Too Long

The 1st round of the NFL Draft took about 6 hours. 6 hours?!?!?! The first day didn't end until after 11pm on the East Coast. Do teams really need 15 minutes in the 1st round and 10 minutes in the 2nd round to make picks? Of course they don't, the NBA draft only allows teams 5 minutes in the 1st round to make picks. But the NFL Draft has become all about the ratings. And it's basically free publicity for the NFL since every team is featured, especially the teams that aren't as well known and aren't as good. Of course I watched gavel to gavel coverage, seeing where guys went. But I don't think it would hurt if things were shortened up just a bit.

I couldn't decide if I wanted Brady Quinn to get picked or not. If he got picked, then ESPN would've stopped talking about him. But if he didn't, he would have to sit and wait a little longer, and I was enjoying him suffer through the 1st round. I don't believe he will ever be an elite NFL quarterback. As proven in his senior season at Notre Dame, he needs pieces around him in order to be great. I don't think he's capable of putting a team on his back and carrying them to a championship. That said, I think the Browns did the right thing in trading up to get him because next year's quarterback crop won't be any better at the top than this year's. Right now, I only see Brian Brohm being better than Quinn.

I'm not sure why the Eagles took Kevin Kolb with their 2nd round pick, their 1st pick of the draft. Did they watch any Houston games? Houston's offense is basically backyard football with crazy formations, relying on deception to gain yards. Kolb is nothing more than a system quarterback who won't make it in the NFL. He has Andre Ware, David Klingler, and Tim Couch written all over him. The same is true for Jeff Rowe from Nevada, who got taken by the Bengals in the 5th round instead of Troy Smith. Rowe has the measurables Smith doesn't, 6'5 225. But Rowe played in the pistol offense, another quirky system that allowed him to succeed. So Smith wound up at Baltimore, where he'll probably end up as the #2 QB behind Steve McNair. The Bengals didn't have a terrible draft, but it was far from great. Why did they draft a Rudi Johnson clone in Kenny Irons? He's not a change of pace back, Irons does his work between the tackles.

And I loved how this year, ESPN would run updated mock drafts from their various analysts on the bottom of the screen like they were important. It seems like everyone has a mock draft nowadays. Maybe I should start doing one daily and it will become read daily along with the other draft fodder. Some of it is just outright ridiculous.

ESPN can show the clips of the bad New York Jets picks all day long and it will never get old. Also the commercial with "TJ Who's Your Mama", funny everytime it's on.

So April is over and May will begin this week. The days are getting nicer. Today was beautiful, especially good since the March of Dimes walk was this morning.

I've got the Sebastian Telfair movie on the tele. What a waste, very sad.

Let's Go Hokies

Usually at work, I have the stock ticker going with business and general news updates to keep me abreast of what's happening and if I should be aware of anything. Anything news-related will have some effect (small or large) on the economy. But yesterday morning I was busier than normal and didn't get a chance to look at the ticker. So I knew nothing until I turned on the news around noon during my lunch. I couldn't believe I was listening to an account of a school shooting worse than Columbine, one that was much worse in terms of numbers, I never thought it could get worse than Columbine.

But what was different was from then on, every 20-30 minute update saw an increase in the number dead and/or injured. The number stopped at 33 dead. My last year as an RA, I had 33 guys living in my corridor at some point or close to that number.

Then I heard one of the first guys shot was an RA, who may have been trying to break up a dispute between the shooter and his girlfriend. This hit me hard because I probably would've been shot in the same situation. I always had my door open so I could know what was going on (unless I was asleep or studying). If I heard arguments or loud noises in general, I emerged to see what was going on. I would've intervened in this particular situation so I could've suffered the same fate as Ryan Clark, who from all accounts I read was a great student leader.

There have been a lot of complaints about the delayed, ineffective communication of the first incident by VT's exec, helped by the media. I don't think they handled this part of the day ineffectively. At 7:15am, I'm sure exec were still arriving for their workday. Plus, you don't want to incite panic, so you want to obtain as much information as possible. And, it takes emails sent on listservs time to circulate.

I do think there should've been more of a security presence on campus from campus police, SWAT, Blacksburg police, even maybe the cadets there. I don't think a lockdown of campus was possible by 9:30, but a presence on some of the main areas and quads may have deterred the 2nd incident. Plus, they would've been available to communicate the situation to students as they went from 8am classes to 9am classes.

