2008 NFL Draft Live Coverage

3:01pm: Here we are at another NFL Draft, it has been known since Tuesday that Jake Long (OL - Michigan) is going to the Dolphins as the top pick, but now it seems that the top four picks are now fairly set with Chris Long (DE - Virginia) set to go second, Matt Ryan (QB - BC), and Darren McFadden (RB - Arkansas) set to go fourth.

3:03pm: And here we go, quickest pick I've ever seen in an NFL Draft. Jake Long has been announced as the pick.

3:04pm: Another NFL Draft record here with exactly one minute being allowed to elapse prior to a commercial break. Fascinating coverage thus far.

3:07pm: The first real intrigue of the Draft is going to come at pick number five when the Chiefs pick. It seems to be in their best interests to trade down and let someone overpay for LSU DT Glenn Dorsey, but will they have any takers? They already have six picks in the first three rounds and if they can get another two that would give them the chance to have an amazing draft.

3:11pm - Here we go with the second pick, things moving right along here. Rams keep it simple and go with Chris Long, so no surprises here. Hard not to love this new draft format, things have been moving briskly which is refreshing coming off of last year's marathon draft.

3:14pm - We're now waiting for the Falcons to put a new face on this franchise. It is going to be tough for Matty Ice to follow in the footsteps of Michael Vick, who despite leaving on an undoubtedly poor note, was a fan favorite for years in Atlanta prior to his legal troubles.

3:17pm - Steve Young has convinced himself that there won't be a franchise quarterback in next year's draft. I'm wondering why he doesn't use his time machine for more important tasks than football, because last I checked a lot changes in player evaluations in the course of a college football season. Looks like Ryan got the phone call and is going to Atlanta.

3:27pm - Usually we can count on the Raiders for some excitement but it seems to be pretty obvious what they're going to do. Maybe the only time in Al Davis' life that he's been boring. Here comes the commish tot make it official...and...There it is, McFadden is the choice.

3:31pm - So here is the first real intriguing pick. If the Chiefs stay put they can fill their biggest need which is at offensive tackle, take the best player which is Dorsey, or they could trade down which one would think would be ideal. ESPN reported earlier that they might make a deal before they were on the clock but not surprisingly things have had to wait until now with this deal.

3:34pm - Looks like Dorsey is getting the call from KC, will he stay with them or is this a temporary stop? On a side note, I'm really disappointed that they don't have Todd McShay as part of the ESPN live coverage. There's nothing more entertaining than watching McShay and Kiper go fist to cuffs on live national television like they do during Sportscenter. And there it is, Dorsey to the Chiefs for now.

3:44pm - It is coming up on that time of the year were some poor college kid gets booed at the draft by the raucous Jets fans. Seems to be a lot of talk about Gholston, not much is positive though, the ESPN crew seems to be trashing him ruthlessly. Gholston it is, Kiper is talking him up now, apparently this kid greatly improved over the last 10 seconds. Gholston should sell self-help books, because with his apparent ability to improve in a matter of seconds he could become an instant millionaire--oh wait, he just did become an instant millionaire. Hmmmm.

3:49pm - The NFL's version of the Yankees--the Patriots--are now on the clock. Only the Patriots could lose their first round pick and still wind up picking 7th after going 18-1. Have to think Ellis is going to be the pick here, just like the Chiefs' pick, however, they could easily trade down and offer the best player to a team in need of a DL. No sooner do I say that than Michael Smith reports they're either going LB or DB which would mean Rodgers-Cromartie or Rivers most likely.

3:51pm - Take that Michael Smith! Patriots make the first trade to the Saints who will undoubtedly take Ellis. The Saints are looking to be the real mover in this draft, they were also reportedly trying to land Jeremy Shockey with their 2nd round pick. Ellis it is, still no word on the details of the trade yet.

3:55pm - Another trade here, Baltimore has managed to trade down to Jacksonville from 26th. As Boomer said, this is a big move and they must have given up a lot to get their guy. Mortenson seems to think it is Derrick Harvey of Florida to the Jags. Looks to be a great move for the Ravens who will take one of the second tier QBs at 26th.

3;57pm - Details of the Patriots trade. Patriots give up a 1st and a 5th and get a 1st and a 3rd from the Saints. Great trade for the Pats and doesn't seem to hurt the Saints at all either.

