NFL Draft, expansion and what's witth the Tebow love?

I do expect Marcus Easley to be drafted sometime today. He has such potential, and there is sure to be eventually be a run at wide receivers I would think Easley is a late third round pick. That would be a minor miracle considering where he came from. Five catches in three years, a DNP-CD in the first two games, and 8 months later an NFL pick? Rags to riches. You know something else? I don't think I have heard a convincing reason why he never played before.

The likes of Ellis Gaulden,Brad Kanuch and D.J. Hernandez saw so many snaps and Easley sat on the sidelines. I don't get it, but it's better late than never and he was tremendous. I would expect Lindsey Witten and Andre Dixon to go in the fifth round. Dixon could slide to the sixth. at that level he's a good value. He is productive, a tough runner, can catch out of the backfield and pick up the blitz. He isn't a speedster, but so what?

As far as other news, Paul Tagliabue is going to advise the Big East and now commish John Marinatto is talking about expanding the Big East? The league is already unmanageable and sprawling, I can't imagine adding more trips to it on the hoops side. This is no accident. The Big East saw that the Big Ten was looking to blow up the entire NCAA landscape and it went into survival mode. What was it this week with the accelerated and not accelerated.

I think the talks were accelerated, but what the Big Ten was trying to do would have too much of a chain reaction that they have to slow it down for the good of college football. Tagliabue said as much to the New York Times.

“It’s very disruptive to everyone outside of the Big Ten,” Tagliabue said in a phone interview on Thursday. “Everything outside the Big Ten is held in artificial suspension. The Big Ten looks at a bunch of choices and everyone else has to deal with the depreciating value and a ton of negativity. I hope there’s a better way. Otherwise it’s going to have a terrible negative effect on everyone other than the schools in the Big Ten.”

There is an inequity in the BCS between conferences with championship games and those with none. I think eventually you are going to see every BCS conference have a championship game. Obviously, there is a formula in place that could also give the MWC an auto bid to the BCS. That should keep Congress of their backs. I just don't see how the BCS maintains an auto bid with an 8 team league such as the Big East. It's much easier to get to the BCS out of the Big East than it is out of the SEC, Big 12 and even the ACC. If the Big Ten expands and gets a championship game, then it's going to mandate that every BCS auto bid league have a championship game. They won't let that inequity stand for much longer.

I like the idea of having the Big East champion meet the MWC champion for the right to have a BCS berth. You can make contingencies like if the MWC or Big East champ is ranked in the top 12 they get an auto bid even if they lose. This would prevent an unranked or lower ranked team from either league winning the conference and getting an auto bid at say 8-3 or something. At least they would have to win one more game to get to the BCS.  I just don't see the feasibility of expanding the Big East even more.  Add Notre Dame,  add Villanova, and perhaps bring in UCF and Memphis/East Carolina while kicking out Depaul and Marquette (sorry, but they are Midwest schools). Easier said than done, though I think Notre Dame may decide to just create it's own conference that it can control.

Lastly, on the NFL Draft. ESPN had one of the worst telecasts that I have ever seen. When the Giants were picking on the clock they rambled incessantly about Tim Tebow. Then, continually, ESPN destroyed its draft coverage by showing a player on the phone talking to the team that will pick him. It absolutely destroys the continuity of the draft, the excitement and it's hard to follow. They ruined the drafts first pick by displaying Sam Bradford too early.  Why even have Goodell announce?

I was even more irritated by Tebow. Sure he is a great guy. Jon Gruden  loves his character and intangibles. But, can he throw the ball? Does he have ability? I am sure he is a great leader, I would hire him to run my business and motivate. But, to be my QB? It takes a little more than character to do that. I think the country gets he is popular in Florida. He isn't loved anywhere else, and we shouldn't be forced to fawn over him.

So, it irritated me even more when he was selected. The announcers on set sounded like fools when they tried to figure out what was going on. Tebow was called by the Broncos, who traded up with the Ravens to get the pick. Now, no one knew that because it wasn't officially announced. So, you have people screaming Tebow is being picked and then first say Ravens. Then, there was a Broncos hat, which confused everyone even more. It was chaotic and destroyed the moment for the viewer.

Perhaps we should all wait until the commissioner announces the picks. Really? Is it that hard to hold on for 2 more minutes to create drama? Keep the cameras on, show the tape delay after the pick. The cameras are there to capture the drama and celebration, not preempt it. Awful broadcast.