Well, maybe Dez Bryant fell far enough in the draft to cause Jerry Jones to move his lap to catch him.  I've been busy and unable to blog for the past 2 weeks.  Had I had the time, my comments about the Dallas Cowboys' needs would have led me to an offensive tackle, in their spot a kid named Stafford from Indiana.  I would have said if an Earl Thomas or Dez Bryant fell enough the talent would dictate taking them due to the needs at safety and wide receiver.  I also would gave said that there was not enough value to trade up to the spots I thought these players would be drafted.  But a 1st and a 3rd for a 1st and a 4th from New England (who probably could have used Bryant themselves) was excellent value, if not a steal.  On that we shall see.

The character "issues" about Bryant do not include illegal activity on his part.  Mostly what I have heard is he lied about talking to Deion Sanders (something I might do) to the NCAA and punctuality problems.  Both maturity issues that the 40+ punditry believe all people all people in their early 20's should have or they are worthless for life.  Especially when you consider that in college most of the people he runs with are between 18 and 22 and are such great role models.  I think being on a pro team, where your team mates are generally between 25 and 32,  will give him a better example to follow.

Having a rough child hood is not a death sentence.  How many CEO's and politicians continually turn to their rough up bringings as the basis for their current "character".  Okay, maybe not the best set of crooks to use an example, but you get the idea.  I think Dez will be just fine.

Now to the effect I expect on the field, after a few games.  It looks like Roy Williams no longer has the ability to spread the defense, leaving Miles Austin as the only receiver with that ability, until now.  Roy still has decent hands and with his size should be a decent underneath receiver who will be covered by a safety or linebacker, that he does have the speed to beat.  Now the Cowboys can put out 4 and 5 receiver sets that will take the corners deep with Austin and Bryant and have Williams, Witten, and Crayton at that possession, 1st down depth, that will frustrate defenses.  8 in the box, good luck, pal.

Now on to the stupid things in the draft.  Denver traded up, traded too much, to get Tim Tebow and his "new" pass delivery.  Bet when the pressure and speed of the NFL hit, he will go back to his old bolo punch delivery.  And the media goes on and on about his "character".  They did that about Tiger Woods too.  All I'm saying is I am very skeptical about these too good to be true, better than the rest of us people that always tell you how much character they have.  Josh MacDaniel learned well from Bill Belichek.  He learned to try to show everyone else you are smarter than they are.  Funny how Bill wasn't smarter than anyone when he coached in Cleveland and didn't get smarter than everyone until Drew Bledsoe got hurt.

The Jets taking a cornerback was absurd.  One pundit said they will put 8 in the box, cover everyone man to man and kill quarterbacks.  That will work against 25 teams in the NFL but not the top 7.  Doesn't Rex Ryan know about the 3 step drop.  Gilligan may soon be on Revis Island.

McNABB

The Redskins trade for Donavan McNabb is puzzling. He is an upgrade at QB, but is he the right fit for Mike Shanahan? Shanahan's offenses are about ground control and precision passing. His Super Bowl wins were with John Elway. Downgrade to Brian Griese and Jake Plummer and he was a playoff coach only. McNabb has a lower completion pct. than all three.

For the Eagles this is a referendum on Andy Reid. He claims he wanted to keep McNabb. If that is correct he lost a power struggle. That tells me that if (when) the Eagles tank next year, he might get 1 more year.

Basically, I can't see this trade helping either team. The loss of the draft pick will hurt the Redskins in the long run. The Eagles gave away a player they still had 2-4 years to rebuild around and make one last run. Maybe this is why Philadelphia has never won the Super Bowl and won't be any time soon.

WHY PRO SPORTS CAN (AND SHOULD) BE ALLOWED TO REQUIRE MINIMUM COLLEGE TIME

For starters, all other industries do.  The argument that anyone else can go directly into whatever profession they want is bogus.  You can't come straight out of high school and get a job as an electrical engineer. 

Don't make the argument that sports is not a degree required occupation and doesn't compare.  I view it as four years of college sports is the same as a bachelors degree in that sport, 2-3 an associates degree.  From what I've seen most professional sports organizations do as well. 

Coaches and general managers would prefer players learn the lessons outside their degree field, just like employers do.  Having to take requirements outside the major give the players the ability to communicate more effectively and math and science help with understanding the underlying components of everything we do.  Pro teams draft these kids early now because the draft is about potential and if they didn't, someone else would.

Let's be clear, there are usually no more than 5 kids each year that can viably come from high school to the NBA and likely the same for the NFL.  These kids don't come from small country schools graduating 30 to 200 each year.  They come from large schools graduating 500 to more than 1000.  The point here is these larger schools provide a higher level of competetion, just like they provide college level courses for the brightest of students.  For this reason I can guaruntee that there are about 5 kids each year that would have the skills to leave high school and get a degree required job like engineering.  Obviously, they would have a period of learning or training provided by their employer and that is exactly what training camp and the rookie year are.  Would you want a doctor straight out of high school?

These very young rookies never make a championship impact in the first year anyway.  The only rookie I can think of that you can make that argument for is Magic Johnson.  Magic was not straight from high school.  Since the Lakers were in the playoffs several years prior and the Conference Finals the year prior, it is clear Magic was not the sole reason they won, just the cherry on the float.

The injury argument is bogus as well.  We tend to harp on the few times it does happen but the facts show it is very rare.  Career ending injuries don't happen to a team every game or even every season.  And today's medicine has greatly limited the number of career ending or threatening injuries as well.  Realistically, the athlete doesn't have much more risk than the engineering student.  We have come to the point that more college athletes are being eliminated by being the victims or perpetrators of crime or accidents than are getting career ending injuries.  Every student faces this risk.

So if we are not going to give every high school student, regardless of career path, the "right" to come straight out of high school and employers outside sports are allowed to require an educational minimum, pro sports should be allowed to require that minimum as well.  All jobs are professional.