Too Much NFL Draft

Mel Kiper: NFL Draft guru

Hello everybody, I want to apologize for the long gap between this post and my last one. With the school year winding down I had quite a bit of homework to do, but now it's bloggin' time once again! Last night ESPN televised the first round of the NFL Draft in primetime and there were quite a few surprises. The NFL and the NBA are two exciting drafts to watch, especially to a die-hard fan. The casual fan can probably make it through two days of the NFL Draft and can probably watch the entire NBA Draft since it is only two rounds. However, the NFL Draft is the most overhyped thing in sports. Seriously, the Super Bowl ended nearly three months ago and ever since the final seconds ticked off ESPN has had Mel Kiper and Todd McShay analyzing the draft. Who cares what they have to say?!?! It's unbelievable how two guys can get a job off of guess work. Again, I think the NFL Draft is fun to watch but I don't need the hype and analysis for three months leading up to the event.

Mock drafts are silly because they are never true. Sure, they are fun to read but does the world really need a new one from ol' King Kiper every single week? Hold on, don't think to hard because I can answer that one for you-- NO. I can handle the analysis the week before the draft and during draft day but the mock drafts every week for three months and the constant Sportscenter segments irk me. Yet, I shouldn't be surprised that's how it is because that's the way ESPN operates these days. The sports juggernaut can't simply report on a story. They must drill it into the viewer's head with every single minute detail they can possible give. They have given a new meaning to the term "maximum coverage" and that's not necessarily a good thing. There was so much coverage on the draft last night that ESPN was scrolling tweets from NFL players at the bottom of the screen. That's the sort of thing where I just want to say stop. We can only handle so much coverage, so much opinion and so much analysis. ESPN throws so much at it's viewers that it becomes irritating and boring. By the time tomorrow rolls around we don't even want to talk about the topic with our friends or the people at the workplace. The subject seems worn out.

LeBron James on ESPN for The Decision

This summer may have been the worst ever for two reasons. The Brett Favre Saga and the Miami Heat Big Three being assembled. ESPN had a field day with both stories and was even generous enough to televise The Decision live with LeBron James and Jim Gray. Gosh, that was great to see LeBron sitting on stage with little kids (who he donated money too) sitting all around him and Jim Gray, the only broadcaster with low enough standards and morals to appear on the show, interviewing him. The event became a complete mockery and the famous line, "I'm going to take my talents to South Beach," will forever be etched into our minds. Just when you thought that was the worst of it, it got worse! ESPN showed highlights of the Heat's big bash to introduce their three superstars and Sportscenter was clogged with stories on Miami. Every single person seemed to have an opinion and ESPN was their platform to speak about the Heat.

Around the same time, Brett Favre was going through his annual dilemma on whether to play football or not. Looking at the calender I would say in about exactly two weeks we could hear from Favre saying that he wants to come back this upcoming season. Last summer was the worst it has ever gotten with teammates going down to Mississippi to basically kidnap Favre and bring him to Minnesota. ESPN was there for that and Ed Werder followed Favre around like a lost puppy, broadcasting his every move to the world. Finally when a decision had finally been made the analysts could come out and start guessing where the Vikings would finish.

It was an unbelievable time for The Worldwide Leader in Sports and one that, for me at least, wrecked public opinion of the company. ESPN has almost become the sports reality network and no small detail slips by them. The Heat's tears, Brett's nude pics and Cam Newton's latest workout are all covered 24/7 for all fans. Again, I love to watch the draft and I love to watch sports but ESPN has gone too far with their coverage. It's one thing to be The Worldwide Leader but stop throwing so much information at fans about one topic. To all my readers: have fun watching the next three days of draft coverage. After that, Mel Kiper will go back into hibernation until next February.