4:00pm - First hour of the NFL Draft is in the books and we've flown through the picks. Seven done and an eighth about to happen. Have I mentioned yet how much better this new format is? I have? Oh, well forgive me then while I bask in its glory.

4:02pm - The Jags take Derrick Harvey from Florida. Kiper doesn't like the pick but someone in Jacksonville sure does, seems like they gave up more than they needed to though.

4:07pm - Bengals on the clock now, appears that Keith Rivers is going to be the pick out of USC. A good linebacker who seems to have moved up the boards lately but was amazing at USC the last few years.

4:09pm - Here are the details of the Ravens trade 1st round, 3rd round, 5 and 6th round picks. I hope Harvey was worth it.

4:15pm - The Pats back on the clock. With Rivers gone one would think the pick is going to be one of the corners or Mayo from Tennessee. Mayo it is, no real shocker here. This draft is shaping up very well for teams that need offensive line or defensive back help. All the top guys are still on the board. Between those two positions and the RBs the next 6-7 teams are going to get great value with their picks.

4:20pm - Bills go with Leodis McKelvin from Troy for some DB help. The ESPN guys like the pick. Hard to believe OLs Albert and Clady are still on the board. A couple teams are about to get a steal. The Broncos almost never take offensive linemen in the first round, so I wouldn't expect that to change here. They also rarely take offensive linemen up high, so that would indicate they are also going with a defensive back. Has the Maurice Clarret fiasco scared them off of questionable character guys? If not Aqib Talib from Kansas could be the pick.

4:24pm - Scratch that, Ryan Clady (OT - Boise St) is the pick for the Broncos, so much for trends.

4:29pm - Here comes the Carolina pick, Jonathan Stewart is the pick. Big surprise here, people had worried about Stewart and most of what I'd seen had him as the 3rd or 4th best RB in the draft.

4:35pm - Makes a lot of sense for the Bears to take Medenhall here, they certainly need help on offense and they don't have a back on their roster that inspires confidence. Here comes the commish, and the Bears take Chris Williams (OT - Vandy).

4:40pm - Branden Albert seems like a tremendous value here for the Lions, as does Jeff Otah. Detroit is also in a good place to trade down a few spots and take the best available player at one of their many needs a few spots from now.

4:45pm - What is Matt Millen going to come up with this year? Trade the pick to Kansas City, good move for the Lions. Either Albert, Otah, or Mendenhall will still be there when they pick at 17. As for the Chiefs, they use the 15th pick to take Albert from Virginia.

4:52pm - Trade details on the KC/Detroit deal are as follows: The Lions get a 3rd and a 5th and the Chiefs get the 1st and a 3rd. So the Lions move up in the 3rd and an extra 5th round pick. The Cardinals take Rodgers-Cromartie with the pick. Obviously, Rolle or Williams is in trouble out in the desert.

5:00pm - Second hour of the draft is up and we're well past the half way mark of this draft. The Lions pick is in and they have been summarily dissed by ESPN as they made no effort to get back in time for the pick. Despite this, the Lions take Gosder Cherilus (OT - BC). Should fill one of the Lions biggest needs at right tackle.

5:04pm - Baltimore trades up into the 18th pick. Could this be the QB pick? Looks like it is, Joe Flacco from Delaware.

5:10pm - The Eagles now on the clock, they have many options here. Mendenhall is slipping farther at this point than most expected but receiver seems to be the logical choice here. They've traded the pick to the Panthers, however, so let's see who the Panthers have in mind. ESPN guys think Jeff Otah is the pick out of Pittsburgh. And that is the pick indeed.

5:20pm - Still good value at receiver on the board, which is great news for the Cowboys and Redskins who are soon to draft. Of course, the Cowboys have been rumored to be very interested in Felix Jones but it would be hard to take him over Mendenhall if he was still on the board. Details of the Eagles Panthers trade. Eagles get a 2nd, 4th, and a 1st next year for Jeff Otah from the Panthers. Looks like Devin Thomas from Michigan State is the pick for Tampa. It looks like they want to replace Brian Kelley in the defense backfield instead with Aqib Talib.

5:28pm - Atlanta has moved up into the 21st spot via a trade. Mel Kiper Jr. seems very skeptical about Atlanta's actions here. They take Sam Baker (OT - USC) with the pick.

