THE SPORTS DOLDRUMS

We’ve reached the point of the sports calendar that is commonly referred to as the doldrums. We are, to use a term left over from junior high history class, the horse latitudes of the sports year. No football, no baseball, no hockey, pre-March Madness, and still in the middle of the NBA regular season grind.

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The NFL Draft is fast approaching. I think I need to start my research for another mock draft of the first round. There’s a website, http://www.fftoolbox.com/nfl_draft/mockdrafts.cfm, which has collected over 80 mock drafts online. Most of them are chumps like me making guesses and whatnot. Heck, Mel Kiper Jr. is wrong every year and draft prep is all he does. He probably grades his hair every morning: “Performance was bad during styling, but the intangibles were off the board.” Picking last doesn’t entail much excitement for the Pats, but you never know about Belichick, he does have a history of wheeling and dealing on draft day.

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Speaking of draft prep, I guess now is the time to turn to fantasy baseball. As much as I want to crush Chazer and end his unprecedented reign as champion, somehow I haven’t had as much time to prep as I’d like this year. Between work, writing the blog, playing educational computer games with the kids (yes, educational), trying to sneak in time on the Xbox (ok, definitely non-educational), and everything else that’s involved in life the prep time is slipping away. Wait, maybe that’s the best strategy to go with in the fantasy draft. I always lose anyway with my horrible job drafting despite all the prep work I did. I only get into the top half of the standing because I get lucky picking up slow starters in late April and May (like claiming Johan Santana off waivers last year. My arm was in a sling for a week after patting my back so much after that one.). I’m throwing darts this year. The less analytical thinking I do the better.

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So have the Patriots highlighted Tim Dwight as the replacement for Troy Brown? It certainly looks that way. Though not much younger, and small in stature like Brown, Dwight is known around the NFL for his blazing speed, outstanding special teams play and kick/punt return abilities, and his ability to play as the 3rd or 4th receiver out of the slot. He certainly fits the bill as a hard-nosed, smart, over-achiever.

Nothing new in the news on free-agent receiver/special teams whiz Alex Bannister, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks, who is supposedly one of the Patriots’ top free agent targets.

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I thought of signing off the column with a witty reference to a band like sports columnists Bill Scheft at SI does or Dave Fleming at ESPN.com noting what cool band they listened to as they wrote it; however, I don’t think it enhances my credibility to end the column with nuggets such as “enjoy Jackyl” or “this article was written while listening to my 80’s hair bands mix.” I’m tragically unhip, I guess.

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