Even with that, I don't think the criticism should be as harsh as it has been. I'm sure (I hope) Virginia Tech had a plan for a situation that called for a lockdown. But it's hard to imagine something of this nature happening. The media has overcriticized the staff and their decision-making, it's very easy to Monday morning quarterback.

The media also did a very poor job in highlighting the gunman's nationality. I like Keith Olbermann when it comes to sports, but with news, I usually don't agree with him and in the case of last night, he really got it wrong. He opened his Countdown program with a report from the Chicago Sun-Times from an unconfirmed source that the gunman was a "Chinese national". Whoever watched interepreted "Chinese national" as Communist who hates America and shares strong national feelings with China. An obvious negative connotation. Then today, a majority of the news organizations led with the fact the gunman was a South Korean resident alien (before saying his name). "Chinese national" or "South Korean resident alien" shouldn't be the first words out when describing someone. It's like saying, "Well, he wasn't American, Americans aren't capable of this. He hates America. He's sending a message. Those darn Chinese or Koreans, etc." I think that's just terrible.

I've been busy all day today so I'm still getting updated on what's transpired just today. I did get to see clips of the morning convocation where students were dressed in school colors as if they were going to a sporting event. Virginia Tech is one of the toughest places to play, especially when it comes to night football games because of the energy and passion the students have for their teams. I thought it was great when they chanted, "Let's Go Hokies." From now on, I will always root for Virginia Tech.

Pray for all the victims and their families and for those effected.

Off-Season

Thank you to Florida for giving me my first national champ in 5 years. It will be at least another 20 years until we see another repeat champ. What Florida accomplished is rare in this day and age. Just look at how many coaches changed jobs in the last couple of weeks. Billy Donovan could've left, he didn't. Florida's "04s" could've left after last year, they didn't. Now, they could've come back next year but that wasn't going to happen and it wouldn't have been the right decision. As much as I'm for guys coming back, the pressure on those guys would've been ridiculous and they would've been risking a lot. And credit to Ohio St. for making Florida play to a high level. With OSU playing a strong game, they brought out the best in Florida.

But the off-season has begun as far as I'm concerned. I put the NBA and NHL playoffs but I really don't have a vested interest in either. Although the article on Chris Drury in SI was great, you should read it if you get a chance. The guy has worked himself into the player and person he has become and he's a winner. Of course, all the pressure in the world's on him now since he's playing for Buffalo, who have never won anything.

Actually, I like putting the Tigers on and reading, that combination works pretty well. I feel bad for them too because expectations are so high after what happened last year. Again, it's tough to repeat. It'll be a great accomplishment if they can. I must admit, I'm not a fan of the Gary Sheffield signing, I wasn't from the beginning. He took a spot away from Marcus Thames and Chris Shelton who deserved some PT.

And Prince William has broken up with girlfriend of Kate Middleton to the delight of every British (and global) female. I've read a number of articles on the breakup because I think Kate is lovely and seems like an intelligent, fun girl, someone I would like. Putting all the information together, it sounds like things were already a little rough after Wills graduated from Sandhurst and went off with the military to his training ground. Then he gets caught with his hand in a compromising spot on a girl's breast. Plus, he took a girl back to his barracks and participated in a drunken escapade with some of his military buddies. It sounds like Kate wasn't too thrilled about this and confronted Wills, the boy who can do no wrong in the eyes of most. The result of the dialogue was Wills wants to be single and "doesn't want to be pressured into getting married".

There are now other things emerging such as Kate's middle-class background not fit for the Prince and how some of the royal family didn't approve of her. There's the royal family's fear of another Charles/Diana fiasco (like father, like son, Wills and Harry seem to be doing a good job of that). There's William's military commitment and some other things that will probably come out, thanks to those lovely British tabloids.

But I give kudos to Kate for not settling to be William's lady-in-waiting (sorry, couldn't think of a better term). She put a lot on the line in confronting William, which puts her high up on my list. I guess a couple of years ago, they actually took broke up but William wanted her back and got her. Kate, stay strong, you deserve better. Plus, the latest pics of William haven't been that flattering. Besides the compromising pics, he's losing his hair and the beer is going straight to his gut.

Friday night, I had the local golf club's front 9 to myself. 5:30pm, 50 degrees, sunshine with some wind, which probably drove people away, but not me. Since it was just me, I got to play 2 balls and practice all kinds of shots on the course, which is definitely more helpful than just hitting balls on the range. And I love playing late in the day, so peaceful, so relaxing.