5:33pm - On an NBA note, it looks like the Magic are going to take a 3-1 lead in their series with the Raptors.

5:38pm - Cowboys take Felix Jones here, seems like Jerry Jones put his foot down on this one. Seems like a good fit for the Cowboys but most scenarios had Mendenhall off the board. If the Steelers don't take Mendenhall here I'll be very surprised.

5:45pm - And it looks like Mendenhall is the choice. Great value and a great need pick at the same time for the Steelers. Mendenhall has to feel like he won the lottery as well. He could have easily wound up on a bad team but instead will form half of what could easily be the best run game in football.

5:51pm - Big surprise here, everyone was convinced Devin Thomas was the pick but in fact it is Chris Johnson, the RB out of East Carolina. They got Vince Young some help but not in the way that was most anticipated.

6:00pm - Three hours of the draft in the books and we have a trade to commemorate the occasion. Dallas moving up, let's see who they're coveting now. Mike Jenkins the DB is the pick, they've now completely covered the needs Adam Jones fulfilled. They got a returner in Jones and a corner in Jenkins. Really covering their bases here.

6:05pm - The Texans have made their selection, maybe it's just me but it seems as though there are more quality first round guys this year than usual. Looking at who is left it is not hard to make a case for many of them to land in the first round. QB looks like an attractive option here but the Texans have many needs. Duane Brown from VT is the pick here.

6:10pm - The Chargers have made their pick. Antoine Cason the DB from Arizona is the pick. They want to bookend Cromartie at the other corner with another they hope can solidify their pass defense.

6:16pm - The Seahawks go for the USC product, Lawrence Jackson. As Kiper is saying, it's surprising they'd pick him over Merling from Clemson.

6:19pm - Niners bolstering the D-line with Balmer out of UNC. Seems like a good fit for the 49ers but it'll be interesting to see how much he can contribute.

6:25pm - Coming to the end of the first round, and therefore, my first round blog. Looks like we'll easily come in under 4 hours, which is a huge improvement over last year's fiasco. Looks like we're sneaking one more trade into the first round with the Packers trading down from the 31st pick, allowing the Jets to get into the first round once more. Packers get a 2nd and 4th round pick from the Jets.

6:28pm - Jets trying to surround Kellen Clemens with some weapons, this was roughly were the top two TEs were thought to be coming off the board. Dustin Keller from Purdue is the choice here for the Jets, playing it safe that the Giants wouldn't take Shockey's replacement before the Jets had another selection.

6:35pm - Polishing off the first round in a brisk 3 hours and 35 minutes are the New York Giants. This is the last chance for a WR to be drafted in the first round, I don't know the last time no WRs were drafted in the first round but I can't imagine it happens often. Kenny Phillips is the choice, no surprise there. Good choice for the champions.

Alright everyone, thanks for reading and following along with me during the draft. Enjoy the last six rounds.

Round 1:
1: Dolphins - Jake Long - OT - Michigan
2: Rams - Chris Long - DE - Virginia
3: Falcons - Matt Ryan - QB - BC
4: Raiders - Darren McFadden - RB - Arkansas
5: Chiefs - Glenn Dorsey - DT - LSU
6: Jets - Vernon Gholston - DE - Ohio State
7: Saints - Sedrick Ellis - DT - USC
8: Jaguars - Derrick Harvey - DE - Florida
9: Bengals - Keith Rivers - LB - USC
10: Patriots - Jerod Mayo - LB - Tennessee
11: Bills - Leodis McKelvin - DB - Troy
12: Broncos - Ryan Clady - OT - Boise State
13: Panthers - Jonathan Stewart - RB - Oregon
14: Bears - Chris Williams - OT - Vandy
15: Chiefs - Branden Albert - OG - Virginia
16: Cardinals - Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie - DB - Tenn State
17: Lions - Gosder Cherilus - OT - BC
18: Texans - Joe Flacco - QB - Delaware
19: Panthers - Jeff Otah - OT - Pittsburgh
20: Bucs - Aqib Talib - CB - Kansas
21: Redskins - Sam Baker - OT - USC
22: Cowboys - Felix Jones - RB - Arkansas
23: Steelers - Rashard Mendenhall - RB - Illinois
24: Titans - Chris Johnson - RB - E Carolina
25: Cowboys - Mike Jenkins - DB - S Florida
26: Ravens - Duane Brown - OT - Virginia Tech
27: Chargers - Atoine Cason - DB - Arizona
28: Seahawks - Lawrence Jackson - DE - USC
29: 49ers - Kentwan Balmer - DT - North Carolina
30: Jets - Dustin Keller - TE - Purdue
31: Giants - Kenny Phillips - S - Miami
32: Patriots - Foreited

