Biggest Story Of The Weekend
There was SO much news over the weekend. But those who know me well will not be surprised that I decided to take a whack at the crazy NFL draft - hey, I was once a sports writer - instead of the pope’s funeral or politics, Virginia-style
That said, we do have a big story brewing in the commonwealth. The GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, John Reid, claims he’s being slandered and is the victim of an extortion attempt to get him out of the race.
It swirls around a Tumblr account in his name that he claims is not his, that posted what’s been alleged to be gay soft porn in the past several years.
I like John Reid. He’s been a guest on The Kerry and Mike Show several times. My issues align nicely with his. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, however, has asked him to drop out of the race and Reid has refused.
I spent the weekend trying to get additional details and don’t have enough to take a hard position today. I hope to by tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Back to something I love more than politics. Football. College football, to be specific.
And there is no bigger night in the college football world than Draft Night, which was last Thursday.
If you had the misfortune of watching the draft on ESPN you’ll know exactly what I mean when I say that “football analyst” Mel Kiper should be fired.
He spent the entire broadcast pimping for Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of the legendary Deion Sanders.
Kiper had him in his top five prospects in the draft.
The NFL had him in the top 144.
Quarterback talent is historically hard to predict. Many college football stars fizzle out in the NFL. Other journeymen college players light the league on fire. Tom Brady comes to mind.
Still, when the Tennessee Titans picked Miami quarterback Cam Ward on the first pick of the 2025 draft, Kiper continued yapping about Sanders. Ward, a consistently great college QB, earned a giant shrug from the ESPN panel. They didn’t show his highlight reel and they didn’t air his interview after the pick.
When New Orleans passed on Sanders with the number 9 pick, Kiper nearly had a coronary. When the New York Giants traded up to take Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart as the 25th pick, Kiper was furious.
Kiper’s insistence that something nefarious was at work fed all sorts of social media craziness.
Included X posts like this one:
Um, last time I checked, Cam Ward was African American, as were about 80% of the newly minted multi-millionaires.
Sanders was finally picked by the Cleveland Browns in the 4th round and by then Kiper had lost his mind.
It never occurred to him that Sanders is a good quarterback, may even turn out to be a franchise QB in the NFL, but that the fact he skipped the NFL combine and the Senior Bowl and built a glitzy “draft room” in his house with “Legendary” in large letters may have been off-putting to many owners and coaches.
Sanders’ behavior in interviews and the fact that he reportedly dodged meeting with general mangers of teams he didn’t want to play for may have contributed to the reticence of so many clubs to take a chance on him.
Football fans don’t watch the draft to see entitled brats strut their stuff. We like to see the kids who have worked hard hear their names called on the biggest night of their life.
For instance, I loved watching Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston in the green room as he joyfully grasped the hands and hugged every player who passed by as he waited for his name to be called. He went #30 in the first round to the Buffalo Bills. One analyst (not Kiper) called Hairston the best-liked player in the draft.
There were other touching moments. Young men embracing their tearful mothers and fathers, phone calls to tough-guy football players weeping when coaches told them were getting the nod. One player, Derrick Harmon, who spent his NIL money on his mother’s medical bills was able to tell her he was a Pittsburg Steeler just before she died.
Those were the guys who made the draft worth watching.
And then there was the loathesome Mel Kiper, ruining the broadcast because of his inflated and inability to evaluate football talent.
