By JOHN P. WISEOne Great Season
+ The NFL Draft is the most overhyped event in sports. It's hard to fault ESPN for being so outstanding at promoting it for so many years, and it does end up playing very well on television for the WWL. But all it is is the day (or three days now) that football teams select 21-year-old kids who hope to become key contributors two or three years from now. Draft day is indeed critical for teams as they build for the future, but in terms of newsworthiness, it merits far less than the year-round coverage it gets. Again, credit ESPN for creating and cultivating the agenda, but everyone these days publishes a mock draft that gets updated weekly over 12 months, which is just as good as no one publishing a mock draft. It's hard to get excited for or even trust an event where so much attention is paid to Wonderlic tests, psychological evaluations and character assessments, yet those many players who come up short in these areas still get their names called early and go on to sign huge contracts.
+ As you know, OGS was in West Palm Beach, Fla., this week, and Tuesday was quite the day for sightseeing. First, there was Bill Cowher in the JetBlue terminal of JFK Airport in the morning. And then our group spotted Bill Raftery as he sauntered into Capital Grille for dinner later that night. Before 6 p.m., of course. Considering how often ESPN partners Sean McDonough and Jay Bilas tweak him about his drinking, we were curious what Raft was sipping on that night. I asked a server who walked past our table, but when he went to ask another server for the information, it looked like Raft's privacy was being protected. No one got back to us. OGS prides itself on being able to provide you with the important information that you need to live your lives, and we apologize for not delivering.
+ The Florida trip was short, and when I got home Wednesday night, I flipped on the TV about 30 seconds before Boston got the always-exciting Game 7 overtime goal to beat Montreal to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs. I was disappointed I didn't get to watch more, but then Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay were battling it out in their own Game 7. I watched the last six or seven minutes and I'm here to remind you that a Game 7 in hockey is better than a Game 7 in any other sport. Just as the Penguins, trailing 1-0 with 90 seconds left, were getting ready to pull goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, Tampa Bay's Nate Thompson was called for slashing. The visiting Lightning survived the 6-on-4 Pittsburgh advantage, and goaltender Dwayne Roloson finished off the shutout to improve to an incredible 6-0 in elimination games.
+ Proof that LeBron is still an idiot was his breakfast line before Wednesday's Game 5 against Philadelphia. Much like Pete Sampras during his prime, or pre-scandal Tiger Woods, LeBron's every statement is bland and cliche. But unlike those two, King James will sometimes try to veer off script and splash a little cinnamon on the vanilla, and it never works. He's not funny, and he's definitely not smart. Stick to basketball, LeBron, and quit trying to be clever because you fail at it every time.