NFL Draft Day Blogging 2009

Hola, to all three people who might even know this blog exists. :)
Today's a huge day for me as a Bucs fan, I'm gonna be following the NFL rookie draft this afternoon. I'm gonna see about liveblogging it, which means constant EDIT updates to this particular post. I'm gonna see if I can do it, and how many updates I can do before the computer decides to kill me for overloading its CPU...

Some notes beforehand, I've made my predictions (based mostly on the Bucs NOT trading down from the 19th spot, something they're hoping to do) and am now waiting to see how far off I am in mah guesswork.

I'm primarily hoping the Bucs go for Percy Harvin as a need pick for WR. But I'm not blind to the Bucs' needs at DT and DE, so if the team goes there (possibly DT Peria Jerry) I won't have any problems.

What I will have a problem with is if the Bucs go with selecting a rookie QB like Josh Freeman with the 19th overall pick. Half the scouting boards (including that pompous ass Mel Kiper) have the Bucs going that way even though 1) Bucs have a decent roster of veteran QBs already and 2) Bucs have needs elsewhere. These jokers can't even argue that picking Freeman would be a Best-Available Pick (as opposed to Filling-Need Pick) because Freeman is ranked around the 50th spot with most scouting boards. These scouts seem to think the Bucs are screwed at QB because they don't like Leftwich or McCown or Griese. Phooey on that.

Early notes: Detroit has locked up the first overall pick to QB Dennis Quaid, uh Matt Stafford. Teams looking to trade up include the Giants who are hoping to snag WR Darrius Heyward-Bey before he goes to other WR-starved teams. Arizona has WR Boldin on the trading block, and apparently are dropping their demands so much that a smart team could snag Boldin, keep a decent early pick and still get a rookie they wanted. So DON'T expect the Bucs to make that move. ;-)

Draft officially starts in 4 hours. I will post UPDATES! Stay tuned.

Update - 3:42 PM. Currently at a Buffalo Wild Wings. Wireless works. Laptop now on battery power. See how long it lasts.
Most of the talk on the car radio was on the ridiculously rich contract Stafford got, and for the locals arguing about the need to trade down with the two teams most wanting to trade up (Arizona, NYGiants).

4:52 - Big shock with the Jets trading up to get Sanchez. Big question now is how this affects the next QB on the list (Freeman). With DE Jackson going ahead of other big names at the DE spot, there's a possibility the DE lineup will see a lot of activity with the next 12 spots...

5:37 - Didn't realize Denver needed RB. Wonder if the Bucs have a shot at LB Cushing... Biggest shock so far is still the Jets trade, but seeing some of the DEs slip from Top 5 to tenth and eleventh means there'll be more defensive end players on the board to tempt the Bucs...

6:01 - I call riot. FREEMAN?!?! WE TRADED UP FOR FREEMAN?!?!?! WE NEEDED DT! WE NEEDED WR!! WE COULD HAVE TAKEN OLB FOR GODS SAKE!!!!! GAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

It's official. We suck.

9:00 - I doubt the Bucs can work out a trade to get back into the Second Round, so this is it for the day. My grand experiment in liveblogging the event kinda goes nowhere and I end up frustrated with the team once again. Sigh. It's a good thing there's a Star Trek movie coming out on my birthday I can geek out over in two weeks...

As a Bucs fan, I needed to post this

Yes, I'm a football fan. When my family moved to the Tampa Bay region, it was just as the Tampa Bay Bucs were starting up (rather miserably). I was nine when 1979 happened, and the team got good overnight and all the fans were thrilled. I stayed a fan through the Dark Times of 1983-1996, through the good times of Dungy's construction of a winning franchise, through the ups and downs of the current Chucky regime.

And in all that time, as all the jinxes and curses related to the Bucs (couldn't win, couldn't win in the postseason, couldn't win in the cold, couldn't win on the West Coast) fell to the wayside, one jinx remained.

The Bucs, in all that time, never ran a kickoff return for a touchdown in regular or postseason play.

While it's tough to run a kickoff (or punt return) all the way back, it's not *that* hard: every other team (all 31 of them, including the newbies) has gotten one. Even the Houston Texans have one, and they're only 5 years old at this point.

It got to be something of a running gag. All the game commentators would snark about it, the networks would flash the league statistics about it, and everyone would chuckle and feel bad about the poor Bucs and their special teams players.

And then, the Atlanta Falcons came to play the Tampa Bay Bucs in Tampa, this December 16, 2007.

A backup practice squad guy had been bumped up to kick return duties because the regular guy, Mark Jones, was out with injury. The new guy was one of those little-known, bounced-around-the-league kind of guy. Micheal Spurlock was his name. Number 17. Stores don't even sell his jersey number.

Michael Spurlock took a kickoff at the 10-yard-line and never looked back.

Other men will write better poetry about it (or will craft video homages with fan photos and video EDIT: link is gone sorry). Children will go to bed dreaming of it. Old men will weep and know that they had lived long enough to see the day. Our long national nightmare is over.

As a Bucs fan I will be walking on sunshine this whole week. Not because the Bucs secured a postseason berth with this win over Atlanta. Because Spurlock finally made a kickoff return for my team.

This is why we watch sports, and why we make athletes heroes from time to time. This is why No. 17 jerseys with the name Spurlock on it will be manufactured today and sold out by the end of tonight.

Because of hope fulfilled.