Day Two Thoughts

One thing that I find interesting is the Sean Salisbury segment during the draft where he's sitting with four NFL veterans (Trent Green, Torry Holt, William Henderson and Shawne Merriman) who are smarter and more charismatic than he is (not that it's a stretch). What I find interesting is they are now calling them "The Experts", but when they originally did this a few years ago (hosted by Suzy Kolber), they were the "Future GMs". What was funny was that psycho Bill Romanowski was the only "Future GM" that dressed the part by wearing a suit. Washington tackle Jon Jansen wasn't too bad in business casual. Then there was Corey Chavous and another guy (I can't remember) who were wearing throwback jerseys, ball caps and all their bling while looking hungover which is exactly the look that NFL GMs are going for. It's nice to see ESPN must have told them there was a dress code as all the "Experts" are wearing suits (without ties).

Salisbury just said he was forced out before and he mentored the younger player. Who? Stan Humphries? I can't see anywhere on his career where he was the solid starter.

Some of the blurbs that ESPN was running next to draft picks was somewhat interesting. Such as Charlie Whitehurst being the first Clemson quarterback drafted since 1979. A factoid like that tells you something about Clemson developing quarterbacks. Then you get some like Davin Joseph being the first Oklahoma player taken in the first round by Tampa Bay since Lee Roy Selmon back in the 70s. What does that tell me? Nothing. Then there are some that are really stretching to make a point. They ran one that said Anthony Fasano was the highest drafted tight end for Dallas since Jason Witten in 2003. I'll ignore the fact that Fasano as the 53rd pick was drafted higher than Witten who was 69th which "since" doesn't make sense. However, even if they were right that still is a pointless fact. It was 2003. There has only been two drafts since then, but they're making it seem like it was the days of leather helmets.

Really, how did Suzy Kolber get this job? She just said Rudi Johnson had back to back one hundred yard seasons. Plus she has a nose like Elmo. And now she's doing another segment on Marcus Vick.

Denver drafts University of Louisville defensive end Elvis Dumervil. I was glad to see Gene Washington knew how to pronounce his name. One of my favorite all time drafts was when Brett Favre was taken and his name was butchered. Think no silent V.

Did they just say Tony Dungy was a name that came up as the next commissioner of the NFL? What crack was someone smoking on that one? Do they want the NFL to be the ratings champ during the regular season, but have the Super Bowl get worse ratings than the World Series? Even if he wasn't the great choke artist that he is, what does he bring to the table to make people think he could be the NFL commissioner? He doesn't even have real executive power on the teams he coaches. He's had strong GMs at both Tampa Bay (Rich McKay) and Indianapolis (Bill Polian). That thought is just nuts.

Interesting discussion about "character" by the Experts. I think Merriman was trying to make the best point that players see a difference between on field character and off field. Teams are more interested in off field character for PR reasons, while players are more concerned with on field. You never heard any teammate complaining about Michael Irvin, because while his off field life was always bordering on disaster, he always brought it on the field. Or more recently, think about the Minnesota "Love Boat" scandal which I've always said was a complete overreaction. The Vikings management joined the press in a tizzy over it, but the team played better after it. The players knew that getting a lapdance isn't going to affect their play on the field, so it's not an important issue. By the way, if I was a taxpayer in Minnesota, I would be pissed at the prosecutor who went to a jury trial (never cheap) and came away with a misdemeanor conviction against Moe Williams for groping a stripper where the kitchen staff might see it.

About time they showed the Rockettes. Why have the draft at Radio City Music Hall (actually, they stopped having it at Madison Square Gardens because MSG management helped kill the Jets plans for a downtown stadium) if you aren't going to show the Rockettes. Of course, they followed up sexy (Rockettes) with butch (WNBA), so obviously better planning is needed.

This isn't draft related, but it's about Tony Gonzalez. I finally read part of my ESPN magazine and discovered Gonzalez was on some celebrity cooking show where he lost to Cindy Margolis. The thing is he apparently tied her when the results were first read, but the producers redid the ending to make Margolis the winner. I wonder if they thought Margolis' massive mammaries were more photogenic?

Interesting. Louisville linebacker Brandon Johnson joined fellow Cardinals Dumervil and Jason Spitz by getting drafted by Arizona. What I find interesting is that I thought he and Dumervil were going to be drafted after UL DT Montavious Stanley who is still on the board. I hope he goes soon so I can stop looking for local players until the final round since I don't see any other UL or UK players going before then.