On the pundits...

[cdcox]

As soon as the draft is over, every football writer in the business rushes to get out their draft grades, and we fans are equally eager to see how our team was graded. The pro scouts do this full time. Each scout spends thousands of hours evaluating talent. The teams know their own needs better than anyone. Each team has several scouts.

In contrast the reporters have many aspects of the game to cover, even if they cover only the NFL. They work alone. They don't spend face time with most of the draftees. They cover training camps when the scouts are scouting. They cover the NFL season when the scouts are focused on the college game. They cover free agency when the scouts are compiling reports and endlessly rating players. They work alone.

Yet 6 hours after the draft is over, the journalists are able to pass definitive judgement over the work of a profession to which they don't belong. The very concept is absurd.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by cdcox

Yet 6 hours after the draft is over, the journalists are able to pass definitive judgement over the work of a profession to which they don't belong.

Why shouldn't they? They do it every Monday about coaching decisions, opinions about players, etc. And it sells a lot of papers. Some of them are hacks, but some of them do some research and at least are espousing a somewhat educated opinion, which generally interests me a lot more than hearing the company line out of 1 Arrowhead Drive.

[Hammock Parties]

I tell you what's even more useless - live blogs during t he draft. No one is reading your blog, dumbasses. They're watching the draft.

[Extra Point]

Some people aren't complete unless they have something to bitch about. We on the Planet get paid zilch to interject our opinions. Those who get paid to do so, are lucky that someone pays them for it.

Like the guy who got caught in the bedroom closet, who wisely told the enraged husband: "Everybody's gotta be someplace."

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Extra Point

We on the Planet get paid zilch to interject our opinions. Those who get paid to do so, are lucky that someone pays them for it.

Indeed.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by Adam

Why shouldn't they? They do it every Monday about coaching decisions, opinions about players, etc. And it sells a lot of papers. Some of them are hacks, but some of them do some research and at least are espousing a somewhat educated opinion, which generally interests me a lot more than hearing the company line out of 1 Arrowhead Drive.

Game day decisions are made in seconds under conditions of confusion and sometimes incomplete information. Under those conditions coaches are going to make mistakes. Fans and jouralists will recognize those mistakes and call the coaches out. And in many cases they'll be correct in their criticism. No problem there.

In contrast to a game, the draft is an educated guess. No one will even know who won or lost for a of couple years.Because of the uncertainties, a good scouting group could have a bad draft. Yet we invest credibility to the pundits in their ability to boil down a team's performance to an A, B+ or C-. The drafts are re-evaluated 2 or 3 years out. But no one ever evaluates the pundits. It's just a joke.