8:03- ESPN has Chris Berman, Ray Lewis, Jon Gruden, and Mel Kiper on their coverage. Berman just wished Mel Kiper a Merry Christmas. Come on, we all know the NFL Draft is it's own holiday that celebrates the birth of Mel Kiper. You have to respect a guy whose entire career is based on the NFL Draft.
8:04- Roger Goodell takes the stage. I have to say, I prefer the days when the draft was just two days, Saturday and Sunday. It's nice to watch the beginning of the draft and not have to go to work the next day.
8:05- We get a Houston Texans number 1 pick draft montage. It consists of David Carr and Mario Williams.
8:06- The NFL Network is already in a commercial? What up with that? Terrible job out of them in that scenario.
8:07- Mel Kiper is opposed to the Texans taking Johnny Manziel because you can't get the tenth best player with the first pick. I'm not a Johnny Manziel fan, but if he's the best quarterback in the draft and a franchise quarterback, he's worth the first pick. A franchise quarterback is worth more than any other player. But it doesn't matter because they're going to take Clowney.
8:10- NFL Network has Rich Eisen, Marshall Faulk, Steve Mariucci, Michael Irvin, and Mike Mayock. Come on NFL Network, all you had to do was not have Michael Irvin on there and I'd go with your coverage. I'll go with Mel Kiper and put up with Ray Lewis rather than no Mel Kiper and having to put up with Michael Irvin.
8:13- Mel says you can find quarterbacks later such as Russell Wilson. Yes, but if you did that draft over again, Wilson would go second or third (Luck and maybe Griffin would go ahead of him).
8:15- Jadeveon Clowney goes number one. Can they just show the hit on the Michigan running back (fumble and helmet loss) over and over again? That was fun. I have no idea if this pick is right or wrong, but if there's a franchise quarterback in this draft, you'd rather have him than Clowney. But after a quarterback, a pass rusher is the next most important thing to have in today's NFL. I'll take a great pass rusher any day over a great corner back. There's one quarterback to sack and five receivers to cover. There's nothing an offense can do if they can't block a pass rusher. If a team has a great corner, you throw to any of the four eligible receivers not being covered by that corner (like Peyton Manning did against the Jets in the AFC Championship Game a few years back).
8:19- Jon Gruden likes the pick. When will the first pick that he doesn't like be? My guess is Saturday.
8:25- The Rams take Greg Robinson. After the quarterback, the left tackle is the next most important position on offense. The Rams already have
8:26- The murderer is talking about playing with Jonathan Ogden. My friend Pete is not a fan of the murderer either. Pete was part of a question I just gave on a test. The question was whether or not he could be president (I gave them Pete's background story). Most of my kids said no because he lives in England. The correct answer was no because he's not old enough.
8:28- Adam Schefter makes his first appearance. ESPN News should just have Frank Caliendo doing the draft as Berman, Gruden, Schefter, and Kiper. Does he do Kiper? I know he does all those other guys?
8:31- The Jaguars take Blake Bortles. Now, I've watched maybe 30 seconds of his college career, but doesn't this just sound like a guy who is destined to be the next Blaine Gabbert? Jon Gruden likes the pick. By the way, can't we just move the Jaguars to Los Angeles already?
8:34- We have our first trade. The Browns trade the pick to the Bills. The Bills went to the first four Super Bowls that I can remember. Since then, they lost the Music City Miracle game and that's about it.
8:37- The Bills take Sammy Watkins. He had better be really good to give up a first round pick next year. The Bills' pick could very well be in the top ten again next year.
8:41- Gruden thinks the Raiders should take Manziel. That would rekindle my hatred of the Raiders. The Raiders signing Justin Tuck has put a damper on that (so has their general crappiness over the last ten years).
8:42- The Raiders tack Khalil Mack. This is a guy I hadn't heard of until a month ago.
8:45- Jon Gruden actually doesn't seem too excited about this pick.
8:49- The Heat are up by three against Pierce, Garnett, and a bunch of other guys that I don't care about. Unfortunately, I'd be shocked if anybody other than the Heat won the East.
8:50- Um, sure, Berman, when Arthur Blank speaks, I listen.
8:51- The Falcons take Jake Matthews. I don't have any thoughts about this pick.
8:59- Tampa Bay takes Mike Evans. I like this dude. Whenever I watched Texas A&M, he just caught everything.
9:02- The Browns give up a fifth round pick to move up one spot. The Vikings get an extra fifth round pick. I like this move for the Vikings. I assume they'll get the player they would have taken at eight with the ninth pick and they get an extra pick out of it. This is kind of like a trade I would have made in Madden back in the day. I was all about accumulating draft picks.
