From: Gonzalez, John
To: Ford, Bob; Sheridan, Phil
Subject: The draft
The draft is tomorrow. I can't wait. It's one of my favorite days of the year. I plan on ordering a mess of food and sinking into the couch and watching a lot of television (which, come to think of it, makes it like any other weekend for me).
Are the two of you into the draft or do you think it's an overrated sports day? And what would you like to see the Birds do with their remaining first-round pick?
From: Sheridan, Phil
To: Ford, Bob; Sheridan, Phil
Subject: The draft
First draft I covered, we all went to a room in the bowels of Veterans Stadium, it started at 8 a.m., and they did 12 rounds in one day. The Eagles took Kevin Allen in the first round and Randall Cunningham in the second. I thought it was the stupidest thing I ever covered, and I was only wrong in that the draft itself got stupider and more cumbersome every year as it morphed into a TV event for people who don't really like sports at all - just pretending they know more than the real coaches and GMs about players they've never seen play in person.
Not sure what's worse. The 4 p.m. start time or the breathless "reports" from ESPN correspondents who get handed information by the teams so they have something to say during the eternal TV-mandated gaps between selections. I'd rather watch a documentary about how they make dryer sheets.
As for the Eagles, I hope they package the No. 21 pick and a second-rounder, move up into the top 10, and then take a guard from a Division II school. Just for kicks.
From: Gonzalez, John
To: Ford, Bob; Sheridan, Phil
Subject: The draft
You're such a killjoy. What's better than a day of pizza and Mel Kiper's hair and the commish announcing a bunch of names you've never heard before and won't remember?
I love all the nonsense - the fans who head to NYC to scream and cry, the teams who bungle their picks, the on-air fighting between the talking heads. I wish every day was draft day.
By the way, if we were drafting a three-man roster for Talkin', I could see the two of you lasting until the fourth and fifth rounds.
From: Ford, Bob
To: Gonzalez, John; Sheridan, Phil
Subject: The draft
Sounds like a fun weekend for the Page 2 columnist, doesn't it, Phil?
I'll be at the NovaCare Complex trying to figure out what to write about the Division II guard. We Page 1 columnists have a nickname for weekends. We call them "work days."
