The Best Reality Show On TV

I don't think there has ever been such a big disparity in anything than between people who love the NFL draft and people who hate it.  I fall into the former category, I think it's the most compelling reality television available.

First of all, you have to really like the NFL to appreciate the draft.  And after the first round, no matter where any of these kids are drafted and no matter what they do, they will all have at least $6 Million in the bank, plus a guarantee they will make the NFL team they were drafted to.

It starts in high school, all of those Friday Night Lights kids play their butts off to get an opportunity to play big time college football.  There are approximately 110 team Division 1 Schools, with approximately 90 or so scholarship spots open, so you are looking at 9,900 spots.  Of course this does not include Division 1AA, D2, D3, etc, but you get the idea.

You would have to think at least 1/3 of these 9,900 kids have been scouted by the pros even before the step foot on a college field.  So after 3 years out of high school, these kids can apply to the NFL for early admissions or they could stay and use their eligibility and go pro after 4 years.  Either way it doesn't matter, if they are ready, they will make it to the next level.

Than comes the Senior Bowl and the countless other show cases individuals have to show how NFL ready they are.  There are Combines where they are tested on all physical attributes, if an NFL is going to invest Millions of dollars onto these kids, they want to know what they are getting, the best thing about it, the NFL Network shows it all live, every kid, every position.  Think of it as American Idol audition without the editing, plus the NFL Network has their analysis grade the performances.

Than comes months of hype followed by the draft.  You finally get to see where these kids will get a tryout for the post college careers.  Some excel, Peyton Manning, some fail, Akili Smith and some surprise the system, Tom Brady And it all happens in front of your eyes.

Play Ball!!

We are just a few hours from the Marlins new ball park debut. Even though there were two games played in Japan last week, tonight is "Opening Night".

Here are my predictions for the upcoming season:
AL:
East - Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles
Central - Tigers, Indians, Royals, White Sox, Twins
West - Angels, Rangers, Mariners, A's
NL:
East - Phillies, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Braves
Central - Reds, Cubs, Brewers, Cards, Pirates, Astros
West - Diamond Backs, Giants, Dodgers, Rockies, Padres
World Series - Angels - Phillies

Number One And Done

Congrats to Coach Calipari and The Kentucky Wildcats for winning the National Championship. And while it's still fresh in everyone's mind, let me step up on my soap box and scream at the top of my lungs to David "it's time to retire" Stern. DAVID, wake up and look at the problem with the NBA and the NCAA! The NCAA is not your developmental league, you have one of those. It's time to take some of that money you make from your league and put it into a developmental league so high school kids who don't want to play in the NCAA don't have to. They can be drafted by a pro team and assigned to a minor league team for development.

The NHL and MLB do it very successfully and don't compare your league to the NFL. The time has come where you have a 40 team Developmental system with teams in cities like West Palm Beach, Trenton, Grand Rapids and Las Vegas. Each NBA team has their affiliate and the other 10 teams are made up of free agents and rookies. It's not hard, I think I could figure out the logistics, it's up to you to make it happen.

Oh yeah, NCAA, Stop the one and done. Please, all you are doing is cheapening your product. I know you want the revenue of these "superstar" high school kids, but trust me, people are enamored by College Sports and will buy Jerseys and etc for their team, ala Florida and Tim Tebow.

You'd think with all of the PhD's and Sports Marketing Guru's the NBA and NCAA employee, they can come up with a system that would not cheapen what we are watching now?