Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Dodged

I did not miss, nor have I forgotten about, the whole Brady Quinn draft thing.

For one thing, I could have told him he wasn't going #3. The man was wearing a vest, and had at his side some woman who was under the delusion that God had intended her to be a blonde.

Normally I don't watch the NFL draft, because I can go in my classroom and call roll for sixteen hours and generate exactly the same level of excitement for myself. But this was finals week, and I was quite desperate for anything other than student sniffling-- large men in pinstripes receiving more cash in one series of downs than I will likely see in my entire career appealed to me.

ESPN Money Quote in the second round: "Brandy Quinn's gonna get some action here." Yeah, well, given what I know of Notre Dame's dating scene, Brady's not hurting for action, pretty much.

In addition to the fact that he is my brother in the Notre Dame family, I was wincing for Brady as he sat there and sat there and... sat there. That was me! That was totally me twenty years ago on the playground of St. Jude Elementry School! It's humiliating enough to happen every single day of recess, but sandwiching your worldwide humiliation between a Dodge Caravan commercial and a ticking clock hovering next to Chris Berman's head is a whole other league of hurt.

"Maybe the Bengals will take him," one of my students said as we checked on the draft during a one of the finals breaks. I said that the Bengals would not take him; the Bengals do not need a quarterback. The Bengals need a 24/7 on-field deploy of defense lawyers.

Yes, I'm angry at God, too, Brady. Cleveland. Sorry about having to hate you now.

I miss Boomer at: mbe@drinktothelasses.com

6 comments:

Life's a Laugh said...

I'm not an Irish fan as I hail from that hand-shaped state to the north, one of the sworn rivals to all things Notre Dame, but I was feeling a little bad for Brady as he sat all alone in the Green Room waiting for the call. Part of me was upset, however, when he and his family were given a suite so they wouldn't have to wait by their lonesome with cameras watching him not get picked. Aaron Rogers waited longer than Brady Quinn by himself in the Green Room until he was picked. I say if you are cocky enough to make the trek to NYC assuming you will be picked early, then you should have to sit there for all to see if you are not. Just an opinion.

Anonymous said...

The worst part is, he WANTED to go to Cleaveland! They showed that picture of him as a kid in the Browns shirt and helmet sooo many times it was making me sick.

Anonymous said...

Well, I can't say that I really blame him if he thought he'd go earlier. The rest of the sporting world seemed to think he would, too-- there were several draft publication with his picture *on the cover.* No pressure. He almost had to go. But you're right, the fam should have had to sweat it out with him.

Anonymous said...

laugh: He was INVITED to the Draft Green Room. Now, yeah, he could have said, "Stuff it, I'm goin' fishin' with my dad" like the guy Cleveland did pick at #3, but given the expectations, Quinn was supposed to be there.

All things being equal, this was probably the best thing that could have happened to Quinn in all areas except financially, and even then, who cares if his contract is one kazillion dollars instead of ten kazillion. He spent his entire senior year burdened under the weight of the massive expectations dropped upon him by people who were slow to realize that his supporting cast wasn't all that strong. The last thing he needed was a giant spotlight cast upon him by a #3 pick and a ten-kazillion dollar contract. The Browns got the franchise and the franchise's bodyguard at the cost of next year's first pick, and the better they do this year, the less next year's first pick will be worth.

Besides, MB, it could be worse than being a fan of the team that has a USC quarterback while your dreaded in-state rivals have ND's Golden Boy: you could be a Dolphins fan. They could have had Brady Quinn and Dwayne Jarrett, but they went with Ted Ginn, Jr. and John Beck. Whoops!

Anonymous said...

Well, mb, I seem to recall another Brady who was picked 199th overall. In. The. Sixth. Round. And yet he's managed to do okay for himself.

Too bad your Brady won't be winning any SuperBowls as long as he has to go through Foxboro to get there. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

Carah says: Oh no, not CLEVELAND! ANYWHERE but Cleveland!

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