The progressive popularity of the NFL Draft has reached overwhelming status in terms of coverage and hilarity.  No longer is it booked on ESPN2 for a late afternoon slot that hardly anybody will watch.  Instead, it’s a day chalked full of Mel Kiper yelling into a camera, Chris Berman making awful jokes, Keyshawn Johnson getting dressed in the dark, and hours upon hours of seemingly useless information about players who may or may not pan out.  Thus I’d like to share with you a few things that stuck out in my mind as I watched the endless coverage of yesterdays draft.

I can’t write this without mentioning the atrocity that was Keyshawn Johnson’s wardrobe.  I felt like I was staring at one of those 3-D eye trick books that you buy in the Scholastic catalogs when you’re in third grade.  Johnson’s shirt looked more like a picnic table cover than a dress shirt.  I felt like I should have brought brisket or potato salad to put on his lap as he bantered back and forth with Steve Young about whether the Cardinals should take a running back or corner back.  Speaking of…

The tension on-air yesterday was as high as I’d seen since Sean Salisbury called John Clayton a crypt keeper.  Ron Jaworski and Kirk Herbstreit had an argument escalate to shouting before Mike Tirico had to interrupt with a stupid comment about settling it off-air and the tension between Young and Keyshawn seemed to build with every disagreement.  It was like each got a sense of superiority over the other in correctly predicting what the pick was going to be.  Case in point: the Cardinals pick when Meshawn and Young went back and forth until the pick was submitted.  The feud culminated with Young getting a 2nd grade-esque blow in at the end by shouting “running back!” right before Goodell read the card.

How anti-climatic was the first overall selection?  I’m in favor of not allowing these guys to sign until after draft day for suspense sakes.  I did enjoy the scattered boo’s even though I struggled to find the logic behind booing a team that went 1-15 last season.

Watching Chad Henne suffer through the first two rounds was comical.  Not Brady Quinn comical, but funny nonetheless.

Winner of the draft?  Kansas City.  Fat ass Glenn Dorsey fell right into their laps at the 5th pick and Brandon Albert was a gift at 15.  Brandon Flowers was a nice second round pick and a guy who was predicted as one of the top corners, a first round talent.

I’m all for Todd McShay and Mel Kiper to bare-knuckle box each other.  Here’s the caviat; they need to fight over whether or not Brian Brohm is a better talent than Joe Flacco.

Enough already with the cameras stationed at the draft picks houses please.  How worn and trite is it watching Brandon Albert stare into space for two minutes while Kiper spouts off at his ability to transition from guard to tackle.  You have to know that halfway through the shot, Albert realizes he’s on TV and plays it off like he’s the bad ass that you thought he was.  When is something funny going to happen in one of these shots?  Give me a stupid face or an 8 year old running through the shot wearing a Spiderman costume.

It’s the second day and, as of right now, I’m as employed in the NFL as Andre Woodson is.  Feelin’ good about that.

Finally, the Jets success on draft day was somewhat of a let down.  I rank Jets fans booing their picks right up there with Phillies fans throwing batteries at JD Drew….a necessity.

A day after the Miami LOLphins officially signed offensive tackle Jake Long, another splash was made that could greatly impact what happens over the weekend. Jared Allen, the NFL leader in sacks in 2007, has been shipped off to Minnesota in exchange for a bounty of draft picks. By acquiring the Vikings’ first round pick (#17) and two additional third rounders, the Chiefs have officially entered rebuilding mode.

With the move, the Chiefs now possess few weapons on either side of the ball. However, they do have 6 of the NFL Draft’s top 100 selections in this weekend’s draft. What’s this mean? Rebuilding… and lots of it. Moving Allen hurts on the surface, but lets be realistic here. The Chiefs weren’t going anywhere with him, so why put up with an unhappy veteran with a huge price tag? It’s a deal that makes sense for the Chiefs. Expect the Chiefs to find a replacement for Allen with their 5th selection. Chris Long anyone?

For the Vikings, Allen fills a gaping hole in the defense. With the league’s best rush defense two years running (but little pass rush to speak of), Allen should make things a lot more difficult for NFC North quarterbacks. No longer will they have hours in the pocket because now, a drunken maniac will be there to knock them on their ass.

Does this move make the Vikings a contender in the weaker NFC? On the surface, it would appear so. We know the Vikings can stop the run and now, they have one of the league’s best defensive ends to harass guys like Aaron Rodgers, Jon Kitna and Rex Grossman. Unfortunately, the Vikings still have Tarvaris Jackson under center. That in itself forces me to take their newfound “contender status” with a grain of salt.

It’s been months since this video surfaced on YouTube and various blogs, but I just caught wind of it from Sonny. I’m a big fan of technical errors during broadcasts, so this video is an incredible find for me. The following is a local news station supposedly discussing Kevin Everett’s recovery. Instead, the clip shown is of a large black man (not Everett) riding into a courtroom in a wheelchair and kicking a cop. The tension that follows is, of course, hilarious.

