After a (not so brief) hiatus...

I'm sick of the NFL Draft. Will I watch it tonight? Yes. Will I enjoy it? Maybe. Am I a fan of all the fanfare and speculation that goes along with it? Absolutely not. As a lifelong NFL fan, I enjoy almost every aspect of the league and the sport. I love the games, and I don't even mind those mid-week predictions we see on ESPN. But, people in this country have become all-too-obsessed with the NFL during the offseason months, and as a result of this, we see this godforsaken Draft speculation. I Hate Every Part of It. The combine. The single most overrated week in sports. Literally, the combine means nothing. Sure, my favorite player Chris Johnson might not have been a first round pick without his 4.24 forty yard dash, but that is not the point. The Combine has been brought to legendary status amongst sports fans and pundits alike, and I just don't get it. Combine results rarely equate to how good a player is (see Heyward-Bey, Darrius). Then there's the "Mock Drafts" and the "Big Boards," two great wastes of space on ESPN's website. Do I read them? Once in a while. Do they mean anything? No. Once again, it's all speculation. Lastly, it is the Draft itself. Prior to a few years ago, the Draft maintained some integrity. But, with the simple switch of moving it to primetime (and having only the first round on that first day), it lost a lot of respect points in my book. The NFL is a form of entertainment, and I get that, but shouldn't the league at least attempt to maintain some of its tradition. I want to sit on my bed and watch the whole thing unfold on a Saturday afternoon, not for a few hours on three consecutive days. Players like Torrey Smith who have been projected (yeah, I know, projected. I never denied reading them. I read Bleacher Report too. I'm not saying it's correct or anything) as a borderline first round pick might have to wait an extra 24 hours to get selected. It's garbage if you ask me. So to you Mr. Goodell, before you make anymore unnecessary changes, and to you Mr. Kiper, before you put on your next coat of hair gel, think about the integrity of the sport. Do not water it down with useless and trivial fillers to pass the time. Watch some March Madness or MLB in the meantime. Just please don't ruin America's Game.