NFL Draft: 1st Round Predictions

1 Oakland - * JaMarcus Russell - QB - LSU
Alternate Pick: - * Calvin Johnson - WR - Georgia Tech

2 Detroit - * Calvin Johnson - WR - Georgia Tech
Alternate Pick: Joe Thomas - OT - Wisconsin

3 Cleveland - Brady Quinn - QB - Notre Dame
Alternate Pick: Adrian Peterson

4 Tampa Bay - Gaines Adams – DE Clemson

5 Arizona - Joe Thomas - OT - Wisconsin

6 Washington - Amobi Okoye - DT - Louisville

7 Minnesota - * Adrian Peterson - RB - Oklahoma

8 Atlanta – Patrick Willis – LB (Trade with Detroit at #2)

9 Miami - Larson Landry - FS - LSU

10 Houston (Atl) - Levi Brown - OT - Penn St

11 San Francisco - * Alan Branch - DT - Michigan

12 Buffalo - Leon Hall - CB - Michigan

13 St. Louis – Jamaal Anderson – DE – Arkansas

14 Carolina – Robert Meachum – WR - Tenn

15 Pittsburgh - * Darrelle Revis - CB - Pittsburgh

16 Green Bay - * Marshawn Lynch - RB - Cal

17 Jacksonville - * Reggie Nelson - FS - Florida

18 Cincinnati - * Greg Olsen - TE - Miami

19 Tennessee - * Dwayne Bowe – WR - LSU

20 N.Y. Giants - Brandon Meriweather - CB - Miami

21 Denver - Ryan Kalil - OC - Southern Cal

22 Dallas - * Chris Houston - CB - Arkansas

23 Kansas City – Tedd Ginn, JR - OSU

24 New Eng (Seat) - Paul Posluszny - LB - Penn St

25 New York Jets - Aaron Ross - CB - Texas

26 Philadelphia - Adam Carricker – DE - Nebraska

27 New Orleans - * Lawrence Timmons - LB - Florida St.

28 New England - Michael Griffin - SS - Texas

29 Baltimore - Justin Blalock - OG - Texas

30 San Diego – Dwayne Jarrett – WR - USC

31 Chicago - Justin Harrell - DT - Tennessee

32 Indianapolis - *Jon Beason - LB - Miami


U of L Players:
Amobie Okoye: Top 10
Mike Bush: 3rd Round
Nate Harris: 5th Round
Kolby Smith: 5th Round
Brandon Sharp: 6th Round
Kurt Quarterman: 7th Round - UFA
Renardo Foster: UFA
Abe Brown: UFA
Zach Anderson: UFA

Thirst to be First

Whenever there is a story which entails one person or entity making a choice from numerous options, media consumers have a mirror to see the media's soul. The impatience and intense pressure to break the story makes media members forget some basic tenets and do stupid things. Just like hungry dogs waiting outside the butcher's shop for the scraps to be thrown out the back door, the media begin to nip at and attempt to out do one another.

As a journalism student at Indiana University, we studied the situations where this would arise such as: selection of vice presidential candidate, announcement of a jury verdict, political appointments and even the outcome of elections.

I have never been a fan of being "serious" all the time, so I was naturally pulled towards sports journalism which is affectionately knows as the "toy department" of most news rooms because of the lack of serious topics. Rarely do you see sports media members taking unnecessary risks. During his 3 minute sportscast each night, Fred Cowgill will not make an educated guess as to the final score of a ballgame that is still in progress. No, he will simply show the score as of the time of the broadcast and time remaining. Its an easy decision. The risk of being wrong is too high and the reward of being right is too small to justify. The selection of a coach at a major program is one of the few times when sports journalists attempt to outdo their competition.

Every sports journalist wants to be the one who breaks the story of who UK hires as its next mens basketball coach. He or she wants to be the one who gets to walk proudly around the press box at the next big game. Unfortunately, that thirst to be first caused many people to make mistakes Monday evening, and some of these same people are trying to take cover behind legalese and cheap excuses.

Lets take a look at the motley crew of sports media involved in this story.

(1) Darrell Bird: the general manager of The Cats' Pause magazine and website posted a link on the website Monday evening under a headline that read, "Blockbuster Deal Done?" When clicked, the reader was taken to the premium message board where Bird went on to give very specific details of the contract that was "reportedly brokered" between UK and Donovan's agent. In the effort of full disclosure, you were only taken to that premium message board if you had already paid the monthly fee to view the "premium" content. If you were free surfing Monday night, you were taken to a page of the site that would allow you to sign up and pay for access to the "premium" content.
When confronted with the lack of sources for the report, Bird hid behind the fact that "everyone knows" that message boards deal with rumors and not fact. Please, don't insult the intelligence of your audience. First, you put the headline and link on the front page of your website. When double-clicked, the reader was taken to the premium message board and a discussion regarding Donovan and UK reaching an agreement. The vast majority of people viewing your website never know of this thread if you don't put the "bait" on the front page. Second, why not explicitly say in the tease that it is an unsubstantiated rumor.
I don't know Darrell personally but he seems harmless on that Insight Red and Blue show, that is if you can actually sit through an entire episode without falling asleep. Regardless, Bird holds a very high position in many UK fans hearts. He is their eyes and ears inside the beloved program. What he says carries weight with his readers. They don't know if they are simply reading RUMORS or FACTS unless he tells them so. That is the least he can do for his "premium" subscribers.

