Last night, I watched about an hour of the NFL draft. (Long enough to see whom the Giants chose in the first round.)
Today, I spent a couple of hours reading and listening to post-first-round analysis of the picks, as well as possibilities for tonight’s couple of rounds.
If you like or love football, you know that the purest hope for the future comes now, during the NFL draft, when perceived holes in your team are magically filled. When you watch college game film of your new players and envision how they’ll triumph from the first day they’re on the field.
And you begin to game plan for the immediate future. Because, you know the coaches will be reading your mind, plucking insights and utilizing them in their actual game plans.
Fantasies aside, there will be a future. We can’t be sure right now when we’ll be in it but we are sure we will be, eventually.
But with football, this is the beginning of the segment of the season — which will eventually include team events and workouts, and pre-season games — which is glorious in its perfection. Everyone is wonderful, a perfect winning season is possible.
This morning, as I was listening to Giants analysts talk about Andrew Thomas, the Giants’ first round draft pick, I forgot for an hour what’s going on in the world around me. Instead, I was feeling hope and seeing great games, action, movement, closeness.
If you like football, think about giving the draft a try tonight, starting at 7 pm on ABC, ESPN and other stations. It’s a nice breather — and without a mask.