Sundy Morning Quarterback

By Brock Huard

The psychotic character from Something About Mary thought “seven minute abs” would far surpass 8 minute abs. So, no offense Peter King, but your “Monday Morning Quarterback” column will be challenged by my “Sunday Evening Quarterback,” and what a weekend to recount…

#7) Travelling next to a 75 year old great grandmother with a torn hamstring was a first. We shared tight quarters for five hours from DC to Seattle in coach and though she snored like my college roommate, ranted endlessly about her disdain for United Airlines, she did have a hip hop ring tone on her cell and texted her daughters upon landing…

#6) Kirk Herbstreit shares a trait with most of the successful people I have been around: he is deeply curious. He doesn’t just want the answer, he wants to know why and how so. Working with him reminded me of my time with Peyton Manning. He didn’t just want to know what the opposing team was running defensively, he wanted to know why and what made their coaches tick.

#5) One of the executives at ESPN in our production meeting I thought put it best in regards to why the NFL draft has so much appeal. “It is the perfect combination of anticipation and hope”(unless you are a Raider fan).

#4) Had the opportunity to call the Syracause/Penn State game this year, was as contested a game as Cal/Washington, but that’s not the point. The point is Deon Butler, the Hawks third round pick is gifted. He is a bit undersized and thus fell to the third round, but he can play. He broke Bobby Engram’s career records at Penn State, ran a 4.38 40 at the combine, and like Engram and Jurevicius and every Nittany Lion trained under Paterno, understands the “culture” of a team.

#3) Speaking of gifted, how does Bill Belichick do it. Year in and year out he is able to manipulate the draft and leverage value. In a draft that lacked elite franchise players at the top, the Patriots were able to trade down and gain four second round picks, four! And all four pieces fit into their puzzle perfectly: physical, bright, edgy and productive. We talk a lot about identity, innovation and conviction to your plan, the Patriots have no peer.

#2) Scot Pioli, new President of the Chiefs, should get a nice care package from the 12th Man for passing on Aaron Curry and selecting Tyson Jackson out of LSU. History played a role in this selection. Richard Seymour was a difference maker for the Patriots (where Pioli won 3 rings) and at 6’6 and 310 pounds he is a rare, versatile 3-4 defensive lineman critical to that scheme’s success. The only player in this draft whose size and physical skill set in any way matched those parameters was LSU’s Jackson; however, one GM made a clear distinction between the two, “Seymour has an edge, a surliness on and off the field, Jackson, he’s too nice a kid.”

#1) Thank you Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders. After seven hours on a set in the ESPN News room you made the production staff at ESPN scramble and one of my peers on set nearly hyper-ventilate. In the first round you decided to draft a receiver, Darrius Heyward-Bey, who had 42 catches, which didn’t crack ESPN’s list of receiving leaders, a list that stopped counting at John Phillips of Virginia, ranked 124th with 48 receptions. Heyward-Bey was at least All-ACC……honorable mention! I don’t care if a guy runs 3.9 in the forty, if he can’t produce and can’t break the honorable mention ranks, you can’t draft him #7! However, the real chaos ensued in round two when Oakland’s 47th pick was safety Mike Mitchell from Ohio. I could not find Mike Mitchell anywhere in the 500 pages of data that the production staff at ESPN provided me. He was not ranked in the top 26 at his position, he was not invited to the combine, nor was there any video from the vault at the ESPN mothership to pull from. It was quite a scene. And my gut says somewhere Al Davis wanted Mike Mickens from Cincinnati, but in translation it came out Mike Mitchell from Ohio, and good for that kid, well at long as the check clears.

Finally, on this Sunday, the 26th of April are the Seattle sports skies starting to part and can the sunshine last. Are the M’s really 12 and 7? Did Jake Locker really go 16-18 in the Spring Game? Did Aaron Curry really fall in the Seahawks lap yesterday? Please don’t fret about Leroy Hill, or the M’s shutout loss tonight, embrace the hope of May flowers and some sports momentum finally spinning in the right direction……