General

Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call: Better Than Real Draft

Apr 23, 2008, 12:29 PM UTC

â†µToday's Calls: Jake Long vs. JaMarcus Russell, Tim Duncan vs. Amare Stoudemire, Chris Paul vs. Dwight Howard, Flyers vs. Sharks, Jared Allen vs. Chad Johnson, Shaun Alexander vs. Oblivion, Brandon Webb vs. John Smoltz and More! â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Opening Pitch: I love the NFL “Pre-Draft.” By giving the team on the clock the option to select and sign their player of choice, the “Pre-Draft” is genius: No holdouts, no surprises, no muss, no fuss. â†µ

â†µâ†µBeyond Jake Long’s plug-and-play skills as an offensive tackle, how can Dolphins fans not be thrilled to completely avoid a holdout? â†µ

â†µâ†µHere is my dream scenario: Continuing with the Rams, who have the No. 2 pick, teams continue to use their “pre-draft” option to select (and sign) their picks throughout the week. â†µ

â†µâ†µBy Saturday, the entire 1st round is already complete, and instead of taking, oh, 5 hours or so, we get the 1st round done in about 15 minutes. â†µ

â†µâ†µ(At the very least, I hope the NFL doesn’t make us wait the Fins’ full 10-minute draft slot before announcing the pick and moving on.) â†µ

â†µâ†µHere’s a lesson for the Rams and every team picking after them that might not see the wisdom in taking advantage of the Pre-Draft: “Signability” matters, and holdouts kill rookie seasons. â†µ

â†µâ†µTeams have unique leverage BEFORE the draft, not afterward; find a couple players you could live with and tell them the auction is on, selecting the one who signs first. â†µ

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â†µFans are happy. Coaches are happy. Owners are happy. Players are happy. And isn't that what the Draft should be all about? â†µ

â†µâ†µSpurs beat Suns to take 2-0 lead as series shifts to Phoenix: I fully expect the Suns to rebound once they get home, but they seemed deflated after losing that sick Game 1: Phoenix let a double-digit lead go ... again. The Spurs are closers; the Suns are not. â†µ

â†µâ†µChris Paul vs. Dwight Howard! Here’s the question: If you had to pick one of them to start your franchise, who would it be? â†µ

â†µâ†µ“CP3”: Hornets playoff-record 17 assists (with 32 points) and completely dominated the Mavs, leading New Orleans to a 2-0 series lead. â†µ

â†µâ†µ“Superman”: 29 and 20 -- his second straight 20/20 playoff game -- and mostly dominated the Raptors, leading the Magic to a 2-0 series lead. â†µ

â†µâ†µNormally, you would be insane not to take the big man with limitless potential to dominate inside, but CP3 is one of those transcendent small players who make a giant-sized impact. â†µ

â†µâ†µPick: Chris Paul. (Any player who dominates NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me...” AND the NBA playoffs is good enough for me.) â†µ

â†µâ†µNHL Game 7 Mania: The name “Joffrey Lupul” enters Broad Street mythology. With Lupul’s game-winning, series-clinching, road-killing, ghost-exorcising, OT-thrilling goal, he and the Flyers beat the Caps in D.C. to advance. â†µ

â†µâ†µIf nothing in sports beats the intensity of an NHL Game 7, nothing in sports really beats the intensity of an NHL Game 7 that goes into -- and is won -- in OT. â†µ

â†µâ†µMeanwhile, if Schilling-esque big-mouth Jeremy Roenick hasn’t earned his media talk-time today after last night (2G, 2A leading the Sharks to a 5-3 series-clinching win over Calgary), I don’t know when he will... â†µ

â†µâ†µMLB Instant History: Congrats to John Smoltz on his 3,000th K; if you join a “milestone” club with only 15 other members, you have done something right in your career... â†µ

â†µâ†µBetween Brandon Webb (now 5-0) and Micah Owings, the D’backs have the best 1-2 punch of starting pitching in baseball (and that doesn’t even consider Dan Haren) ... â†µ

