NFL Draft preview

The one major sport that is making news is football and thankfully it is, we need distractions.  The NFL draft will be held April 23rd-25th in las Vegas, in some format but at least we can argue over who gets picked where and by whom.  There is some talent on both the offensive and defensive line in this draft but no real name talent outside of, the three quarterbacks and edge pass rusher in the top 4.  Will Joe Burrow the senior quarterback from LSU be taken No. 1 by the Cincinnati Bengals, who are ready to move on from Andy Dalton or will they be swayed to trade the pick since I think Cincinnati needs more than just a quarterback.  Will the Washington Redskins who have been searching for a quarterback take Tua Tagovaiola after recovery from dislocating his hip, and may have a hard time staying healthy after multiple injuries, including his ankle during his career at Alabama.  Tua is also left handed which throws another interesting wrinkle into his draft status because you build your o-line from the blind side guard out.  If those are the first two players taken off the board, the Los Angeles Chargers who have the fourth pick and could take Justin Herbert, who I consider the most complete player in the draft, and the No. 1 quarterback.  The New York Giants whose biggest need is a pass rusher, hopefully they got the quarterback last year.  If Chase Young from Ohio State is still on the board I would take him, I don't think he an NFL ready product but he fills a need and he's teachable.  The Miami Dolphins have an interesting decision to make at no. 5, will they, who are probably closer to win now mode and have had an eye on Tua since day one trade up for him.  Three other interesting teams of note at the draft will be the Detroit Lions who are right on the cusp of winning but never have enough, do the New England Patriots draft a replacement for Tom Brady who signed with Tampa Bay and the Las Vegas Raiders who are moving into a new home and always like to make a splash.  The NFL draft will be interesting to say the least, will we have trades or will it just be a distraction.                   

#Senior dreams

From Sabrina Ionescu, Myles Powell, Udoka Azubuike, Kerry Blackshear .Jr, the entire Dayton Flyers basketball team, and every other NCAA student athlete whose Senior season was cut short due to the cancellation of the men's and women's NCAA tournaments.  The Coronavirus is bigger than sports but it has interrupted everyone's lives, including those NCAA student athletes whose dreams ended before a champion could be crowned.  With no NCAA tournaments or championships in any (winter or spring) collegiate sport their will be no buzzer beaters, no triple doubles, no home runs, no close finishes and no court storming.  Student athletes who have dreamt of nothing but a NCAA championship since birth, had those dreams ended early.  There was no clear favorite in this years men's tournament maybe it was Dayton's year or Seaton Hall or any of the other 68 teams that would have been in the tournament.  Sabrina Ionescu who is the all-time leader in triple doubles for the Pac-12 conference and the only collegiate player man or women to score 2,000, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds, who came back for her senior year won't get to hoist that championship trophy.  It must have been a weird feeling with a mix of emotions to either be playing or done with your conference tournament and hear that your season is over and your college basketball dreams have come to an end for 2020.  The NCAA might grant an extra year of eligibility to winter and spring athletes but that will pose roster problems with incoming athletes.  This has happened to every athlete in every school large or small in the country, remember this when you see a senior because their experience ended early.             

The Time the Sports World Stood Still

Sometimes sports as a whole serve a greater purpose, we are in one of those times.  There are hidden meanings in sports that serve as a pick me up.  As I sit here on what is supposed to be MLB opening Day, the world is changing.  With the onset of the (novel) Coronavirus, the sports world has been put on pause for the foreseeable future.  The NHL and NBA were at the end of their seasons and about to begin the playoffs, MLB shutdown spring training before beginning the regular season, NASCAR is postponing races, MLS is delaying, European soccer canceled games, the USMNT and USWNT cancelled games, golf has moved major events as has tennis, just this week the Olympics were postponed for a year and I've probably missed some. Sports is supposed to heal us as it did on 9/11, (I don't mean to compare the two 9/11 was a terrorist attack and the Coronavirus or Covid-19 is a debilitating flu like disease) they're outlet to getting away from our problems for 3 1/2 hours.  Without sports to distract us from the world's problems, all we have to hang our hats on is the 5pm news conference from the president and Dr. Faucci.  Instead of watching Gerrit Cole, Gary Sanchez and company lite up the Orioles or LeBron James score 40 points or the NCAA basketball tournament we're doing puzzles, reading books, watching your favorite shows and a news conference.  One of the few sports events happenings and the only major sporting event was NFL free agency.  Thankfully the NFL league year started, so that even though the league is not in season we have something other than the virus to talk about.  Now that free agency started we can discuss Tom Brady going To Tampa Bay or Philip Rivers to Indianapolis.  We also have the NFL Draft coming up in late April, the event's supposed to be in Las Vegas but the format might change.  In some way shape or form we'll find out where Joe Borrow, Tua Tugovailoa, Chase Young and company will wind up.  Sometime soon hopefully we'll have our sports back.  When we're reflecting on how our lives have changed, trying to get our lives and the economy back to a new normal, sports should be back to distract us for 3 1/2 hours.  When sports do comeback, we'll have a lot to choose from NHL and NBA playoffs, baseball, NASCAR, Tennis and more.  When sports finally do come back they will serve not only as entertainment but they will have a greater purpose, to heal.