(2) Wave TV-3: Kent Taylor is one of the funniest and pleasant members of the local media. However, he made a mistake on Monday. He reported that a deal between Donovan and UK had been struck. He did preface the report with a statement something like "Cats Pause is reporting that ..." In terms of journalistic integrity, Taylor earns points with me by naming the original source of the report and giving proper attribution. However, Taylor should not have given this "story" any life unless he could confirm the authenticity from either his own sources or Daryl Bird himself. The attribution to the Cats Pause is not a "Get out of Jail Free" card for me. What shocked me even more was Taylor this evening on 840's SportsTalk show saying that he was not attesting to the veracity of the report but rather was simply reporting what another media outlet was reporting. If you take Taylor literally, then what value does Wave TV-3 offer its viewers? I guess nothing original. Taylor might as well just do a google search for "Kentuckiana Sports" each night and read the first three items that pop out.
Taylor is better than that. I believe he knows that he jumped the gun on the story and should have verified it with his own sources before reporting it.

(3) WLEX TV (Lexington): apparently, their sports department also ran with the story in a similar fashion. I can't comment any further because I did not see the broadcast.


Now the Vultures of the media are circling and attacking Bird and Taylor. The problem is these people should be careful to throw stones while living in glass houses. One local radio host seemed to take pleasure in raking Bird over the coals this afternoon. To him I would say tread lightly because a report of his own that allegedly was collaborated by a media source in Philadelphia was recently debunked. See, another media member actually called that Philadelphia media source and discovered that it had not made any such report.

My message to everyone is local sports media is simple:

Fight both the urge to quench the thirst to be first, and the urge to attack a colleague when he or she is down.

Is there a 60-day Grace Period to return the Mural?

Inside the new $30 million practice facility, the mural above greets visitors. I have to wonder if Mitch Boregon is going to try to get a quick retouch job done.

The Triangle of Pain

Life is so much funnier than Fiction.

Can you imagine, Telfair and Rondo on the same team. And that team is the Boston Celtics, all three of Coach Pitino's most recent failures come together.

When I saw this picture in the paper this morning, my mind superimposed a couple of different faces.

The perfect gift for Big Ben

I routinely receive emails from the NFL Shop.com because I have ordered jerseys from the website in the past. These guys are good marketing people because the items they are featuring are always Colts items.

Early this week, I got one with items for kids. ONe item was a bicycle helmet designed to look like an NFL helmet of your favorite team. Immediately I thought of Big Ben. I was pleasantly surprised that the Helmet does come in Steelers design.

Just tell him its like his football helmet and maybe he'll wear it.

Incredible Shrinking Players

One thing that I enjoy each year is the NBA Pre-Draft Camp and NFL Combine for one main reason. You finally get to know how TALL or SHORT the college players that you have watched for years truly are. From way back in their AAU days, through recruiting season and their college careers, Players are routinely given 2-3 inches on height. Media Guides and Game Programs are comparable to The National Enquirer and Weekly World News when it comes to factual reporting on heights and weights.

Here are some of the surprises out of last weeks NBA Pre-Draft Camp

Player Name (Listed Height by School) [Actual Height]

Marco Killingsworth (6-8") [6-5.5"]

Eric Hicks (6-6") [6-4.5"]

Adam Morrison (6-8") [6-6.5"]


J.J. Redick (6-4") [6-4"]
It makes me sick, these Dukies are good and honest. But at least we know their human and capable of making stupid mistakes. (you knew I couldnt let the mugshot of the poster-boy for Duke go without a posting).

Randy Foye (6-4) [6-2.25"]

Allan Ray (6-2") [6-1"]

Gerry McNamara (6-2") [5-11.75]

Renaldo Balkman (6-8") [6-5"]

Rodney Carney (6-7") [6-4.5"]

Taquan Dean (6-3") [6-2"]


That was fun. I love a good laugh and a good "I told you so". But, lets all be honest for second: We give ourselves a couple inches and subtract a few pounds when asked for our Height and Weight. Don't believe me. Ask your buddy tonight to see his Driver's License. Then the laughter will really begin.

Blast from the Past

UK fans surely remember Michael Southall. He was the first of the 7 Foot Center Projects that Tubby recruited. He signed a LOI and even played in the Derby Festival Classic. He was one of the few players that I worried might get embarassed. After watching a few days of practice, it was obvious that he was in over his tall head. Luckily for Wildcat fans, he got in trouble with the law before arriving in Lexington and Tubby was able rescind that scholarship offer.

I spotted him while watching Taquan Dean in the Orlando NBA Pre-Draft camp this weekend. I laughed for probably five minutes before I regained my compsure.

Boxing is so much more than the Fight

I loved the idea that Tom Zbikowski, potential Day 1 pick in the NFL Draft, made his professional debut in Boxing this past weekend in Madison Square Gardens. Reportedly, his pay was $25,000 for the bout (that will go a long way in South Bend, IN).

Nothing beats a boxing match. Sure the bout was over in less than a minute, but you had to see the prefight entrances and ringsmanship by the entourages. Look at Tom Zbikowski.



- Gold Gloves
- White Silk Trunks (with his #9 stitched on a green 3-leaf Clover).
- Led to the ring by Teammates Brady Quinn and Jeff Samardzija


I love it. I do have to take my hat off to the tomato can that Z crushed, Robert Bell. He played his role (come to the ring and get knocked out). What is even better is his Cornerman coming into the ring in an Ohio State Jersey (look in the top-left corner of photo above) Everyone remembers that debacle in January. That is funny. Even in a Loss, I have to give it up for the cornerman.

Which has the larger mouth?