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Saturday, May 03, 2003
My life as a sitcom -- today's show: Seinfeld
It was one of those weird periods where I probably should've gone out and done a bunch of stuff during my days off, including catching up on a couple movies that have been sitting on the backburner. Instead, I ended up being very anti-productive, even by "weekend" standards. There was that trip to the driving range and then the drive deep into Dekalb County (I took one road trying to find some store and just took it out for a long while for whatever reason). Sometimes you feel good when you do nothing, like you're taking a break from everything. In this case, it felt like I should've been doing something productive and felt bad when I didn't. I suppose now I'll have a huge list of things to do and people to see next weekend.
posted at 1:02 AM
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
This date in history ...
It was 20 years ago today that Lee Elia had his classic rant on Cubs fans. (The link provides both the text and a partial wav file).
posted at 4:21 PM
Monday, April 28, 2003
Coaches gone wild
Larry Eustachy's days as head coach at Iowa State are probably numbered after this article surfaced about his penchant for partying, including some incriminating photos of him at a Missouri party following a game in January.
The photos were hilarious as he seems to act like any college student at a party. Although you'd think a guy of his supposed stature would be drinking something better than Natty Light. The article also has plenty of gems including Eustachy telling a Kansas State coed that she should be at the University of Kansas because the girls are "much hotter."
posted at 11:59 AM
Couple of final draft notes
JD mentions his disdain for the Nick Bakay/Mel Kiper Jr. lovefest package, and I tend to agree. The original "draftnik" was Joel Buschbaum at Pro Football Weekly, who died last December. Many in the league miss him and his insightfulness. What was strange was what he looked like when I saw a photo of him in the latest PFW Draft Book (nearly completed before he passed away). Whereas Kiper looks like some brash, cocky agent (he could pass for Drew Rosenhaus' cousin or brother), Buschbaum looks like Stephen Hawking. Not sure what else to say there, but he got the respect of the entire league.
Also, the Vikings first-round shenanigans and the flurry of draft picks that came afterward definitely reminded me of trivia night at Twain's, where the tiebreaker on questions is how fast you turn in your answer sheet. It'd be funny if there was a "wrong answer" card brought up during that confusion. "Oh sorry, Carolina, we can't accept that pick of Rae Carruth."
posted at 2:12 AM
The Tao of Mel
The second day of the NFL Draft is usually full of guys you've never heard of, interspersed by "Hey, I remember that guy in college. Why wasn't he taken yesterday?" and "Why hasn't (popular player X) been taken?" There's always that talk about these late-round picks making or breaking a team's draft because you can get a lot of starters on the cheap from this part in the draft, which is true. However, many college football fans wonder what all the hubub is about because they know some of these players can produce. There's a reason why some of these guys were successful in college, and it has nothing to do with cones or benchpresses. (If workouts are a huge part of the scouting process, my brother could be drafted as a late-round "project" despite the only football experience being some flag football games.)
Sometimes you've got to wonder if NFL scouts watch college games, and if they do, do they start subtracting points for 300-yard games and other stats (as if they were playing a suck league)? Granted, most people knew Ken Dorsey probably isn't NFL star material with his arm, but at least he got drafted by the 49ers in the seventh round, where he'll likely compete with Tim Rattay (another great college player who has only gotten marginal work) to hold the clipboard. What about guys like Jason Gesser and Brad Banks, who had outstanding seasons? Banks seemed to be a one-year wonder with no real outstanding skills, so that's not a big surprise. But Gesser put up big numbers for a couple of years at Washington State. Were NFL teams that afraid to take another Cougar after Ryan Leaf? I mean, there is that Bledsoe guy in Buffalo who's not too bad.
Plus, Kilff Kingsbury was taken after Brooks Bollinger by one pick in the sixth round. I suppose Kingsbury was looked at as a "system" quarterback while Bollinger's "athleticism" (BTW, he's white) got him a slight nod. If either of those guys do anything in the league (and that's a longshot), please don't be surprised. Some of us are still laughing about the "out of nowhere" story of Marc Bulger.
Oh yeah, it doesn't look to be a good draft class if you're playing for this year. Time will tell, however. And I'll have another column about later-rounds pick tomorrow.
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