We have finally reached the big day in N.F.L. mania circles. It is mock draft day, when you have either created one of your own ahead of Thursday night’s festivities, or you are mocking the people who have. It certainly does form the line in football fandom between the folks who have gone a bit around the bend and those who just want to know who will be on their team come September. Of course, we long ago identified the around-the-bend types because they have been poring over this stuff for weeks, watched over by their Mel Kiper Jr. bobblehair dolls.
For the rest of us, this draft does not have much sex appeal. It takes people truly drawn by the magnetic pull of Kiper’s hair products to be wrapped up in a debate on whether Eric Fisher (who?) or Luke Joeckel (huh?) will be the top pick. The offensive-tackle-a-thon is a far cry from the Andrew Luck vs. Robert Griffin III glitterfest. Astute football observers, like The New York Times’s Judy Battista, will tell you that what this draft lacks in sizzle it makes up for in depth and talent. But will that glue you to a television screen for hours of listening to Kiper’s twang? Maybe Fisher and Joeckel can mud wrestle for the top pick? Play a game of H-O-R-S-E? Belt out show tunes?
If you do want to dabble in the world of mock drafts, there are oodles of them waiting to be made irrelevant by the nonevent they are forecasting. Feel free to check out Peter King’s on SI.com, Mike Mayock’s on NFL.com, Jason La Canfora’s on CBSSports.com or Doug Farrar’s on Yahoo.com. In an exercise in both stamina and inanity, Peter Schrager goes the full seven rounds on FoxSports.com. This is just a tiny starter list. It you want the almighty Mel list, you have to pony up to be an ESPN.com insider, but we’re not sure reading Kiper is enough of a thrill unless your computer screen has the ability to waft out the smell of Just for Men.
In case you were worried about the networks spoiling the drama of the picks, SI.com’s Richard Deitsch reports that ESPN and NFL Network have vowed not to scoop themselves on Twitter, or show the guys in the greenroom answering their phones. You’ll still get plenty of greenroom drama, which, as Elizabeth Merrill writes on ESPN.com, is always full of agony for at least one guy. This year that guy may be quarterback Geno Smith, who seems half-prepared for his televised tumble down the first round, La Canfora writes on CBSSports.com.
For those who want a bit more action in their sporting events, the N.B.A. playoffs will again serve up a smattering of games. Wednesday night’s included the Los Angeles Lakers’ continued thud against the San Antonio Spurs, in which more Lakers got hurt, the Spurs looked more and more like that boring team that wins a lot because of teamwork and depth, as Ian Thomsen writes on SI.com, and Dwight Howard fell short of reaching savior status, as Bill Plaschke writes in The Los Angeles Times. In this N.B.A. version of the fable, the franchise representing the tortoise is drubbing the hare, Bill Reiter writes on FoxSports.com.
In the other playoff games, Jeremy Lin was injured in the Houston Rockets’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers tried unsuccessfully to remind everyone there is another series going on and beat the hapless Atlanta Hawks.
Hockey threw in a few tidbits in its playoff chase Wednesday night, with the Blackhawks clinching the President’s Trophy and home-ice advantage in the playoffs. Detroit moved into the last playoff spot in the West with all intents of keeping alive its incredible streak of 21 straight playoff seasons, Nicholas Cotsonika writes on Yahoo.com.
To vie for attention, baseball threw in some quirky gems Wednesday. They included the Mets’ game-ending grand slam to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in another example of Matt Harvey pitching magic, as John Harper writes in The Daily News. Detroit’s win over the Kansas City Royals featured the nonhighlight of the Tigers’ Victor Martinez making a U-turn and forgoing the chance to barrel into the Royals catcher. The Tampa Bay Rays probably topped the day, though, before their game with the Yankees even began, thanks to a penguin making a clubhouse visit.
Now that’s what could liven up the N.F.L. draft. Penguins! Anyone have them in their mock draft?
Collected from :http://www.nytimes.com
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