ESPN learned today that the NFL has invited at least ten people to be in the "Green Room" for the draft on April 26th (and 27th, but these guys hope not to see that day). To me, it begs the question: is the NFL trying to increase the likelihood of a Brady Quinn near tears waiting for his name to be called, or does the NFL recognize that Detroit might pick the second string punter from Towson University first overall?
ahblahblahblah Draft Day, not this one, should have been Brady's best.
More likely that not, the league wants another Brady Quinn sweating it out on that Saturday. The NFL, like it or not, has always been in the ratings business. Without that fact, there wouldn't be much momentum to the Vegas and "America's Team" conspiracy theories out there. Since they entered the world of cable television, the presumption against the league as the protector of the game has gotten stronger. This is especially true now that the league covers the draft.
There is plenty of drama in the draft. Trades make it impossible to know exactly when your team is going to pick. Guys rise and fall, meaning millions of dollars with each swing. Men whose entire careers revolve around assigning an NFL value to college talent are on the hook in a measurable way. When a player is taken or not taken near the expert's assigned value, a shitstorm of justification and villification takes place.
But that's not enough.
The NFL Network knows that human drama trumps sports. That's why we get 47 vignettes about the tough childhood of the Super Bowl contenders. They know how to create more drama, and the easiest way is to throw more bodies into the equation. I am sure they have ten emotional packages prepared about each kid who might well find himself actually hoping, desperately, to be picked by the Raiders or Chiefs or Lions or, God forbid, Redskins.
It's schadenfruede at its best, and I'll be watching.
April 10, 2009
NFL Expands Draft Day Green Room, But Why?
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7 Responses:
"There is plenty of drama in the draft". Yeah, unless you're a Skins fan. In which case, your team usually doesn't have a first round pick. Last 2 years being exceptions.
Even for skins fans there's drama this year, since I've been hearing rumors they'll pick Sanchez. If they do it will be just another sign that this is a deeply diseased organization more concerned with selling jerseys than winning.
I hate the Redskins.
Also, I find the draft pretty boring. Every 15 minutes some guy I may have heard of gets picked, followed by 15 more minutes of bliovating by a bunch of assholes. Not for me.
"bliovating"?
I don't know what that means but I think I agree with you.
I found it. "Blovate: to speak bombastically..." Good word.
The draft is crazy boring if you watch it full sale. I try to turn it on for about 5 minutes at the top of every hour to see who has been picked, see the dude sweating it out in the green room, and listen to the morons for a couple of minutes, see one pick get made, and then flip the chanel.
Also I heard this morning Sanchez was invited and said "Thanks but no thanks, I'de rather not look like a loser on TV for 5 or 6 hours..." if he is the guy that slides down this year. Personally I think he will be 10 times the QB Matthew Stanford is but that's just me...
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