I’d just like to point out that the player that we were all told incessantly over the 48 hours of non-stop coverage of the NFL Draft was the “most NFL-Ready quarterback” in the entire 2008 Draft class just got beaten out by an unheralded 7th Rounder who most people thought would end up getting cut before training camp even started.

Just wanted to remind people that almost 100 percent of what you read immediatley after the draft is complete garbage. (And that goes double for draft grades )

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• Flynn Should Be the Backup

Sometimes, it’s hard not to get despondent.

You kiss your wife goodnight, explaining that you simply must respond to the latest salvo against your Packer-related reasoning, and hunker down at the computer, Firefox Bookmarks at the ready, and spend the better part of an evening putting together what you think is a fairly coherent, well thought out response to a fellow blogger taking exception to your hatred of futile instant grading of the NFL Draft.

You feel good about the post overall, though perhaps a bit disappointed you couldn’t quite work everything in that you really wanted to say, but overall, you think it’s an excellent post, full of passioned ideas that can better help explain your reasons for being, and I quote, an “Anti-Grade Zealot”. You head to bed, knowing that a response will follow at some point, but fairly sure you have at least opened an eye or two.

And then.

You read the response from your intended audience, and feel as though you have wasted a good part of your and his time, because it’s obvious that he is not the least bit interested in trying to learn why you’ve taken the position you’ve taken, and all the more interested in finding the “roots of my rage” (A phrase that is repeated yet again in Steve’s post - rage? Really? See, I would equate rage with, um, maybe, firebombing the NFL’s Park Avenue headquarters. That’s ‘rage’. Calling the instant grading of the draft bullshit? Not so much.)

It’s obvious we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one, (because goodness knows, if I can’t convince someone of my position in two posts, I never will…….that’s a joke…..) but I would like to point out what I consider the underlying difference between us, with the following quote from Steve’s latest missive:

Of course we can’t know whether the draft is going to be great right after the draft and of course readers know this.

So, in other words, he agrees with me, he just doesn’t mind engaging in useless exercises that only serve to waste the time of those involved.

Got it.

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• Blog Battle 2: Electric Boogaloo

Classic Ted quote:

I can’t explain what other people might say prior to the draft. I’m not saying it’s not interesting reading, but if you’re trying to do your job and you get caught up in that and Mel Kiper’s mock drafts, then all of a sudden you start drafting based on that. So we decided to stick with the football guy.

Amen.

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• A Word About the Draft

Steve over at PackerGeeks has taken umbrage with my tirade against the immediate grading of the draft and those that practice it.

As the kids say, “Oh, it is so on…”

After trying to work out some of his own childhood issues, Steve states that I never explain why I believe the giving of grades is an exercise in futility. Fair enough. Perhaps it’s because I start each post here at Cheesehead TV with the assumption that you, dear reader, are not an idiot. That every person compelled to follow a professional football team to the point where they check multiple blogs about their team is well aware of the tried and true axiom of needing to wait AT LEAST three years before one can truly begin to take stock of what transpired on draft day.

Steve then tries to engage in a game of ‘gotcha!’ by pointing out that if I don’t believe in grading a draft, how could I possibly be able to offer cogent analysis of various picks throughout the weekends’ proceedings, using my post labeling the Brohm pick a steal as his prime example of my double standard. The problem with this tactic, as I’m sure he is well aware, is that assigning value to individual selections is a much more subjective exercise (and therefore well suited to blogging) than giving out letter grades for an entire draft, with a universally agreed upon standard of what constitutes “A” through “F”. I’ll debate whether you think getting Brohm at #56 is a steal or not (mostly because it’s an argument I’d win) but to try and give a group of nine players one unifying ‘grade’, which attempts to encapsulate how the entire crop of selections have helped or hindered the fate of their respective franchise, when they haven’t so much as attended a mini-camp, is absurd. Or, to quote my original post, bullshit.

As for Steve’s noting that I never explain the “root of my rage”, well, there he has me. I think mostly it’s because the grading of drafts as they happen in real time (I mean, ESPN had a poll up immediately after the Brohm selection asking who would be the Packers’ starter by the end of the year…) is a crystallization of the Great Dumb Down that has held our country in a death grip and that shows no sign of stopping any time soon. I won’t pretend to have more lucid, laser-sharp insights into the “root of my rage” (Thanks Steve, loving that phrase!) or that I have some grand manifesto explaining the correlation of immediate draft grading and it’s effect on, say, the subprime mortgage crisis. (All I’m saying is Congress should investigate…;) I’ll just leave it as something unexplainable in my gut and beg Steve’s pardon that I can’t offer a better explanation.

I will, however, thank him ever so much for his kind words regarding my post about Day Two at Radio City. He is too kind.

UPDATE: Just for fun, have a look at this roundup of grades immediately following last years’ draft. Both teams that ended up in the NFC Championship got ‘C’s from Rick Gosselin. Both teams that ended up in the AFC Championship got ‘D’s. (Kiper gives them a C- and a C, respectively) Didn’t the Packers have key contributions from several rookies last year? Mason Crosby, James Jones and Justin Harrell all played pretty big parts. How many rookies contributed to New York’s title run? Bradshaw, Ross, Smith, Boss: the list of huge contributors to New York’s Super Bowl triumph is long. And apparently worthy only of a ‘C’.

