Sport-Blog.com

The National Football League makes the most of the scheduling routine. One such major routine comes from the yearly build-up of the NFL draft. It has become such an event that many pundits make their living from making draft predictions then tearing apart each team's choices.

Of course, this weekend that event became the sports focus. Even with Major League Baseball in full swing and the National Basketball Association playoffs beginning, we die hard sports fans were tuned to the ESPN and the draft selection process.

Being a big time Patriots' fan, I tuned in to see how my team did, to learn of who they had chosen. Each player selected was deemed by the these experts to have had the concept of being a Patriot written all over them (understanding the word team, highly capable in the right scheme). Quite frankly, I had never heard of any of these players before their names were called by the Patriots.

Along with the Patriot selections came the numbers, the analysis, and the speculation. These draft aficionados or professional pundits, noted that three running backs were selected within the first five players picked, the first time that has ever happened in the NFL draft. Those same folks also noted that a quarterback was taken first for the seventh time in the last eight drafts.

These experts made us aware of the fact that when the National Champion University of Southern California Trojans had two players chosen in the first round (Mike Williams at number 10 and Mike Patterson at number 31) Southern Cal has had the most number one draft choices among all colleges. The Trojans have now had 63 players drafted in the first round, two more than Notre Dame and three more than Ohio State, two schools that did not have a player chosen in the first round this year.

Among the speculation, experts noted that Auburn University had three players chosen in the first nine picks and four players chosen in the first round. Auburn, of course, was a victim of the Bowl Championship Series formula and missed out on the opportunity to play for the national collegiate championship. If NFL picks are the determining factor then Auburn had every right to be upset by being excluded form the title game.

Another amazing development regarding Auburn involved the actual choices. The starting backfield, Quarterback Jason Campbell (at 25) and running backs Carnell Williams (at 5) and Ronnie Brown (at 2), were all chosen in that first round. The last time a college had the entire backfield chosen was back in the days of the old American Football League.

We learned that the University of Miami truly had a down season, having finished outside the Top Ten in the Polls. Draft experts noted that a year after having a record six players drafted in the first round, the Hurricanes had only one player chosen this year. These same experts noted that Miami has been an NFL football factory, producing a first rounder in 11 straight years, as well as four number ones in 2001 and 2003, and another five number ones in 2002.

When it comes to conferences, we were informed that the Southeastern Conference, home of the Auburn Tigers, has led the way in number ones since 1990. The SEC has had 556 players chosen in the first round over that time, 73 more players than the Big Ten (Ohio State's conference) and 75 more than the Pac-10 (Southern California's conference).

These draft aficionados went on. Some of the analysis included the number of Utah players selected number one and that Utah pick Alex Smith was the second youngest player to ever be chosen number one. It was noted that Demarcus Ware was the first ever first round pick out of Troy.

I watched and I learned, almost thinking that all of this hype really mattered. But of course, it won't be until the next regular routine, the weekly games and the subsequent analysis next fall, that we will find out how much any of this mattered.