It’s been a hell of a ride hasn’t it? After 17 long seasons, Brett Favre has decided to hang up the cleats and retire. The icon of Green Bay sports has forever established his legacy as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, quarterback of all-time over his nearly two decade career with the Packers, doing everything from title runs to MVP’s and unforgettable comebacks. Like him or not, Brett Favre was the best quarterback of our generation.

253 straight starts (273 if you count the postseason). 442 touchdowns. 61,655 career passing yards. Brett Favre epitomized dominance throughout his entire career. His flare for the dramatic couldn’t be rivaled. Give me the choice now and I’ll still take Favre with less than two minutes left in the game over any quarterback ever to play the game. Montana was great at playing Captain Comeback. Favre was better.

You want to talk about grit? You better include Favre’s bulldog mentality in the discussion. Brett didn’t miss games despite injuries. Broken fingers, broken ribs, death within his family, and even cancer affecting his wife couldn’t keep Brett from missing a game. The guy was tough as nails; the epitome of a football player. His ability to ad-lib a play and make something incredible happen was, at times, unbelievable. Even at the age of 38, Favre was playing the game like he was 18; full of energy and giving it everything he had on every single play.

I’ll never forget the stories of Brett breaking the fingers of his receivers with the velocity that he put on his passes. I’ll never forget the way he was able to stake Lambeau as his own, and any opponent who dared come into Lambeau, especially during the winter months, faced a demon of a quarterback in Favre and a hell of a battle with the Packers.

Finally when he says retirement, he means it. It’s Aaron Rodgers turn! Remember him? That Cal quarterback that the Packers used their first round pick on four years ago in anticipation of Favre’s retirement? For Rodgers, the time is now. For Favre, it’s back to the bayou to make more Wrangler jean commercials and play quarterback for pick-up football games. Thanks for a hell of a career Brett. Though I’ve spent many a time cursing you for not retiring or for beating my team, it’s truly been a pleasure watching you systematically dominate the NFL for as long as you have.

Raise your hand if you watched the Pro Bowl yesterday. Nobody? Raise your hand if you knew the Pro Bowl was yesterday. Still nobody? Alright, this time raise your hand if you think the NFL should find another way to celebrate its finest players outside of a meaningless game in February in Hawaii.

Assuming that you missed it, the Pro Bowl did in fact happen yesterday. The NFC won 42-30 though the victory holds just about as much relevance as a chimpanzee writing a thesis on molecular biology. Adrian Peterson went nuts (again), Antonio Cromartie had two interceptions (again), and the Patriots representatives got served by the NFC (again).

What are Patriots fans more mad about now; the AFC losing twice in two weeks or the sight of fellow New Englanders basking in 80 degree weather in Honolulu while the Northeast freezes over. I’ll go with the latter. What’s the true value in this game? There’s no blitzing, there’s no effort, and in a desperate attempt to keep ratings fans are now allowed to pick a play. What a bunch of garbage. Show me three hours of the skills competition so I can watch Carson Palmer overthrow receivers and Albert Hanyesworth bench press 400000 lbs. Between that and the old timers game where Michael Irvin attempts to show off and Boomer Esiason shows nothing, I think we can find a compromise for a replacement event.

We’re about 20 hours removed from Super Bowl XLII and I’m still struggling to find the proper superlatives to describe the Giants’ 17-14 upset over the Patriots. Shocking, incredible, surprising, dramatic. Pick whichever one you want. Rather than attempt to break down the game with a standard article, I’ll use bullet points. After all, who doesn’t love bullet points?

• Here’s a few fun statistics. The NFL’s leading passer (in yards) has never gone on to win the Super Bowl. Ever. That’s 42 years of sample size to work with. And before you go claim that Kurt Warner led the league in 1999, he didn’t. Steve Beuerlein did. However, Warner did lead the league in passing in 2001, when his Rams lost to the Patriots. Speaking of Kurt Warner. He’s the last regular season MVP (1999) to win the Super Bowl.

• How about that Giants’ defensive line? The likes of Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Michael Strahan delivered their most dominant performance of the season in the biggest game of the season. While Eli Manning deservedly sits on newspaper front pages everywhere, the true MVP of this game was that Giants front four. They were everywhere.

• Speaking of Eli Manning. He’s taken plenty of shit throughout his career but man, did he step it up yesterday. Eli threw for two touchdown passes in an epic 4th quarter, including the play that everyone is talking about. As soon as it happened, you figured it was just meant to be for the Giants. Chalk that play up as “Super Bowl Lore.” We’re gonna be seeing that one for a while.

• Where was that old Patriots team? Once the Pats’ offensive line realized the Giants had come to play, I expected them to “flip that switch” and go back to their dominant selves. But they didn’t. All of the nastiness that line showed for the last 18 weeks was gone. Instead, the Giants made them look substandard. Mediocre, even. Despite that record-setting Patriots’ offense, the game still has to be won in the trenches. And for the first time all year, the Pats’ offensive line didn’t man up and do the job.

In the end, doesn’t this seem like some sort of karmic justice? The Patriots, criticized for Spygate videotaping opposing coaches and running up the score, fell short in their quest for football immortality while Eli Manning, the emotionless drone under center in New York, came up huge. Even a day later, typing that doesn’t feel right yet.