That time of year....

The NFL Combine runs through tomorrow and apparently there have been some interesting stories. Or something. I watched the NFL Network's coverage for, like, fifteen minutes Saturday morning and that was enough. (Off the top of my head, the main stories are: Alabama tackle Andre Smith seems like kind of a fuck up, Northeastern tight end Brian Mandeville's heart is fucked up, South Carolina tight end Jared Cook is blowing scouts' minds, and Michael Crabtree's foot is fucked up.)

All this draft talk reminds me of Pete Williams's book The Draft which I read a couple years ago. While the information was interesting, man oh man was that a shittily written book. Anyway, with that book - and the ghost of Signing Day present still lingering - I remembered another book I've been meaning to read, Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting by Bruce Feldman. Interestingly, since the book follows (fired) Ole Miss head coach Ed Oregeron through his recruiting process, it sort of dovetails with one of the last football books I read, Michael Lewis's The Blind Side, which discussed how a change in the pro game (pass rush specialists) led to an increased premium put on skilled blockers (big, quick left tackles) coming out of college which led to an increased value put on high school kids that fit that bill (typified, in the book, by current pro prospect Ole Miss tackle Michael Oher).

So, anyway, we're a day from the end of the Combine, and sixty-one from the NFL Draft. I'll tell you this much, even watching the NFLN's Combine coverage for a few minutes reinforced my commitment to watching they're Draft Day programming. 'Cause even though I like Mel Kiper, fuck a Chris Berman.

And speaking of ESPN, it was announced that Emmitt Smith will not be back as an "expert" for their NFL coverage. Head over to Awful Announcing for a trip down memory lane with some of Emmitt's best attempts at speaking.