Gunzlingr
05-01-2003, 10:17 PM
_ THE NFL DELIVERED HUGE TV ratings for its annual draft, essentially no more than a name-calling marathon featuring men in suits.
_ _ _ _It is hardly the traditional TV ratings-grabber. Outside of the beer ads, there were no seminaked women. Moreover, you could have watched “Lethal Weapon” 1 through 4 in the time it took just to finish the first round. And throughout the endless ordeal—seven rounds and 262 picks (No. 263 will come when the Vikings finally make their first-round selection)—there was enough blather to make talk-TV mavens like Montel Williams and Ricki Lake appear downright Aristotelian. Every coach and G.M. mouthed the same platitudes, a certain kind of sports b.s. that, taken at face value, would have you believe that each team somehow conspired to land exactly the player they coveted most.
_ _ _ _Sounds like a turnoff, huh. Yet in my hometown of Boston, where for decades pro football ranked a distant fourth in fans’ affections, the draft actually outdrew the Celtics’ playoff win over Indiana. And it’s really not that hard to understand why. Given the dramatic single-season resurrection of recent Super Bowl champs like the Rams, the Ravens and the Patriots, it’s the gridiron that has become America’s true field of dreams. NFL fans have every reason to believe that good management, reflected in a shrewd draft, can be the path to glory—and indeed a rapid one. Who can quarrel with such unbridled optimism when sixth-round draft choices like Terrell Davis and Tom Brady, not to mention Arena League refugees like Kurt Warner, can emerge just a few seasons later as Super Bowl MVPs?
MORE (http://www.msnbc.com/news/907976.asp)
_ _ _ _It is hardly the traditional TV ratings-grabber. Outside of the beer ads, there were no seminaked women. Moreover, you could have watched “Lethal Weapon” 1 through 4 in the time it took just to finish the first round. And throughout the endless ordeal—seven rounds and 262 picks (No. 263 will come when the Vikings finally make their first-round selection)—there was enough blather to make talk-TV mavens like Montel Williams and Ricki Lake appear downright Aristotelian. Every coach and G.M. mouthed the same platitudes, a certain kind of sports b.s. that, taken at face value, would have you believe that each team somehow conspired to land exactly the player they coveted most.
_ _ _ _Sounds like a turnoff, huh. Yet in my hometown of Boston, where for decades pro football ranked a distant fourth in fans’ affections, the draft actually outdrew the Celtics’ playoff win over Indiana. And it’s really not that hard to understand why. Given the dramatic single-season resurrection of recent Super Bowl champs like the Rams, the Ravens and the Patriots, it’s the gridiron that has become America’s true field of dreams. NFL fans have every reason to believe that good management, reflected in a shrewd draft, can be the path to glory—and indeed a rapid one. Who can quarrel with such unbridled optimism when sixth-round draft choices like Terrell Davis and Tom Brady, not to mention Arena League refugees like Kurt Warner, can emerge just a few seasons later as Super Bowl MVPs?
MORE (http://www.msnbc.com/news/907976.asp)