I need more draft analysis STAT!

Seriously, shouldn't Mel Kiper Jr., John Clayton, and Peter King be forced to produce (minimum) four columns of noteworthy draft material a day for this entire week. What the hell else have they been working on since Janurary?

Anyway...It's Friday!!! Nevermind, It's only Wednesday but its my Friday since I'm taking off the rest of the week. There's really no reason for me taking this vacation other than maybe pure laziness which of course isn't an acceptable answer. I am going to see The Roots in Orlando tommorrow night so that's a good enough excuse for Friday, but as for tommorrow...well I guess if you back me into a corner I'll have to go with...alcoholism. Apparently the judges have conversed and alcoholism IS an acceptable answer. Sweet.

I'm going to try to post some things in the next couple of days but they'll most likely be rather short and to the point. As my father always says, "There's something to be said for brevity." Actually, he never says that though he does often speak whimsically of Brevin Knight. Ok that's a lie too.

The Draft is fast approaching and we're starting to see some movement. The always over eager Redskins front office has traded into the #25 slot in an apparent effort to acquire Jason Campbell. As I mentioned yesterday, I think that Campbell can become a good starter in the NFL, eventually. Spending a first round pick on a somewhat inaccurate QB with questionable intelligence is...well, exaclty what you'd expect from the Dirt Worshippers. The other trade that went down yesterday was the Texans swapping second and third round picks for Phillip Buchanon. I was a huge Buchanon fan(both as a corner and punt returner) when he came out of Miami but since then he has been injured, inconsistent and a general disapointment. My guess is that he's spent a little too much time hanging out with Chaz Woodson. Maybe that's what the Texans think too and they are banking on him snapping out of this malaise once they pair him with a pro like Aaron Glenn. I sure hope so. Even if that is the case, it sure seems like the Texans overpaid for Buchanon. I can see giving up one of those picks but trading both is paramount to trading a late first round pick. With the depth of the corner class this year (and the overall draft) the Texans would've been better served to hold onto their picks and use one of them on a corner.

Anybody wondering why the University of Florida hasn't been a dominant program in recent years need only look at this year's draft for one of two main reasons...lack of experienced talent. Florida will have four players drafted this year, at most. After you get past Channing Crowder and Ciatrick Fason the only other players with even a chance of being selected are Mo Mitchell and Reynaldo Hill. The enormous Mitchell is more than likely looking at a free agent contract while Hill would be in the same boat if he hadn't run a 4.3 forty during Florida's pro day. For some perspective, Hill was so off the radar of NFL scouts that he wasn't even invited to the combine. Of course, after running the afforementioned forty in Gainesville, Hill will probably end up going in the fifth or sixth round. One other player to keep an eye on is OJ Small. He won't get drafted because he has very average speed but he was an extremly productive receiver in the SEC who runs great routes and has huge strong hands. He'll make somebody's team as a free agent and end up having a nice little career as a fourth receiver in the NFL. Oh yeah, and the Gators were coached by Ron Zook for the last three years, which never helps.

Of all the upcoming playoff series', the one which excites me the most is easily the Wizards-Bulls matchup. Two very young and exciting teams who have almost no playoff experience on their roster so they'll both be learning on the job. If pressed for an answer I'd go with the Wizards to prevail only because the Bulls will be without Eddy Curry and Luol Deng. Both of these teams have the potential to be at the top of the Eastern Conference for many years to come if they are able to re-sign some key free agents (Curry, Chandler, Hughes, maybe, maybe Brown) while keeping team chemistry intact, which is hardly a given in today's NBA. Besides the youth of each team, the other part of this series that excites me are some of the matchups we'll be privy to. Here's a quick rundown of some of the more intriguing showdowns:

Arenas vs. Hinrich: One of the more underrated defensive point guards trying to shutdown the league's most prolific scoring point.

Gordon vs. Hughes: Hughes does just about everything well, including defend and his size could really bother Gordon late in games.

Jamison vs. Whoever: This will most likely be Andres Nocioni since Deng is injured. If the Bulls were able to make Jamison work on defense by running some plays for Deng early then they'd stand a better chance of shutting down Jamison on the other end. As good a defender as Nocioni is, I don't think he has enough size to bother Jamison especially if he isn't forced to guard anyone on defense.

Steve Blake vs. Chris Duhon: Ok, this is only intriguing to Dick Vitale.

One thing that I forgot to mention about the Bucs draft is my hope that they are able to acquire Elton Brown. I believe that Brown has the potential to be the best offensive lineman taken in this draft and if there is one area that has been a constant achilles heel for the Bucs (even during the Super Bowl run) its the o-line. My dream scenario work like this: One of the Williams boys in the first round (I'd take Braylon Edwards or Ronnie Brown as well) followed by the Bucs selecting Elton Brown with their second round pick while Bruce Allen makes a trade for another second round pick which the Bucs use to select Mike Patterson.

One thing I forgot to mention last week: Steve Spurrier didn't even wait until the fall to start taking shots at Fat Phil Fulmer. Even going so far as to downplay the recent missteps by South Carolina players by comparing them to the numerous felonies that have been accrued by Tennessee players this spring. God, I missed that guy.