Thursday April 28th 2011
Our trip starts inauspiciously on Wednesday evening, when we realized we booked our flight on Wednesday morning (instead of Thursday morning). Jeenyous I know. A few phone calls and $200 later we had a non-stop flight, landing in JFK at 7:30 AM Thursday morning.
Had a few beers before getting on our flight and by the time we landed, it felt like we had gone through 3 rounds with Anderson Silva in an MMA fight. I slept a little, not much. My buddy slept even less.
Grab a $50 cab to our hotel. We check our bags with concierge at the Millenium U.N. & find out our room won't be ready until 3:00 PM. Head over to Morning Star Cafe for some excellent breakfast. Our waitress is young & very cute, serving us in a timely fashion. She had such a nice ass. Coffee is fantastic. Belgium Waffle was very good too. Eye heart New York.
As we were eating breakfast a huge downpour of rain hits. The weather girl said like up to 3 inches in spots. It rained for about 10-15 minutes only but it was a hard driving rain.
Fortunately, the rain stopped enough to give us a chance to walk around the city for a bit, making our way up 50th st (I think). We walk by a place called The Perfect Pint. I didn't think they would be open for a beer but they were! We sit down and order a Belgium beer Duvel. It's a wonderful lager style with just a little extra kick of alcohol than a regular lager. I love Belgium beers. We're watching the pre-draft hype on ESPN. My buddy is fretting the Niners will take a QB at #7 overall. Jim Harbaugh recruited Blaine Gabbert out of high school. Ah but as a Packer fan I have no fear. The Packers have the 32nd overall selection. The pick every team wants because it means you just won the Super Bowl. Yes, I'm still basking in the glow.
The lunch crowd begins to show up. The Perfect Pint is a 4 floor building, and on the roof is an open air patio with TV's. You can actually sit at a table that has it's own taps and pour yourself a beer. We head to the open air patio and continue watching the hype. We have an awning overhead that is drawn protecting us from the downpour that begins again. You can smell the rain cleansing the air in New York. The fresh air plus the Belgium beer...It's a beautiful thing.
It's about 1:30 or so and lunch is ending. We pay our tab & head back to the hotel. Thankfully our room is ready. We grab some afternoon shuteye before the draft starts at 7:30.
After freshening up with a quick shower and a nap, it's about 6:00 PM. We grab a cab over to radio city music hall so as not to get caught in any downpours. It wouldn't rain the rest of our trip.
I grab a quick Hebrew National hot dog from a street cart to hold me over until the draft ends.
The draft begins and the crowd is rowdy. Booing commissioner Goodell heartily and chanting "We want foot ball!!" The commissioner states "I hear you!"
Cam Newton is the first player off the board to some cheers & mostly jeers. Von Miller comes off the board, then Marcel Dareus, AJ Green, Patrick Peterson (my buddy groans as he really wanted Peterson for the Niners).
Now we get to the part of the draft that was a big surprise--Atlanta jumping up from #27 overall to #6 overall. I don’t know if they were worried about the Niners taking Julio but that’s how I see it. As I look at the board, Julio had a chance to drop all the way to the Rams. I don’t believe it was necessary to jump all the way up to #6 overall. I’m happy to hear other alternate opinions.
IMO, Atlanta gave up way too much for this player. Seriously, this guy has to be the 2nd coming of Moss, Rice or equivalent big time WR for this trade to be even close to worth it. Atlanta saw what Green Bay did with multiple WR’s. The Packers beat the best defenses, time & again. Atlanta is trying to keep up, however, they better look at their own division first instead of worrying about an NFC Conference rival. Other than Carolina, their division is pretty tough & Atlanta had just about everything go their way in 2010-11 until that fateful Saturday night vs. Green Bay.
The Niners are up and they draft Aldon Smith. My buddy is happy with this selection. Some people had him rated a little lower in round 1 but I believe he’s an excellent pass rusher and a good pick there.
The Titans give us the next shocker on day 1 by drafting Jake Locker. (Hey that rhymes) Word has it, the Vikings wanted him badly which caused them to reach for Christian Ponder. In between, Tyron Smith, Blaine Gabbert and the infamous J.J. Watt all come off the board. I’d personally like to thank the Vikings for drafting Ponder by extending the Viking “brain trust” contracts for the next 50 years.
Later we would hear former GM Charlie Casserly state, "It would've been interesting if (Jake) Locker didn't go to Tennessee at eight," said an NFC exec. "Then, Minnesota might take him at 12, another defensive player comes off the board, and maybe Ponder's there. It'd be different. But some players got pushed down."
The Lions draft Nick Fairley next. Yes, I groaned with most of if not all of you. Hopefully he busts but I have a feeling this Lion DL, to coin a phrase, is going to be “ta deal with”. Bears will be in the mix. Vikings are done but Lions & Packers will be fighting for the division.
The selections from here down to #24 all pretty much fell in line. No surprise, right? These are the teams that are competitive. Until we get down to the Seahawks at #25 drafting James Carpenter prompting Nick Saban himself to do a double-take and say “WHAT!??!!” Thanks Pete and gang. Yes folks, that selection is/was a reach.
Next up we had a small problem with a trade between (who else) the Bears & Jerry Angelo and the Ravens. The way it went down, when the Ravens believed to have a trade completed with Angelo and the Bears, the clock expired. This allowed the Chiefs to jump up and draft Baldwin. Did the Bears want Baldwin? They certainly need a WR & If they did, leave it to Angelo and crew to screw it up. Of course the league says “no harm no foul”. The Ravens still get their guy in Jimmy Smith and the Bears draft a LT for the next decade in Gabe Carimi.
The Jets draft Muhammed Wilkerson, who Bob McGinn stated TT definitely liked and would’ve drafted if he was there at #32. Steelers draft Cam Heyward.
As we get to the Packers pick, I was busy chatting with a friend. I kind of wanted Aaron Williams who would go just a couple picks later but was on board with the selection of Derrick Sherrod. While I was chatting, I find out later I was on TV with Rich Eisen stating how “Aaron Rodgers looks like he let himself go due to the lockout.” If I heard that, I would’ve been all over Eisen with a Rogaine or equivalent comment. I was wearing an Aaron Rodgers All Star jersey with a Superbowl XLV patch plus Captains patch. All good fun though. Eisen is one of the best.
We make our way out of RCMH and head towards the Playwright II. It is Thursday evening so we’re not expecting Aixa (yes I was spelling her name incorrectly in past years, which if you continue reading these threads you’ll find out later) to be there. We find a table and discuss the 1st round picks.
It’s Karaoke night. Some dude is up there absolutely butchering a country song. Whoever told him he could sing should be shot. I couldn’t take it anymore and finally screamed out “UNCLE!! Dude get off the stage, you suck!!” Most everyone is laughing. A girl goes up there and helps out by doing a Lady Gaga tune very well. We have a few beers and head towards our hotel. Nothing major & this evening was by far our tamest in 5 years of going to the draft.
On the walk home, I tell my buddy, I’m starving. So is he. I tell him dude do you remember where the biryani (spelling?) cart is? He doesn’t remember but I do. 46th & 6th Ave. He says, “Are you sure?” Yes, I’m positive. We head to the corner and there it is…the best after bar food on the planet. We both grab a Chicken & Rice dish and make it spicy. This cart has had Bobby Flay from food network stop by and is rated as one of the best in New York. Once back at the hotel, consume the food and hit our beds (notice it’s plural RAINBowaCheese) for a nice evening of sleep.
Stay tuned for Day 2 later this week. I’m busy the rest of the weekend. Hope you enjoyed it.
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