ESPN ruins the NFL draft, again - by Darwinian Phenom
April 29, 2008Once again our friends at the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (aka ESPN) managed to ruin what was probably the biggest surprise picks of the first day. Now I know everyone is mesmerized by the first round and surprise picks in the first round usually get all the press. This happened late in the second round when the Green Bay Packers took Brian Brohm at number 56. This is an interesting pick because former first round pick, Aaron Rodgers, is ready to take over for the recently retired Brett Favre, or at least keep his spot warm until he predictably un-retires.
BSPN was on a commercial break before pick 56 came up, and when they came back on the air Steve Young was in the middle of a rant about how “bad this was for Aaron Rodgers.” This probably went on for a solid 20 seconds. For those of you who don’t know, I hate to break it to you but the NFL tells ESPN what every pick is before they announce the pick. This is so ESPN can look really smart when they talk about the possible players that might get taken at the pick and they always mention the name of the guy taken, no matter how unlikely it seems. After Young was done talking there was a series of awkward silences and half-sentences as everyone at the table suddenly realized they were on the air and about to completely ruin this surprise selection. They never said the name Brian Brohm, but who the hell else would they take that would be “terrible for Aaron Rodgers.”
So after these morons finally get the news that they are back on the air, longtime announcer and asshole Chris Berman awkwardly puts his hand over his earpiece as everyone else stays silent. I really wish I could have seen Berman ream out the producer who forgot to tell him they were on the air. At no point did they say welcome back to the NFL Draft. Then Boomer says lets go to the commissioner, as I’m sitting there saying I guess they’re taking a QB like Brian Brohm. Sure enough with the 56th pick Green Bay selects Brian Brohm.
THANKS ESPN! The best part about watching the draft is when something happens that is in nobody’s mock draft. After the surprise selection you want to call up one of your friends and discuss what the pick means, why they did it, and how no one saw it coming. Instead I’m sitting there in disbelief at how ESPN managed to mildly ruin my life for 5 minutes.