The Draft and Other Football Stuff

So the draft is over. I always watch passively to see what positions the Eagles draft, but honestly I have no idea who anyone even is outside of the top ten or so picks. I saw that the Eagles drafted a bunch of linemen and a couple receivers. I think it’s pretty cool that they drafted Jeremy Bloom, though. I couldn’t figure out why I knew his name, and finally I heard that he was an Olympic skier. Apparently the guy has blinding speed and will be a force on special teams right away, with a chance to push for playing time at receiver later in the year. He’s apparently not the only one that could contribute on special teams right away, which is a very good thing. Give special teams coach John Harbaugh some tools, and he’ll put a great team out there. He’s shown it in the past. On the other hand, I would have liked to see them make a move for Lendale White in the draft, and it would have also been nice had they been able to get Javon Walker from the Packers.

--

So Arnold Schwarzennegger wants to bring two football teams to L.A.? No one in L.A. even cared when both of their old teams left! Did you notice the huge outcry in Cleveland when the Browns became the Baltimore Ravens? How fast did the NFL bring the Browns back? They made it happen because it had to happen. Los Angeles can have its Lakers and its Dodgers (and the poor man’s teams of the Clippers and Angels), and stay out of football. If Angelinos want to see a game, drive to friggin’ San Diego. You don’t deserve a football team just because you have a big city.

Speaking of cities that don’t deserve a pro team, how about Atlanta? Get the Hawks out of there and move them to Oklahoma City. The Okies showed they’d be a great basketball town when New Orleans moved there temporarily. Atlanta can’t even fill up Turner Field for every Braves playoff game, and that’s sad. They don’t care about pro sports. They like their college sports, and that’s fine. I say give them college sports, but don’t let the pro teams languish there. Get them to a place that can appreciate them and put butts in the seats. Sure, it’s tough to sell tickets for a team as bad as the Hawks, but no one would care if they were any good anyway, if the Braves are any indicator. I should say however, that the Falcons actually do pretty well in attendance, so they can stay. Which kind of negates the segue to this paragraph, but get over it.

--

Granted, I don't know much about hockey. But I do know that in any sport, when you're down 3-2 in a best-of-seven playoff series and you're on your home ice (court, field, whatever), you don't lose 7-1. You just don't do that. Unless you're a team from Philadelphia. The Flyers need a new goalie, because Esche was just awful. Let's just say that if you're not sure whether to start your first-string goalie in the playoffs, you're not getting very far.