THE 2008 NFL DRAFT 1 May 2008 I didn’t get to attend both days, as I had a personal commitment to deal with on Day 2. But I was there for all of Day 1—mercifully brief as it was. Last year, the league broke the record for the longest first day in modern draft history. I remember leaving near midnight and the house was still half full as they dragged themselves through the second round. Not so this year—the first round wrapped up in just three and a half hours, the shortest since 1990. Commissioner Goodell took a moment at the podium to mention how pleased he was. Certainly it was a blessing over last year’s marathon. How do you justify spending months, sometimes years, studying talent, then using the full fifteen minutes to make a final decision? After all that time, does fifteen minutes really make that much of a difference? Anyway, this was a good draft for me. I talked to a lot of people, jotted down loads of useful details for future books, and took over 400 pictures. Per the latter, I’m going through the best of them right now, and I’ll be posting my annual draft slideshow on the ‘NFL novels’ page ASAP. Meanwhile, I have to say I wasn’t too surprised by much of the activity in the first two rounds, although that Houston / Baltimore / Jacksonville trade was a little surprising. I know Houston needs help in a lot of places, so I can see the logic. But wow…. As for Miami, did you know they drafted linemen, on both sides of the ball, with almost every pick? Jake Long wasn’t even the only offensive tackle they took—Shawn Murphy, OT from Utah State, went in the fourth round (110th overall). This is smart drafting on their part, since linemen generally develop faster and can be effective more quickly than ‘skill players’ (I hate that phrase). In a few years, you’ll be able to put a corpse behind the Miami line and he’ll perform. Parcells and his crew are doing the right thing, so look for serious and immediate improvement from that team this season. Anyway, watch for the slideshow—I got some terrific behind-the-scenes shots this year, and I promise have them up soon. AN UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT AT THE BEARSVILLE 21 March 2008 You know what I did last month? I went to a concert. Yeah, that’s right—I dragged my sorry, forty-one-year-old butt to an actual concert. It didn’t have quite the same ‘feel’ as the Rush, Aerosmith, and Van Halen shows I used to attend at Madison Square Garden in the ‘80s (which required a two-hour ride on a filthy NJ Transit line from the Jersey Shore to Penn Station, along with about four hundred other fans). This was more of a ‘grownup’ thing, with people drinking wine and wearing nice jewelry and acting civilized, etc. It was downright shameful. Anyway, the band I saw was fronted by veteran vocalist Robbie Dupree. That name might sound familiar to anyone who owned a transistor radio in the late ’70s / early ‘80s. He had two hit singles back then—’Steal Away’ and ‘Hot Rod Hearts.’ (Listen to the sample clips in the iTunes store and you’ll go, “Oh yeah, I remember those.”) When I was a kid, I really liked ‘Steal Away.’ It was more pop than rock, but it had one of those irresistible hooks that you couldn’t get out of your head. I didn’t even know Robbie was still hard at it until a few years ago, when I first saw him in Woodstock, New York, in a nice little place called the Bearsville Theater (www.bearsvilletheater.com). His band consisted of some supremely talented guys, including guitarist / vocalist / songwriter Larry Hoppen of the Orleans; another band with several hits from that era (‘Dance With Me,’ ‘Still The One,’ etc.). What made last month’s concert, also at the Bearsville, particularly special was that Robbie and his friends were releasing their first album in five years—Time and Tide. Good new music always piques my interest, but this ended up blowing me away. Funky, jazzy, and with some R&B thrown in. Supremely performed and produced, each song with its own power and personality. Plus, there’s just enough of a ‘Steely Dan touch’ to send me reeling (my friends and family know that I want to be lying in my coffin with my earbuds attached and my iPod on shuffle / repeat, traveling through the entire SD catalogue until the batteries run down). That night, they played every track from the new disc, and the audience ate it up. It was a thrill to be there for the inaugural performance, lousy weather (Biblical-strength rainstorm) notwithstanding. I’ve had the pleasure of becoming friends with Robbie and his band over the years. I get to visit with them before and after the Bearsville shows, and I keep in touch with them via email. They’re a good bunch, an incredibly talented bunch, and worthy of all the success and praise they’ve received. If you’re a fan of the kind of music I described, I urge you to visit Robbie’s site (www.robbiedupree.com) and listen to whatever Time and Tide sample track he’s got up there at the moment. You’ll be glad you did.