2008 NBA Playoffs: Watch it Happen

What do you get when a mix of veteran players and rising young stars follow up the greatest regular season in eons with a first round for the ages? Well that would be the 2008 NBA playoffs. If you're anything like me, you figured there was no way the playoffs could live up to the hype of the regular season. I mean com'on, eight 50 win teams in the west, the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons battling for the East, Chris Paul and Deron Williams vying to be the NBA's next great point guard. How could the post-season live up to these kind of expectations?

Yet, here we are, only a week into the playoffs and Kobe has already joined Sir Charles and others in the 40/10 club, Dwight Howard has joined Wilt and Nate in the back-to-back 20/20 club, and Chris Paul is keeping company with a short list of legends as well in the back-to-back 30/10 club--including a ridiculous 35 point 17 assist performance in game two. Oh, and how can we forget game 1 of the western conference finals, er, I mean the first round match-up between the Suns and Spurs. That game had more endings than Steven Spielberg's AI, but this time it was a good thing. How many game "winners" can one game have?

So after a first week so exciting it makes one wish the playoffs would never end, what can we possibly expect from week two? Well here are five things that you can count on in the next week.

5 - Get Out the Brooms
As exciting as the playoffs have been so far it doesn't look like the Hawks have any chance against the Celtics (no surprise there). What is unique about the Celtics/Hawks series, however, is that it appears to be the only series that will likely produce a sweep. There are a few series that could potentially lead to a sweep, but in all likelihood the lower seeded team will find a way to get a game or two while at home, just as the Raptors did against the Magic on Thursday.

4 - Doubt Your MVP Choice
It's a good thing that CP3 and Kobe don't play on the same day, because if they did our heads would explode trying to choose an MVP. Seemingly every time either one of these guys takes the court they convince you that they should've been the choice for MVP. Hopefully they'll find a way to meet in the Western Conference Finals and provide some closure to the argument. So for now just listen to Terrell Owens and get your popcorn ready, because you're going to change your mind at least four more times this week.

3 - Tracy McGrady Will Take the Blame
Seems like each year we have this conversation, of course we used to say the same things about Kevin Garnett. Why can't T-Mac get out of the first round? Why does T-Mac fade in the fourth quarter? What is keeping the Rockets from getting over the hump? Somehow one of the league's true good guys--the sleepy eyed McGrady--takes the blame for not carrying his teams LeBron style through the playoffs. Well let's try to pardon T-Mac for only getting the Yao-less rag-tag Rockets homecourt in the brutal Western Conference. McGrady can only get them there and give them a chance to win late before he's totally tapped out. So maybe he's not LeBron, but T-Mac is still great, so even though everyone will blame him for the loss, we really shouldn't.

2 - Cry us a River
There is no doubt that some superstar in the Western Conference is going to get eliminated and give us a teary display of emotion at the post-game press conference. Who is it going to be? My leading candidates are the aforementioned Tracy McGrady,--who may cry at the press conference even if they win--Allen Iverson, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire, and my dark horse candidate for the weepy award, Chris Webber, who may finally realize he's retired. So grab a box of tissues and cry along with them, because the closer we get to the end of this NBA season the sadder we should all be.

1. Your Jaw will Drop
If there is one certainty in the next week, it is that something amazing is about to happen. How could it not? Records are being challenged everyday already and we're not even half way through with the first round. So sit back and enjoy what you're about to see, because we may not see anything this good again in a long long time.

PS. Hopefully it is just the TNT guys who don't realize that Kobe didn't jump a car and there wasn't any computer tricks either. How complicated is the concept that the car drove next to Kobe while he jumped simultaneously? I find it amusing that they talk about this video so much and they still haven't figured out how they did it... I mean com'on, I bet your average 4th grader would know after watching it once.

PPS. The potential of the Hornets v Spurs should have you drooling. Tony Parker and CP3 going head-to-head, Duncan and David West, the grumpy champs and the upstart Hornets--oh man it's going to be good.

Enjoy the next week everyone! I know I will.