Like I said, bullshit. Complete bullshit.

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• Why character issues matter

Why is it that people feel compelled to ‘grade’ the draft less than 24 hours after it’s completion? It is such an amazing exercise in futility, I simply can’t believe people A) Write them and B) Read them.

My favorite is the “I don’t like to give out grades, but if I HAD to…” which is truly the worst of the whole grading phenomenon. Look, you’re wasting time as it is, but at least grab the bull by the horns and declare “THIS IS MY GRADE FOR THE PACKERS DRAFT!”

But no, every year you can count on ridiculous pronouncements like this from Joe Arrigo over at PackerChatters:

I don’t like to give out a “grade” on drafts because you never know how any of these players will transition to the pro level.

Only to have it followed one paragraph later with this:

Since I feel forced to give a grade I will say a solid B+ with the possibility for this draft to be an A-

Really? Forced? The great unseen hands of ghostly Packer faithful have gotten to Joe again! What a crock. Man up and admit you’re dying to give a grade, despite the fact you KNOW it’s complete bullshit. That’s right, bullshit. And there are dozens of examples like this one (Brats & Beer Guy, you are spared my wrath only because you closed your post with a bottle of Leinie’s which is a damn fine gesture)

Come on, people. We’re smarter than this. Grades are for the fools at the draft who boo Thompson and the idiots who watch SportsCenter. It’s time to evolve…

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• Draft Eve Overview

Ok so the draft is over. I feel pretty good. Put that one in the “Wait 3 years to see bag” - we’re still trying to figure out 2005 draft based on Aaron Rodgers performance. Thank goodness for Youtube and the plethora of highlight videos from our current draft prospects. I’m sorry but looking at Jordy Nelson highlight videos made for a great weekend. We have 2 intriguing QB’s, a bump and run nickelback, 2 new additions to Six Wide (a new McCarthy offensive formation) and 2 versatile O-lineman.

What does any of this have to do with Tony Mandarich?

None of it. And that’s the point. Ted Thompson picks guys that live, eat, breathe football. Not Guns N Roses. What a colossal bust. Reading this article and reliving the pain I originally felt when I was 13 makes me very happy about this draft. Plus I wanted a chance to let Packer fans see this picture.

Can’t we all be happy that character issues matter in today’s NFL?

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• Memo To Thompson: Sign Tim Rattay

I’ll give more Packer-centric draft thoughts tonight/tomorrow, but right now I want to tell you about the brilliance that is Day Two at the NFL Draft.

I truly hope they never move the draft from Radio City, because every NFL fan should get to experience the NFL Draft in the venerable theater. It is truly one of the most mis-matched days, with the great unwashed that is the average NFL fan mixed in with the famous hall. I mean, nothing beats seeing a truly rotund man in a way-too-small Reggie Bush jersey buying 4 large pretzels, two hot dogs and a large Diet Coke, marching to a seat at the back of the hall and shouting out “Kiper sucks!” This was just a preview of some of the hilarious visuals I was to be treated to this afternoon.

The first thing to realize is that downstairs on Day Two is for the true draftnik. I saw a man in full Falcons regalia, listening to something in his headphones (presumably the ESPN feed) and keeping track of each pick on his own stopwatch. Seriously. Every. Single. Pick. I mean, thank goodness he was there in case the great big clock keeping track of each pick on stage broke down. After Stopwatch Man, I saw a couple of Steelers fans in the front row of the fan section who waved their ‘Terrible Towels’ when the Steelers were announced to be on the clock with their fourth round pick, only to be totally deflated when it was announced that the pick had been traded to the Giants. I will admit, however, that I didn’t know whether to be incredulous or impressed that they had brought the towels to wave for their teams’ draft picks…

Not to be outdone by the main floor, the mezzanine is where the less serious, but no less dedicated, fans congregate to talk smack to each other and shout at the television personalties. In my first visit upstairs (I kept moving around, looking for Packer fans to promote the site to…along with Rich Eisen, who I’m sure is now an avid reader after I gave him a CheeseheadTV business card) I walked straight into a verbal volley between two Browns’ fans who had ganged up on a lone Steelers fan. I also spoke with a truly gracious Bears fan (yes, they do exist) who was very despondent that the Bears did nothing to address their quarterback situation. I, of course, found it hard to conceal my glee.

I was in the auditorium for the Finley, Thompson and Stitton picks. But I have to tell you, it’s hard to be a Packer fan at the draft. You wait two hours for you teams’ pick to come, get on the clock, get all excited, and then it’s announced that the pick is traded. After three or four hours of that, you’re ready for a beer, which I left the theater to get along with a brilliant burger at the Heartland Brewery across the street (I highly recommend the Red Rooster Ale)

I’ll be reading what I can re: the newest Packers and giving you my thoughts as the week progresses. In the meantime, rest easy knowing that Stopwatch Man is out there keeping us safe from malfunctioning scoreboard timers…

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• Why character issues matter

Because they deserve their own playlist.

Packer Draft Highlight Videos

and if you find any feel free to add..trying to keep to most relevant.

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