The 78th Annual NFL Draft

This time last year I was getting the itinerary to fly on Dan Snyder’s private jet and attend the NFL draft live in Radio City Music Hall. (One of the coolest experiences of my life!) This year the NFL draft wont be as exciting watching from my couch and waiting until Friday for the 51^st pick for the Redskins to be on the clock.

The mock drafts have the Skins filling the safety position first. Even with salary caps the one thing Redskins fans can always count on is never knowing what Snyder will pull out of his bag of tricks. So until Snyder’s magic show begins, I’ll be rooting for the VOLS.

The University of Tennessee has several prospects that defined a season full of making great plays and a season full of dropping routine passes. Untimely, WR Cordarrell Patterson will be a first rounder (or he is projected to be) and the VOLS should see other alum drafted as well.

The controversy over Cordarrelle Patterson is that he only spent one year of playing at the college level for the University of Tennessee under Dooley’s debacle of a program. The lack of having a real coach or even a full SEC college football experience has left CP’s raw talent still untapped making him a risk and steepens the margin for being a draft hit or miss. Personally, I hope CP turns out to be a stud (just as long as he doesn’t end up in a Eagles jersey). He is an electric player to watch. He’s still a kid, he needs a solid foundation to mature and ripen, but when and if that happens- he’ll have a winning career in the NFL.

OT Dallas Thomas is projected to be a second rounder along with wide receiver Justin Hunter. WR Zach Rogers is also expected to have his name called.

The one player I was excited to announce that he was forgoing his senior year of eligibility was QB Tyler Bray. Don’t get me wrong, the kid has a cannon and he can hit his targets. But he’s not a mobile QB and with the new hire of Butch Jones’s spread offence it was a win for both Bray and UT. The issue with Bray is that he is a gun-slinging gambler with no protection plan. He called his own shots in the huddle and while he made great plays, he couldn’t win in the SEC and VOLS fans will always remember that he never beat Florida. Great players preform at crunch time and Bray gambled more than he played smart. With the right mentor and someone to beat the cocky-ness out of him, he might be more humble and learn to play with his head and his arm. Bray doesn’t have the Brett Favre charm to pull off being so cocky. The smartest sentence Bray has ever said was acknowledging during Gruden’s QB camp was that Tennessee football was a religion in Tennessee and I’ll support anyone who worships the same sports gods as I do.

I was in Atlanta last weekend and happened to be at the same bar/restaurant as Georgia OLB and first round draft prospect, Jarvis Jones. The server told me he didn’t drink so I sent him a Shirley Temple. To my surprise, he found my joke as funny as I did and even posed for a picture with a VOLS fan. He’s in the SEC family so naturally I respect him and I’m rooting for the coolest dawg I know to hear his name called on Thursday night.

But where will Manti To’e fall into the draft? AJ McCarron’s girlfriend had more airtime during the National Championship game than Notre Dame had possession of the ball. To’s individual performance was a reflection of being exposed by the SEC. To’e was invited to attend the draft, but he declined. I guess he wanted to stay at home and watch the draft with his girlfriend…

Plan B

Louisville vs Michigan; Kevin Ware vs. the Fab Five- so many reasons to watch the NCAA National Championship game.

Even if your bracket is busted, the story lines leading up the NCAA Championship game made it a game worth watching. And what a game it was. This was definitely one of the best National Championship games I’ve ever seen.   

The Fab Five just can’t let go of that famous timeout that continues to haunt Chris Webber. ESPN Films story of the Fab Five was a great insight, history and understanding of how they changed the game. But the one element missing was Webber himself. Fab Five member Jalen Rose pleaded to get Webber in Atlanta with the rest of the crew to support the efforts to “free the fab five”, break the curse, and win a National Championship. As the starting line for up Michigan was being announced, in walked Webber. I wasn’t ready to see him in a UM hat rooting to break the curse- I personally love to hear Jalen Rose rant every year about Michigan winning the Championship. As he stood tall, clapping I knew this was going to be a battle.

But this game was all about Plan B.: Mr. Cool Hand Luke Hancock. Maybe he was playing the game as a backup for injured Ware, but he was playing to win in front of his ill father who made the trip from Roanoke, VA to see him be crowned as the Most Outstanding Player. As Louisville was down by 12 points in the first half Pitino sent in Hancock. He made two free throws and then boom, boom, boooom, BOOM! Four straight 3-pointers and 14 straight for Louisville on a 16-3 run gave the Cardinals a one-point lead. This wasn’t the first time the Cardinals came back from double digits to win in Atlanta. As Louisville’s best scorer, Russ Smith went 3-16 in the final and an ugly 9-33 in the Final Four, Pitino knew how to play his Cards right. Hancock ended the game with the team high 22-points and will be a legend in Louisville. Siva shined with 18 points and had enough energy to play another 40 minutes. Behanan also put 15 points on the board for the Cardinals.

This wasn’t the week to rain on Louisville Coach Pitino’s parade. The same day he was cutting down the nets he found out he would be a member of the Hall of Fame, became the first coach to win a National Championship with two schools, and his son was named the head coach at Minnesota.

Michigan was left feeling the blues as Webber is still settling his pay-to-play days from Michigan; Louisville used plan B to ri5e to the occasion and giving Kevin Ware the chance to cut down the nets was priceless.

Louisville girls play to the championship Tuesday night against UConn- and seriously, anybody but Geno! 

Play For Ware

With 6 minutes and 33 seconds left in the first half of Sundays Elite Eight game Louisville's Kevin Ware, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard broke his right tibia bone in two places trying to defend a shot by Duke's Tyler Thornton. 

His leg was quickly covered. But the reaction from the team was as raw and real as the bone popping out of Ware's shin. Teammates Smith, Blackshear, and Behanan all fell on the court in the sight of the gruesome injury and the devastation of seeing their teammate in pain. The Louisville bench players jumped back and covered their faces. Behanan and Coach Pitino both had to wipe away tears as Ware was laying down crying. Before Ware was carried off on a stretcher he told his teammates to "win the game". 

CBS only showed the injury in slow-motion twice then focused the reaction on his teammates and those on the court. Sean McManus, CBS Sports Chairman said the decision was due to the graphic nature of the footage. The injury wasn't mentioned during the halftime  show either. 

The image of Ware's bone sticking out of this leg that was not shown looked like a scene from a horror movie. Because of the open fracture, Ware had surgery immediately to avoid the risk of an infection. 

#PlayForWare starated trending on twitter and condolences were sent all over from the sports and entertainment world. Former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann may be the only other athlete to experience this kind of injury in the national spotlight. Theismann called Ware to let him know that he would be there for him, 'there are not a lot of us who have gone through this'. Theismann's career ended in 1985 after his injury. Theismann told Ware 'A year from now, you'll be the comeback player of the year' and Ware said 'I'm going to work for it'. Theismann said he'd be watching. We ALL will be watching and rooting for the comeback. 

The Cardinals led 21-17 when Ware went down. They came back after halftime with the mindset to win the game for Ware and they beat the Blue Devils 85-63. Behanan put on Ware's #5 jersey in the final seconds of the game in triumph, they won for Ware! 

Coach Pitino left the Midwest Regional Championship trophy with Ware in his hospital bed and if all goes as planned Ware will be back in Louisville in time to charter the team flight to his hometown, Atlanta, for the Final Four. 

I picked Louisville to win the NCAA Championship, but even those who didn't have Louisville in the center of their bracket are now rooting for Ware to hold up the NCAA Championship trophy on April 8th.