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Bless you, Homer J.

lol

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The thing that’s so great about the zombie season is we all play “what-if,” like “what if LeVeon and D-Will hadn’t been injured,” and then we match wits with the Second Sage of Baltimore (Mel Jr), and we all guess whether some cornerback from the Sam Houston Institute of Technology has the smarts to play in the NFL. Our guess is as good as his.

Of course, there are four words that quicken the heartbeat of any snowbound lout during a twenty-inch snowfall. Those words, of course are, “pitchers and catchers report,” which they do in a little over a week. So there is hope, no matter what Punxsutawney Phil – or Potomac Phil – have to say tomorrow.

The combine, free agency, and the draft are enough to keep us hooked. They’re sorta like the methadone that maintains us during the off-season, until camp opens and we can get back to the real stuff.

Homer, by the way, will be at Potomac Phil’s appearance tomorrow at Dupont Circle. Several years ago, he created a minor political scandal by wearing a baseball cap with hypocycloids while all the other “dignitaries” wore top hats. It made the Washington Post. So this year, instead of a burberry scarf, he will wear a Terrible Towel. It is the miracle textile, with a thousand uses.

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More on Mel —

Living out side the United States as I do means I don’t get to see much of Mel Kipper Jr.

And I agree — the way he runs down a particular pick, in his manner that brokers no doubt, is hard to take at times.Your point about him regrading the Steelers 2016 draft is a perfect case in point — my Lord, that’s insane to down grade a draft where all of the players but one are still with the team.

As I’ve mentioned, at this point in 1990, the Steelers 1989 draft looked pretty damm good. I know I remember hearing one commentator compare it to 1974 (this was before I really realized what that comparison implied.) The draft did bring the Steelers some quality players (Carnell Lake, Jerry O chief among them) but there was a lot of fools gold there.

With that said, I think the “content monster” also works as a double edged sword. I’ve seen bloggers go back and look at some of those instant post draft grades, and expose them for what they are (you and I both did something similar like that on Mark Madden and the Steelers 2003 Draft.)

More of this is needed…..

And quite frankly, I’d like to see the Mel Kippers and Mike Maycok’s do some of it to themselves. I’d have a lot more respect for them. (One thing I always liked about David Broder of the Washington Post. Ever year in between Christmas and New Years, he’d write his annual “Goofs” column where he’d call himself out for things he was wrong on.)

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Nor is it true that the actions of some within the league (Steelers excluded, thank goodness) are in no way influenced by public perception. Many fans and media figures clearly think so and campaign passionately in response to ‘guesswork’ being presented without disclaimers as if gospel. Maybe it would make no difference whatsoever in the popularity of this if it was absolutely clear that this is just a guy making a guess, but somehow I get the impression that someone is perfectly happy that the lines might be blurred.

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Honestly, while I’ve thought of many of the points you’ve brought up here, I don’t know that I’ve ever really associated a “Dark Side” to the NFL’s post 1992 growth into a year long or at least 10 month long sport. The truth is that legitimate news events (free agency) filled a yearning for information about football. I’m old enough to remember a time where, January through July, one had to scower the pages of the Washington Post to get any information about football.

And I must say, as a fan and now a writer, I’m glad those outlets exist.

Still, you’re right.

If in the 1990’s and the beginning of the 00’s we now had legitimate news and mediums to consume them, the truth is that the industry has evolved to the point where we’ve got content for the sake of content. The proliferation of Mock Drafts is a great example.

As as simple exercise, Mock Drafts are fun, kinda like filling out a March Madness bracket.

And I’m sure that if you go back to the pre-internet age, you can probably find mock drafts going back to at least the early 1970’s.

But of course any successful idea gets overused in this copycat word of the internet. So about a year ago, someone mocked the Steelers picking Gerod Holliman in the first round. The Steelers did take him. In the 7th round, and the kid didn’t even make an NFL practice squad.

As I said in a comment above, the NFL I think actually realized that moving the draft to mid-may was too much. I mean, there was nothing to talk about. I even remember reading seeing a headline on BTSC saying, “Steelers get Grace “C+” for latest XXXX Mock Draft….”

…Yes, that’s right. Someone took the time to give grades to a team’s performance in a mock draft, and then someone else sought fit to take time to write about that….

Anyway, you raise a very valid point. The nature of where we are today is that we now have beasts that need to be fed 24/7. And that leads to quality scarified to quantity.

Fortunately, there are sites like this one that focus on the quality.

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