1am wakeup call

If you haven't gotten the message, I am a huge NFL fan. So I checked my satellite schedule and noticed that one of the sports channels would be showing a live game at 1am my time. So I set my alarm this morning and woke up faintly hoping that the game that would be shown would be the Raven's game. Well it wasn't the Raven's game, but it was the New Orleans Saints against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While it was the NFC and I didn't have any affiliation with either team, I was super excited to be able to watch the game. The game was okay until the second half when the teams started to score a bunch of touchdowns. Right now I am struggling a little bit at work, but I think I can get through it. Luckily next weekend we have Monday off, so I can get up again and enjoy another random game (the Raven's are supposed to play at 4:15am my time next week, so maybe I will just get up a couple of hours later next week). Nonetheless, I was so happy to be able to watch some football, it's great that the season has started. By the way, the Raven's win doesn't convince me that they will do that great this season, mainly because they scored on two plays that you won't get a score on all that often and the Cincinnati Bengals look to be one of the worst teams in the league this year, so still hoping for 6 wins this season, we shall see.

My NFL Draft

I was lucky enough to be back in the States to actually be able to watch the draft. I was busy, but found the time to watch a lot of the first and second round. Again, I cannot emphasize this enough, I understand that the draft actually doesn't mean anything because the players have done nothing in the NFL, but I really enjoy the intrigue of how a team will draft to build itself up for the future. I only got to watch ESPN and I was a little disappointed with the coverage. Don't get me wrong, the 10 minutes in between picks was great, I was very happy with that, but the coverage just seemed really weak. They seemed to make it a thing to show the players answering their phone before the pick (sometimes a long time before the pick), I mean what happened to the element of surprise behind the pick. Oh well, it was still fun to watch, I just hope they tweak some of the things next year to allow me not to know every pick before it is announced.

As for the Ravens, my boys, they went with a QB in the first round, Joe Flacco. I remember back in 2003 when he was drafted, I got a phone call from my good buddy Ray. He was pretty excited that the Raven's took Kyle Boller, I tried to calm his excitement by basically saying that Boller would never be a good QB in the NFL. Needless to say, I was right about this assessment, so I only feel like it is right to make an assessment on the future with Flacco. I did not receive a call with excitement over this pick, but then again, that may have been because people thought I was in China. As for Flacco, I don't think he is the next John Elway or Peyton Manning, rather he reminds me a lot of a QB like Brad Johnson. He is the type of guy that can make a career out of being a QB in the NFL, he won't be a hall of famer, but could become a guy that ends up starting as a QB on teams that struggle at the QB position. Brad Johnson actually won a superbowl so his career wasn't terrible, but he was never seen as being a dominant quarterback like a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady (note that Johnson was drafted in the ninth round so he didn't have much pressure to actually succeed). So I think getting Flacco in the first round is a little bit of a stretch, but, more then anything, I hope I was wrong. To be honest, I am actually more excited about their second round pick, Ray Rice from Rutgers, I really think he can make an impact with the Ravens.

My Rant #1

I heard recently that there are people upset because offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden of the Baltimore Ravens is considering retiring. This I have a huge problem with, let me give you a couple of facts: Ogden is 32 years old and will be 33 when the season starts, is 6 foot 9, weighs anywhere from 345lbs (what he is listed at) to about 370lbs (what most people think he is playing at) and he has been in the league for 12 years, and let me remind you, people are upset at him thinking of retiring, most of them cause they argue that he is only 32 years old and most people can't think of retirement until they are 62.

So this is where these people are 100% wrong, first, he is not a regular person, hello - he is 6 foot 9 and 350 pounds (anybody else want to stand up and say they are that much of a physical gladiator)!!! Second, his job is probably one of the most physically enduring jobs in all the world. Third, and most importantly, studies have shown that the average life span of a football player is less then 62 years (oh yeah, studies on linemen show that they average about 55 years), that's over 10 (and for linemen almost 20) years less then an average person. So let me put it this way for all of you who are complaining, Ogden as a lineman might make it to the age of 55, so we have to translate his real age of 32 to NFL linemen age which would make him about 50 years old in regular person years. Yes that's right, his body is basically at a stage of what an average regular person's deteriation would be at 50 years old, and he is still thinking of playing next year. I applaud Ogden for his career and am encouraging him to retire now, not tomorrow, or the next day, now. Adding another year to his career could have even more permanent damage that will haunt him for the rest of his life. So to those people that think he is still young and can do it, drop it, football players don't sit behind a desk all day typing at a computer and passing gas, they drive their bodies into the ground at least 6 months out of the year and each play and each hit is gradually killing them faster.