We're approaching 3 AM

.... in Denver but the blog is willing to bet that Nuggets stars Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony are still out on the town despite this being the eve of Game 4 of Denver's first round playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers. This blogger is making a wild prediction for that game: back and forth for the first 3 quarters, the Lakers will make a run and open up a lead, and the Nuggets will pack it in. Break out the brooms and fathers be sure to keep a close on your daughter's as Kobe's going to have something to celebrate on Monday night.

The NFL Draft wrapped up on Sunday afternoon with the St. Louis Rams selection of Idaho LB David Vobora. I had 10 dimes on Mr. Irrelevant being an offensive player so that was a bit of a blow. It took me a long time to get that much down too, what with Bodog's limit of "To Win 10 Bucks," but whatever. I may need to switch to Fezzik's book which was reportedly taking up 500 grand on that prop.

For the record, ESPN describes Vobora as a "physical linebacker who plays with a mean streak." In other words, he is slow and white. I wish someone would compile an official translation guide for all NFL draft terms. For instance, "tremendous upside" means that a player is very talented but so far has been too stupid to put it together. "Lacks athleticism" means that a player is white. "Heady" means that a player sucks, and so on....

As promised, I will now break down the draft. At least the draft for the 4 NFC East teams.

If you'd like another team's breakdown, shoot me an e-mail or call my hotline. We can work something out.


Dallas Cowboys

Best Pick: Mike Jenkins, CB, South Florida

This 1st round pick makes a lot of sense to me. Jenkins is a fine backup plan in case Pac Man Jones is arrested this season which is probably about a 60/40 proposition.

Worst Pick: Tashard Choice, RB, Georgia Tech

This 4th round pick seems dumb to me. ESPN describes Choice as a a player who "doesn't have breakaway speed and will put the ball on the ground." And they already drafted RB Felix Jones in the 1st round. And they already have a Pro Bowl RB in Marion Barber III, who is actually really good. Nice pick, Jerry.

Final Grade: A-

They had an extra first round pick because they somehow talked the Browns into giving them a 1 for Brady Quinn last year. That alone gets them my highest NFC East draft grade.


Philadelphia Eagles

Best Pick: I'm not particularly crazy about any of the players Philly got but I loved the trade they pulled off with Carolina. This was by all accounts a relatively weak draft and the Eagles managed to get the Panthers 2009 1st rounder and pick up several picks in this year's draft in exchange for the 19th pick this year. Keep in mind that Carolina is one injury to Jake Delhomme away from starting something named Matt Moore at QB. Plus Delhomme sucks. This move may look pretty awesome next April.

Worst Pick: Jack Ikegwouno, CB, Wisconsin

I don't even know where to begin with this one. Ikegwuono is out for the season with a torn ACL. He has never had great speed and teams were concerned about his ability to play corner in the pros BEFORE the injury. And to make matters worse all the talking heads on NFL Network were gushing about what a steal he was. I'll set the line right now at 'pick' whether this guy ever plays a down in the NFL outside of special teams.

Final Grade: B

I didn't like their draft but all the moron Eagles fans hated it so it must be better than it looks. Carolina's 2008 season will go a long way to determining how good this draft really was for Philly.


Washington Redskins

Best Pick: Chad Rinehart, G, Northern Iowa

He's big, he's strong, and he's neither a WR or TE. I love this pick.

Worst Pick: Fred David, TE, USC

The Redskins have holes at almost every position on the field so they traded down to acquire extra picks in the draft. Makes sense. What doesn't make sense is turning around and using one of their 3 2nd round draft choices on a position where they already have a Pro Bowl player (Chris Cooley) who is 26 years old. Unbelievable. You know a pick is bad when it can be considered the worst pick of the draft by a team that takes Colt Brennan.

Final Grade: C-

Why do I feel like I could do a better job running this team than the braintrust of Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato?


New York Giants

Best Pick: Kenny Phillips, S, Miami (FL)

The Giants needed a safety after losing Gibril Wilson to the Raiders in free agency. So they calmly waited until it was their turn to pick and drafted the best safety in the draft. Makes sense to me.

Worst Pick: Andre Woodson, QB, Kentucky

There must be something wrong with him if he fell all the way to the 6th round. Plus he jeopardizes fellow UK grad Jared Lorenzen's roster spot. Not to mention the fact that I wasted almost 5 minutes trying to figure out how to put an accent mark over the "E" in his name. No, I am not happy about this pick at all.

Final Grade: B-

I can't believe this garbage team actually won the Super Bowl.


Damn, that is a lot of blogging and I have't even made any picks for Monday or mentioned Jorgen. Yes, there's Jorgen's name. You can all stop skimming down now. I'll make a few jokes about him. Try to contain yourselves. The "Name Jorgen's First Born Son" contest is still going on and the name "Gunnar" seems to be in the clubhouse pacing around nervously like a young Ryan Moore. Let's see who can top that one. Working with the golf theme, how about Jesper (pronounced Yesper) as in the golfer Parnevik? Yesper Yohnson. We're also accepting boxing names, since Jorgen has consistently proven himself to be something of a boxing oracle. How does Cassius Johnson sound? I wonder if Dan's library has a big book of Swedish boxing names....

I did so much damn blogging tonight I had no time to thoroughly research Monday's baseball games. Fortunately, it's really, really easy to pick AL winners and I've unearthed this gem, as well as 2 other plays:

Oakland A's (AL Lock of the Day)

Boston/Atlanta Under

Flyers


The blog went 3-2 on Sunday with winners on the Jays, 'Rats, and Stars. The Rangers and 'Zards were losers. Hope for better things on Monday.

As for the trivia section, I'll give you all a second chance to answer this question because I think it's a good one:

Trivia Question for Sunday/Monday - Dave Winfield was drafted by 4 professional sports leagues. Name them. Bonus point(s) for naming any/all of the teams or what college he went to.



Enjoy the game.