9:04- The Browns take Justin Gilbert. The crowd is surprised. Mel Kiper doesn't like the pick. Were the Browns really worried about somebody else jumping ahead of them by one pick to take this guy? Weird move.
9:08- Pierce, Garnett, and a bunch of other guys are down by just two in the fourth quarter.
9:11- The Vikings take Anthony Barr. I was impressed with him whenever I saw him.
9:13- Barry Sanders will announce the next pick for the Lions. Barry Sanders was on Madden 25 last year. He says that fans will vote for the cover of Madden 15 for this coming season. Um, EA Sports has an interesting numbering system.
9:14- The Lions take Eric Ebron. He's one of these tight ends that's really a wide receiver.
9:16- Jon Gruden explains that a tight end plays tight on the end of the line. It sounds silly, but he's right.
9:18- Pierce, Garnett, and the other guys are down by ten now. Nuts.
9:22- The Titans take Taylor Lewan. BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
9:23- The Giants are on the clock. There's been some talk about them taking Zack Martin. I'd love to see them take a Notre Dame guy after they lost my favorite player in the NFL (Justin Tuck).
9:28- Jon Gruden likes Zack Martin. So do I. The pick is in for the Giants.
9:29- The Giants take Odell Beckham. Nuts. We're starting to get lots of shots of Johnny Manziel as his slide continues. Please let him go to the Cowboys. That would be fun.
9:38- The Rams take Aaron Donald. I heard a lot about this guy, but he wasn't very impressive against Notre Dame last year. Now let us never speak of that game again.
9:44- The Bears take Kyle Fuller. He's Jon Gruden's favorite corner in the draft.
9:47- The Steelers take Ryan Shazier. The Dallas Cowboys are on the clock.
9:51- Jon Gruden says Jerry Jones likes filling that big stadium. It's the NFL and they're the Cowboys. All they have to do is show up and they'll fill the stadium. The pick is in and Manziel is not on the phone. Maybe it's not him.
9:53- Nuts, Zack Martin goes to the Cowboys. I had the easy "What could possibly go wrong?" joke ready for the Cowboys taking Manziel. I don't like the Cowboys and now they've taken Notre Dame's best offensive lineman in a long time. But for Martin, I'm sure this is almost as exciting as when he was named the MVP of the Pinstripe Bowl.
9:57- We get the quarterbacks slipping in the draft montage, which really could have been longer. They only showed Aaron Rodgers and Geno Smith. Look at the 2005 Draft. Twenty-three guys went before Rodgers. One of the things I'm happiest about as a Jet fan is that the Jets weren't one of the teams that drafted somebody else over Rodgers (pretty sad that's one of the things I'm happiest about as a Jet fan). Their first pick was Mike Nugent in the second round, a reaction to Herman Edwards putting Doug Brien in a bad position in the playoffs in Pittsburgh a few months before the draft. There were some good players taken before Rodgers, but lots of teams wish they could have a do over in that draft. He should have been the number one pick. Anyway, the point is that if Manziel is really a franchise quarterback, a lot of teams have made bad decisions tonight.
10:04- The Ravens took C.J. Mosley. The Jets are on the clock. I want them to take a wide receiver. They signed Eric Decker, but they need more. Decker is a nice player, but how many yards will he lose by going from Peyton Manning to Michael Vick/Geno Smith? I'm going to say 250-400. He had 612 the year before Manning got to Denver and then 1,064 and 1,288 with Manning. I'm sure Decker got better, but Peyton Manning had a lot to do with the increase in yards.
10:05- No bad Jets draft pick montage? We also haven't had the thing where ESPN knows who the pick is and Berman just happens to predict it correctly right before it's announced yet.
10:09- The Jets take Calvin Pryor. I don't know much about this guy. Their safeties have been pretty crappy for a while, so let's hope he can play. You're not going to believe this, but Jon Gruden likes the pick. I'm just happy they didn't take Marqise Lee. I finally got rid of Mark Sanchez, I didn't want another USC guy. But that might have been different. The quarterback is the face of the franchise. And Marqise Lee might actually be a good player. It wouldn't have been as painful to root for him.
10:12- After one quarter, the Spurs lead the Blazers by three. The Heat won earlier. That series is over.
10:18- The Dolphins take Ja'Wuan James. "Juwan" was not a good enough spelling for his parents.
10:23- In an obscure sport known as "baseball," the Dodgers and Giants are scoreless in the bottom of the first. I mean, I love football, but ESPN sometimes acts like the other sports don't exist.
10:25- The Saints traded up and they take Brandin Cooks. He's a wide receiver from Oregon State who wore number 7. Number 8 on Oregon State is also a wide receiver and he is very tastefully named.