If you're in the Northeast, hopefully you're not under water. Good luck to all those running the Boston Marathon, you're going to need it tomorrow.

Gators or Buckeyes?

Repeat or revenge? Well, only revenge for the millions of Ohio St. alums who are still replaying the football game in their mind every day (and believe me, there are plenty of those people). Florida is 40 minutes from making history. On the other side, Mike Conley and Greg Oden are 40 minutes from winning another championship together.

What's going to happen?

When Ohio St. has the ball:
Ohio St. must make this a half-court game and pick and choose when to get into transition. In the first meeting, when the pace became more frenetic, Florida had the edge. Mike Conley must be able to dictate the pace of the game, so he must be able to penetrate and score or create for others. If he can't penetrate, OSU will be settling for jump shots, which has been their downfall, including the 2nd half of the Florida game. Ron Lewis will have to go against Corey Brewer. In December, Lewis was just 3/10, 1/4 from 3; Brewer was 7/13. And of course, Greg Oden has to find a way to not get into early foul trouble, which has happened in OSU's last 4 games. Without Oden, OSU has to rely further on Conley to penetrate, which is a lot for one guy to handle against a good defensive team like Florida. Oden has to come up big in order for OSU to have a chance. In the first meeting with one hand basically, he was just 2/6 shooting, scoring 7 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. He didn't get his first rebound of the game until very late in the 1st half. He will go against all of Florida's bigs because I don't think they will mind getting caught on switches since Florida's bigs all bring something different to the table. Horford and Richard are physical while Noah is long and can block shots with regularity.

When Florida has the ball:
If Green and Humphrey make shots, Florida wins without question. Green must be able to handle Conley's ball pressure. I looked at the stats from the 1st meeting and divided it into two parts: the 40-40 game, then the 46-20 Florida run to end it. In the first 23 minutes that were even, Green was 3/6 shooting, but had 4 turnovers to just 1 assist. During the Florida run, he was 6/6 shooting, including 3 triples with 1 assist and 0 turnovers. Humphrey will be guarded by Butler and must make shots. If he puts the ball on the floor, he's a turnover waiting to happen. I don't see OSU playing zone unless Oden gets in foul trouble and I don't see them double teaming the post either (did UCLA learn anything from last year?). If Florida takes care of the ball and their guards make shots, I just don't see them losing.

Ohio St. has to play their best game of the year to win. Florida doesn't, their margin of error is bigger than OSU's. If Green and Humphrey can't hit shots and they turn the ball over, then it will be close, but Florida can still win. But if Oden gets in foul trouble and Conley can't dictate the pace of the game, OSU can't overcome that.

One thing Florida won't be familiar with is how well OSU is playing now with/without Oden, they've learned to better balance the inside/outside game. And OSU is quick, especially on the defensive end, they can give Florida's guards trouble as they did for some of the 1st meeting.

But Florida can smell it, and they've gotten better with each game in the tournament. One big advantage they have on the Buckeyes is their size. Florida put on an offensive rebounding exhibition last night and they could do it again with OSU's lack of frontcourt size. During Florida's 46-20 run in the 1st meeting, the Gators shot 19/24, OSU was just 8/26. They had 9 assists in those last 17 minutes, equal to the 9 they had in the first 23 except they committed just 4 turnovers during their run compared to 12 in the first 23 minutes.

If both teams play their absolute best, Florida will win. OSU will have to try and do something to bring Florida down to their level.

By the way, OSU should send Jeff Green a thank you card for not showing up last night. How can the Big East player of the year take just 5 shots?!?!?! OSU had no one who could guard him. David Lighty did a pretty good job on him, but Green is a junior while Lighty is a freshman. Green should've been demanding the ball more. He didn't get shut down, he shut himself down. I did think OSU's quickness bothered Georgetown, but some of their turnovers weren't caused by OSU's defense, Georgetown was very careless with the ball.

The second game was well, a lot like last year's title game. Florida didn't put on a clinic, but they played awfully well, except for the last few minutes when they lost some of their working margin. UCLA played great defense at the start, not allowing Florida to make a shot until the 12 minute mark. But at that point, UCLA was only up 6-5. Uh oh. UCLA's big guns were in foul trouble and when they weren't in foul trouble, they couldn't score. UCLA thought they could win, Florida knew they were going to win.

Hopefully it's a good game tomorrow night. I'll be rooting for Florida since they're my bracket champ.