â†µâ†µBoston wins 6th straight: The Red Sox didn’t need David Ortiz to provide more than one RBI single when the had when they had Jacoby Ellsbury (2 HR) and Dustin Pedroia (3 2B)... â†µ

â†µâ†µWill Frank Thomas end up with the A’s? (I don’t understand why Oakland wouldn’t prefer to sign Barry Bonds)... â†µ

â†µâ†µFantasy Stud: Casey Blake (4-4, HR, 6 RBI) ... And once again in this amazing comeback season, Gabe Kapler: Hero... â†µ

â†µâ†µI was in attendance at the Rockies’ 9th-inning meltdown vs. the Phillies; Manny Corpas ain’t ready for primetime ... â†µ

â†µâ†µCongrats to Alex and Cynthia Rodriguez on the birth of their daughter; if A-Rod’s “injury” DNP was to be with his wife when she gave birth, how could anyone begrudge him missing a game for that? â†µ

â†µâ†µVikings get All-Pro DE Jared Allen from KC: All it took was a precious 1st-round pick (and a 3rd). Minnesota’s defense will take a leap forward (if they could just solve the QB situation...); with two early first-round picks, KC is squarely in “rebuilding mode” ... â†µ

â†µâ†µ(Chad Johnson Watch: The Bengals rejected a Redskins’ trade offer -- including an ‘08 first-rounder, which I thought no one ever turned down -- for magnificent malcontent WR Chad Johnson. The latest? Marvin Lewis dares 85: Go ahead and hold out.) â†µ

â†µâ†µNBA Awards: KG wins Defensive Player of the Year. It is nice to see KG collect at least some individual hardware this season (because he won’t win MVP). The defensive end is where fans really saw KG’s impact on the C’s this season. â†µ

â†µâ†µ(Are Celtics fans “bandwagoneers,” like Mike Bibby claims? It’s not unreasonable, particularly if you look at Boston sports fans’ bandwagonish recent history rooting for the Pats. That said: Most teams that go from losers to winners -- particularly as extremely as the Celtics pulled it off -- develop their fair share of bandwagon fans. All of this begs a question: What’s wrong with jumping on a bandwagon?) â†µ

â†µâ†µCome on: You’d ban Isiah, too. â†µ

â†µâ†µSeahawks cut Shaun Alexander: See, now THAT is a Madden Curse -- the one-time MVP didn’t just get worse during the season he appeared on the Madden cover; his career virtually came to a halt, then an end. â†µ

â†µâ†µMore Seattle sports news: Sonics ex-owner Howard Schultz is suing to unwind the sale of the team to Clay Bennett (with no remote chance of winning); while Schultz is busy re-branding Starbucks, I guess he figures he might as well try to re-brand himself from The Owner Who Let The Team Get Away to I Tried, Didn’t I? â†µ

â†µâ†µJose Canseco meets with Feds about Clemens: If you consider how insufferable Canseco is during his media interviews, can you imagine how unbearable interviewing him as a Federal investigator would be? Apparently, he told them Clemens wasn’t at his infamous party. â†µ

â†µâ†µChampions League Semifinals: Given the tie-breaking process, how insane was Liverpool’s John Arne Riise’s own-goal (in injury time!) to give Chelsea a 1-1 tie on the road. It means Liverpool has to score at Chelsea next Wednesday in the second stage of their semifinal home-and-home. Problem: Liverpool hasn’t scored at Chelsea all season. (Meanwhile, speaking of big, it doesn’t get bigger than Barca vs. Man U at Camp Nou today.) â†µ

â†µâ†µHousekeeping: Spencer Hall will be pinch-hitting here tomorrow morning; I’ll be back on Friday. â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Last Word: How can the “Pre-Draft” work for you? Try applying it to your fantasy football league draft next season: â†µ

â†µâ†µLet the GM who picks first declare his choice starting a week before the draft, moving the option to the next person down the draft order. â†µ

â†µâ†µYou’ll be shocked at how productive and efficient your draft night becomes -- and how much more fun the week-long lead-up is. â†µ

â†µâ†µDan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com. â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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