10:30- On the MLB Extra Innings package, the Dodger broadcast is on the same channel as the Orioles-Rays game, which hasn't ended yet. So I'm stuck with the Giant broadcast on another channel until the Orioles-Rays game ends. Lame.
10:34- The Packers take Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix. I refuse to call him by his nickname.
10:39- The Spurs just got an easy basket on a broken play. Of course they did. They lead by 18.
10:40- The Browns are back on the clock after trading with the Eagles.
10:41- "I think they take Johnny. I do." The murderer is bringing a lot to the broadcast tonight.
10:42- The Browns take Johnny Manziel. If he's a franchise quarterback, the Browns have had a great night. If not, they have a bunch of picks in the rest of this draft and next year also, so missing on a late first round draft pick isn't the end of the world. My friend Jon and his family are the only Browns fans I know. Jon's reaction: "I don't mind it at 22. He could be awesome."
10:49- Finally, the Orioles-Rays game is over and I can enjoy Vin Scully's call of the Dodgers against the team from Hippie Town. I might miss some draft picks watching baseball now.
10:52- The Chiefs take Dee Ford. I have no thoughts. Josh Beckett is through three without giving up any runs. He's been much better than I expected so far this season, but he doesn't have a win yet. Hopefully tonight is the first of many to come.
10:58- The Bengals take Darqueze Dennard. I remember this guy against Notre Dame. We couldn't throw against Michigan State, but we got some pass interference calls. We were the only team good enough to beat Michigan State last year.
11:02- The Draft, Spurs-Blazers, and Dodgers-Giants are all in commercials. It's the dreaded triple-Urkin.
11:03- We're back to the Draft. The Chargers take Jason Verrett. There's been talk of the Chargers as a potential spot for Louis Nix. If that happened, they'd probably be my second favorite team in the NFL.
11:09- The Eagles take Marcus Smith. Apparently he was the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. How did he last this long after winning a prestigious award like that?
11:12- Beckett is through four without allowing a run. The Dodgers need to score.
11:16- The Cardinals take Deone Bucannon. I've never heard of this guy. They need a quarterback considering the guy they have now hasn't been good since 2006. Yes, I'm biased, but it's true.
11:17- I think Vin Scully just said the Dodgers haven't led the league in stolen bases since 1970. Dee Gordon might have something to say about that this year.
11:18- The Panthers take Kelvin Benjamin. The Patriots are next. Please don't take Louis Nix or Stephon Tuitt.
11:26- The Patriots take Dominique Easley. Hopefully this won't work out well. I'm really looking forward to the end of the run for the Patriots. But this is a good time to remind everybody that the Patriots haven't won a Super Bowl since Charlie Weis left.
11:29- Ryan Vogelsong just doubled to lead off the fifth for the Giants. I was not saying boo-urns.
11:32- The 49ers take Jimmie Ward. I'll let you guess Jon Gruden's thoughts on the pick. I don't like the spelling of his name.
11:37- After giving up a lead off double to the pitcher, Beckett got three ground outs to get out of the fifth unscathed. Matt Kemp leads off the bottom of the fifth with a single.
11:38- The Broncos take Bradley Roby. I would love to see the Broncos get back to the Super Bowl and have a very different result this time. I've become a big Peyton Manning fan (after not being a fan at all for the first half of his career). Watching the Broncos lose to that scumbag Pete Carroll last year was not fun.
11:40- Speaking of that scumbag, the Seahawks are on the clock. Just to review, Pete Carroll won a college championship with a professional player on his team and he won an NFL championship with a defense full of guys who used steroids. Let's not forget this.
11:42- The Seahawks traded the pick to the Vikings. So for now I don't have to worry about the Seahawks taking Nix or Tuitt (thankfully Golden Tate is finally out of there).
11:43- The Dodgers scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Drew Butera.
11:45- The Vikings take Teddy Bridgewater. The Vikings have a lot of Notre Dame guys so I hope Bridgewater helps them win some games.
11:54- The Spurs are up by nine with just over four minutes to play. I think that's it for me tonight.
Tomorrow would be a good night for another running diary. We have rounds two and three. The Rangers are fighting for their lives in Pittsburgh (I'm not optimistic). The two more competitive series in the NBA will be back in action. And the Dodgers will be taking on the Giants again. But it's been a long week. I'm just going to relax, drink some Sam Adams, and watch everything on TV. I have to be up in about five and a half hours for work tomorrow. I'm going to fall asleep while listening to the sweet sound of Vin Scully's voice. As he would say, GoooOOOOooooOOOOd night everybody!
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