft. Well, I think for drafting at the end of every round the Steelers did very well. Miller will step right in and contribute, McFadden will probably see some playing time, the guard they picked up in the sixth round, Chris Kemoeatu, looks to be a real player. The tackle in the third round, Trai Essex, was a reach but Scouts Inc said they liked the pick and so like an obedient little lamb I'll accept their verdict. We'll learn more when they all get on the field.

So, no more football until August. Felt like football season today, what with it snowing like crazy. But I guess I can amuse myself until then with beach volleyball and drinking. Drinking is always amusing.

<< Home