The NFL Draft. Gambling at its finest. For every Peyton Manning(Pick 1, 1998), there is a Ryan Leaf(Pick 2, 1998). For every Edgerrin James (Pick 4, 1999), there is a Ki-jana Carter (Pick 1, 1995). Ask any NFL General Manager what the draft can do to make or break your career. After the Texans drafted Mario Williams over Reggie Bush and Vince Young in the 2006 draft, then-GM Charlie Casserly was literally run out of town, and resigned before the season had even started.
They say Matt Ryan is as close to a sure thing as you can get. Mel Kiper Jr Jr gave him his highest grade of the entire draft class, and Chris Berman already had 3 nicknames for Ryan before he had ever played a down, a draft-era record. In 1999, the first three picks were all quarterbacks. They were all considered to be can't-miss prospects. With the first pick, the Cleveland Browns took Tim Couch (Career Stats: 64 TD's 67 INT's 75.1 rating). After the Eagles took Donovan McNabb, who easily had the best career of any quarterback to come out of that draft, the Bengals took Akili Smith. Smith had 5 career touchdowns, and hasn't played a down since 2002.
So what makes Matt Ryan this "can't miss prospect"? Well, for starters, he's built like a quarterback. At 6'5", 218 lbs, he has the prototypical quarterback body. Although, he will have to bulk up a bit if he wants to say he's a 6'5", 240 lb quarterback with a laser rocket arm. Ryan became a full-time starter in his junior year at Boston College. Now maybe it's just me, but I'm curious about how 2 good years playing in the ACC can possibly equate to being a sure thing. That conference is nowhere near good enough to argue that Ryan can be a sure thing. Additionally, I'm sure we have some friends in College Park who would argue Ryan is overrated as well.
I'm not saying Matt Ryan won't have a fabulous NFL career, I honestly have no idea. But I'm a guy who has done no scouting, attended no pre-draft workouts, and conducted no Wonderlic tests on this year's draft class. And yet I know just as much about Matt Ryan's future as any NFL scout, General Manager, or coach around. The draft is the biggest gamble around, so as much of a "sure thing" as they say Matt Ryan is, ask Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, and Akili Smith what it means to be a "sure thing."
Speaking of gambling, I have a friend here that is the biggest gambler I've ever seen. In addition to being an absolutely outstanding poker player, he has put, by my count, at least 2000 dollars on sports this year. Yesterday, he was looking to make a big bet. He was feeling good, he said. So he asked me, if I was gonna make a big bet tonight, who would I take? After looking at the lines for last night's action, I told him to take the Lakers over the Nuggets. Sure, the Lakers were giving 4 and a half points, but the Nuggets have looked so bad, and the team is in such disarray, there was no way the Lakers were going to lose by more than 10.
At 9:00, I asked him what he had decided to do. He told me he had consulted with another friend from home, and he had also told him to take the Lakers. Saying that this kid was the worst sports gambler he had ever seen, he decided to take Denver. And he was confident enough to drop 200 on it. I told him this was the biggest sucker bet I've ever seen. Lo and behold, when the final buzzer sounded, the score was 107-101 Lakers, and my friend was $200 in the hole for the night.
I didn't see him for a little bit, and I figured he was just gonna crawl into bed and call it a night. But no, he had made a $300 deposit on Poker Stars. And yet, by around 3:00, that was gone, too. I've never seen someone lose that much money in so quick a time. He's got 5 classes today, but if I was a gambling man, I'd say he might just stay in bet all day. It's as sure a bet as the Lakers -4.5 over the Nuggets.
We're #1!!! We're #1!!!
This weekend, THE Quinnipiac University was involved in a #1, as well. No, we did not have a guy drafted #1, although this remains a mystery, as Quinnipiac University enjoyed yet another undefeated season in 2007. But rather, we had the Top Play on this morning's SportsCenter. Here's the play for those of you that didn't catch it (yes, I know I'm very clever). This makes the second time in 3 months QU has had the #1 play on SportsCenter.
You laughed. You scoffed at my decision to go here. "Corey," you said, "you're the biggest sports fan I know. How are you gonna go to school where there's no athletics whatsoever?" Well, to that I say... IN YO FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two top plays, how many of you can say that, huh? You can't touch this. You just wish your schools had half the athletic talent mine does. WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
(Ok, I'm done. Had to get that off my chest)
No ramblings this morning. I actually wrote this in class. Enjoy the shitty weather everybody.
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