I don't want to sound like Mike Wilbon here, but I find the NFL draft to be unbearably boring. There are brief periods of action sprinkled in among long stretches of people talking. Sort of like a baseball game.
I was struck today thinking about all the people who spend weeks getting amped up for the NFL draft (don't even get me started on the combine) and spend all day Saturday (and Sunday for the real degenerates) watching names be called by the commish. Many of these are the same people who refuse to watch baseball games because "there's not enough action."
The only way to dispute that claim is scientifically, so here goes.
According to mlb.com, in 2007 there were about 9 hits per team per game, or around 18 hits per game total. The average length of a baseball game is about 2:50. That means that on average, there is a hit every 9.4 minutes.
The first round of last year's NFL draft lasted a whopping 6 hours and 8 minutes. There were 32 picks, or an average of 11.5 minutes per pick.
This is so exciting! Good thing I have 10 minutes to recover before the next pick!That means that something exciting happens more often in a baseball game than in the first round of the NFL Draft. Bust out that statistic the next time one of your Mel Kiper wannabe friends tries to tell you that baseball is too slow.
9 Responses:
Pick Number 31 is going to be stellar this year.
(A thought just hit me, somebody is going to be missing out on a job this year because of the Patriots...hasn't anyone put that spin out there yet?)
People would care more about the idea of a person missing out on a job if the number of players drafted didn't vary based on the complicated "supplemental pick" formula.
What if you are at a baseball game and following the draft on your phone? Where does that rank? Not that that is what I will be doing Saturday or anything...
Well I do think this year's draft will be better with teams only having ten minutes between each first round pick and less time in between all picks in subsequent rounds as well. I personally enjoy the draft. If only for Jets' fans reactions.
Oh, and I always tune in to the very last pick to see who Mr. Irrelevant is going to be. I always hope it's somebody from Maryland. It never is.
I think your math is off Brien. You should be calculating the frequency of picks + trades.
Sure, but I could also count the frequency of walks+hits+errors in baseball games. There are usually only a few draft-day trades in the first round.
Yeah, I'll watch the first few picks to see how the play out, and then tune in to the Lakers vs Nuggets Game 3 at 5:30/2:30.
Trades are far more exciting than walks, but we could go down this road all day (sac flies, etc.)
I like the draft because it's the premiere day of the year for highlighting just how poorly some organizations are run.
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