Game Girl

Get your DVR ready, folks. The next few days present some major TV-watching dilemmas, and you need to be prepared. Tonight, it's the first round of the NFL draft, which is now in primetime and is oh-so-awesome to watch. Full of intrigue, mystery and excitement. And of course, my alarm is already set for tomorrow's royal wedding extravaganza, which might just cause me to stay in my pajamas and obsessively watch TV all stinking day (well, I would if I didn't have mommy duties to attend to, but hey, a girl can dream, right?)

And then there's the final show of The Office, where Michael turns out the lights and heads for greener pastures with Holly in Colorado. That starts at 9, I think, but I need to double-check. Oy. What's a girl to do??

OK, so the Redskins pick 10th, unless they trade up (or down), so that gives me some extra time to switch back and forth a bit between The Office and the draft. But who am I kidding? I won't miss a MINUTE of this year's draft, starting with Carolina at #1. Will they or won't they pick Cam Newton? Will there or won't there be player trades now that the lockout has been lifted? And on it goes. OK, so that means DVR The Office and watch later. Go to bed at a relatively decent hour so I can get back up at 4 to watch the wall-to-wall craziness that is the royal wedding coverage.

And it doesn't stop there. If you're an NBA fan, there are games all weekend. And NHL fans (including local Caps fans) have to squeeze in some hockey. And don't forget the draft goes all weekend, for those nuts like me who actually care which players their team drafts in the 7th round. Wow -- it's going to be one of those weekends where you know you're going to have to leave the house at some point, but you're really not going to want to.

All I can say is, embrace it. Enjoy every minute of it, because excitement like this doesn't come around too often. Seriously.

Tomorrow is Draft Day -- a big milestone in the NFL that this year, has been nearly overshadowed by the lock-out and labor dispute. But draft they will, even if the new players don't know how much they'll be getting paid, when they can start playing or even IF they'll be playing come September.

But for now, opportunity looms for many newly-minted players. The possibilities are endless. The choices wide and varied. For players and teams alike, the intrigue factor is high. Will the guy we really want be there when it's our turn to pick, teams wonder? And will the team I REALLY want to play for actually pick me, players ask?

Ah, the mystery. The secrets. The behind-the-scenes deals. What a blast it must be to be in those meetings as teams are deciding which players they're going to pick...who is available, who's not, and what kind of trading stock will it take to get the player they really want!

As always, I'm nervous and anxious to see who the Redskins are going to pick, since the draft has never really been our forte, thanks in large part to Dan Snyder and his player management people who seemed to feel it was better to pay handsomely for washed-up players on the free-agent market than to simply pick new players coming out of college. Duh. But things have been changing lately, and now the question is, what will the Skins do with their first-round pick? Draft a quarterback? Fill out the defensive line? Try to find a competent nose tackle?

We'll have to watch and wait and see. That's the beauty of the draft. No one knows. Absolutely no one! Not the players, not the media, and not even really the teams themselves. Major surprises on draft day can really shake things up.

I know one thing for sure -- it's going to be fun to watch.

So glad the federal judge from Minneaapolis in the NFL labor dispute lock-out has some common sense. Who knows? Maybe she's a closet Vikings fan herself. Or maybe, just maybe, she recognizes how absoultely ridiculous this whole situation has become and has decided enough is enough.

Whatever the reason, kudos to her. And props to the NFL Players Association for pursuing a federal injunction against this absurd lock-out in the first place. Now maybe both sides -- players and owners -- can sit down and really hash this thing out like grown ups. it's gone on long enough.

With the draft looming later this week, and mini-camps not too far behind, the normally busy NFL off-season needs to crank back into gear. Without yesterday's injunction against the lock-out, the off-season would have remained a pipe dream, with players continuing to work out on their own in local high school gyms around the country. NOT a good scenario if you are a player, or more importantly, a fan. Less preparation in the off-season means weaker players and weaker games when the real season begins. These players need to practice, to work out, to prepare. Football is a year-round game these days, and preventing players from practicing in the spring means upsetting the apple cart for the entire 2011 season.

Now, maybe the players can start practicing while their representatives meet with management at the negotiation table to hash out a deal both sides can live with. Here's hoping a deal gets done sooner rather than later. Please??

See? This ridiculous dispute over how to share 9 billion dollars might force me into doing more yard work next fall. AACK! Stop the madness, people!

NFL fans say they’ll do more yard work if there’s no football in fall - Shutdown Corner - NFL Blog - Yahoo! Sports

Today's a big day of posturing and politics. Battles over turf. Lots of guys in suits desperate for their soundbytes to hit the news. Between the leaders in Congress fighting to keep the federal government from shutting down, and the NFL filing a motion in court to try to solve this whole revenue-sharing brawl, I'm already fighting a headache and it's not even lunchtime yet.

Do you ever get the sense that the bigger the stage, the smaller the substance of the discussion? I swear, watching the news this morning with Congressman after Congresswoman talking about how the "other side" is to blame for the pending goverment shutdown, you could almost believe that there isn't a competent person in charge anywhere in the vicinity of Washington DC. Oh right, sorry...many people already DO believe that!

And the same can be said of these ridiculous NFL people -- owners and players alike. Seems to me both sides are more concerned about pointing fingers and assigning blame than actually making progress to bring about a resolution to this problem. And whether they want to believe it or not, it really IS a problem. Fans aren't going to sit idly by while the owners and players fight over a 9 billion dollar surplus and proceed to ruin football in the process.

And neither are the American people going to sit by and watch our leaders in Congress on both sides of the aisle blame the other side for over-blown spending practices and a severe budget shortfall threatening to close down the federal government.

I mean, come on. Am I the only one who gets tired of watching these people sit on TV or stand at a podium and do nothing but cast blame on the other side? It doesn't matter if it's a Congressman or an NFL suit or player, the song remains the same: it's always the OTHER guy's fault. Didn't any of these people ever learn to accept responsibility for their own ills? Isn't that one of the first lessons we all learn in kindergarten? I'm certainly trying to teach my four-year-old not to blame others for his own problems...why do I have to listen to these ridiculous so-called "leaders" of government and sports play the blame-game?

Maybe we'll get lucky and some of them will come to their senses today and actually get something done. But honestly, I'm not holding my breath.