Draft Days
It's bipolar weather again here - freezing/snowy yesterday and damn near golf weather today. ...it's a thought. Golfin', I mean.
Anyway, busy weekend. Draft weekend! Fond memories, tell you what...greatest weekend of my life. We drafted a TE with golden hands. Heath Miller's his name. I gave him about 10 minutes to gather his thoughts post-draft, got his cell number, and gave him a call. He sounded surprised, but I just wanted to be the first to talk to him and welcome him. It's weird when last year you're gettin' drafted and this year they're draftin' kids with you in mind.
Can't really call him, or any of the other new draftees, "kids" though. I'm real young. Heath's only half a year younger'n me. Met him yesterday, nice kid, little taller'n me, a lot bigger, I gotta say. If you really want a picture, it's here. He can't stick around cause the guy's still tryin' to graduate, but minicamp's a possibility. Lookin' forward to throwing to him, that's for sure. Speakin' of minicamp? Week and a half. Can't wait. Finally. And it's just minicamp, but still.
Wouldn't speak to the press at all on Monday, cause I was not about to ruin Heath's special day by callin' attention to myself, ain't no right to interfere with that, you only get one first-visitation. So today the media was out with a vegeance. I really think they hit a new low today. Question was somethin' like, "Ben, do you have any regrets about opting out early and not getting drafted this year, rather than last?" Now, I know what they want me to say. This year's draft was weak (relatively speaking) and I woulda gone #1, barring anything. But c'mon. Is that a real question? I almost asked that, just sorta stared. Ain't no reason for going #1 besides a huge paycheck (got that anyway) and lots of "prestige" (which is bullshit, really, replace that word with "burden." #1 picks got immediate, constant pressure, but prestige is built on the field no matter where you're drafted.) And then, what'm I trading? A 14-0 regular season, all those records, ROTY, the best teammates a man can ask for? Oh, yeah, I'm real regretful. I wanna be a lot richer and lose a lot more, with fans down my throat constantly cause I'm supposed to be the immediate franchise savior. Stupid. Stuuuupid.
Anyway, this apparently, has been entertainment week. NBA playoffs (anyone watchin' those but me?) The Draft - four hours eating pizza with your teammates - and then went to see my good bud Kev at the Improv. I might have also spent about $175 on new DVDs, maybe. And tonight was Battle of the Gridiron Stars. Anyone watchin' that? You should. Hilarious. Ionno, does baseball or hockey do somethin' similar? Basically it's football boys competing against each other out of their element - today was soccer, golf, sea doo, and the obstacle course. (BTW, if football's the only one who does this, I'ma use this as a continuing example of how we're by far the coolest sport around.)
Anyway, what we learned was...football boys...don't...play soccer. No laughin' from the soccer girls on my friends list, either. Two of my teammates're on the show, J-Peezy and Junior. Tell you what, Peezy had such a nice shot on goal after fakin' Eli Manning out, and POSTED it! Guys were hittin' posts left'n right. But soccer is wayyy out of our element, I don't know if the goaltending or the shooting was worse. Might be called football, but ain't nothin' "foot" about it. Golf was good, sea doo'm pissed about, cause I am "discouraged" from riding them and there was Peezy doing doughnuts on TV. Next nice day, I'm out on the river, tell you what. Next week's the home run derby for you baseball boys to point n'laugh, but I suspect it'll be more...respectable than what soccer was, cause I bet most of us played baseball, anyway.
Home - Ohio home - in two days. S'gonna be a good week, I think.
Anyway, busy weekend. Draft weekend! Fond memories, tell you what...greatest weekend of my life. We drafted a TE with golden hands. Heath Miller's his name. I gave him about 10 minutes to gather his thoughts post-draft, got his cell number, and gave him a call. He sounded surprised, but I just wanted to be the first to talk to him and welcome him. It's weird when last year you're gettin' drafted and this year they're draftin' kids with you in mind.
Can't really call him, or any of the other new draftees, "kids" though. I'm real young. Heath's only half a year younger'n me. Met him yesterday, nice kid, little taller'n me, a lot bigger, I gotta say. If you really want a picture, it's here. He can't stick around cause the guy's still tryin' to graduate, but minicamp's a possibility. Lookin' forward to throwing to him, that's for sure. Speakin' of minicamp? Week and a half. Can't wait. Finally. And it's just minicamp, but still.
Wouldn't speak to the press at all on Monday, cause I was not about to ruin Heath's special day by callin' attention to myself, ain't no right to interfere with that, you only get one first-visitation. So today the media was out with a vegeance. I really think they hit a new low today. Question was somethin' like, "Ben, do you have any regrets about opting out early and not getting drafted this year, rather than last?" Now, I know what they want me to say. This year's draft was weak (relatively speaking) and I woulda gone #1, barring anything. But c'mon. Is that a real question? I almost asked that, just sorta stared. Ain't no reason for going #1 besides a huge paycheck (got that anyway) and lots of "prestige" (which is bullshit, really, replace that word with "burden." #1 picks got immediate, constant pressure, but prestige is built on the field no matter where you're drafted.) And then, what'm I trading? A 14-0 regular season, all those records, ROTY, the best teammates a man can ask for? Oh, yeah, I'm real regretful. I wanna be a lot richer and lose a lot more, with fans down my throat constantly cause I'm supposed to be the immediate franchise savior. Stupid. Stuuuupid.
Anyway, this apparently, has been entertainment week. NBA playoffs (anyone watchin' those but me?) The Draft - four hours eating pizza with your teammates - and then went to see my good bud Kev at the Improv. I might have also spent about $175 on new DVDs, maybe. And tonight was Battle of the Gridiron Stars. Anyone watchin' that? You should. Hilarious. Ionno, does baseball or hockey do somethin' similar? Basically it's football boys competing against each other out of their element - today was soccer, golf, sea doo, and the obstacle course. (BTW, if football's the only one who does this, I'ma use this as a continuing example of how we're by far the coolest sport around.)
Anyway, what we learned was...football boys...don't...play soccer. No laughin' from the soccer girls on my friends list, either. Two of my teammates're on the show, J-Peezy and Junior. Tell you what, Peezy had such a nice shot on goal after fakin' Eli Manning out, and POSTED it! Guys were hittin' posts left'n right. But soccer is wayyy out of our element, I don't know if the goaltending or the shooting was worse. Might be called football, but ain't nothin' "foot" about it. Golf was good, sea doo'm pissed about, cause I am "discouraged" from riding them and there was Peezy doing doughnuts on TV. Next nice day, I'm out on the river, tell you what. Next week's the home run derby for you baseball boys to point n'laugh, but I suspect it'll be more...respectable than what soccer was, cause I bet most of us played baseball, anyway.
Home - Ohio home - in two days. S'gonna be a good week, I think.