Feeling A Draft?

Back in the old days when I was a sports writer, I covered the NFL draft from the Carolina Panthers' headquarters the year the team drafted Tshimanga Biakabutuka and Muhsin Muhammed.

It was one of the most mind-numbingly boring days imaginable.

Carolina held the eighth pick overall that year, and drafted Biakabutuka, a tailback from Michigan, about three hours after the draft started. Muhammed, a second-rounder, was even later in the afternoon.

I mention this because ESPN and ESPN2 will be showing about 20 hours worth of draft coverage or so this weekend, beginning noon on Saturday.

Now, I'm all for the NFL draft interest. I want to see who is going where, when the Georgia guys get drafted, who the Falcons get, etc. But good God, every pick is a 15-minute highlight film combined with Mel Kiper Jr. commentary and insipid interviews with the guy chosen and that team's coach or general manager.

I mean, really, we pretty much know that either Calvin Johnson or JaMarcus Russell will go to Oakland at No. 1 (unless there's been a trade), since ESPN has told us so for the past month. So let Roger Goodell announce the pick, throw up some stats, then move on. It's not as if these teams need all this time to make the picks; they pretty much have mapped out their draft for a month.

The irony is, the later round picks are often flashed upon the screen when we actually could use some analysis, since most people haven't heard of a lot of those guys. Yet they are treated as an afterthought.

I'm all for the NFL draft, but just don't make me watch it.

FRIDAY'S BEST BETS: Very little is new tonight, except for CBS' lineup of "The Ghost Whisperer," "Close To Home" and "Numb3rs," while NBC presents a new "Raines" (guest-starring Cynthia Watros of "Lost") and "Law & Order."