A List of Things To Do over the 11 Days Leading Up to the NFL Draft

I have friends that fret for me every year around this time. In years past, I have been forced to take a day to go see my general medical practitioner.

I even have been dragged down to see a physiologist.

No, I’m not crazy. I follow defined steps that help to prevent any psychosis.

I have a plan that I use and have decided to share it with my fellow fanatics to help keep us all sane.

Day One—Wednesday

Produce your mock draft. There is plenty of time to sit down and go over the draft rankings again. Who’s rising, who’s falling? Compare the list to your teams needs. Then go back and look at the placement of where your team picks compared to the other 32 teams.

Now acting in proxy of the Vice President of personnel and the Head Coach for every team, go back down the list and make the picks that you think those other teams should make. You can spend a full day of research on the top 100 and still not have all the answers for your team.

Day Two—Thursday

Log on to all your sports links and review everyone else’s mock draft and compare how your draft holds up to theirs. Trust me this will take you well into the wee hours of the morning as you will see that you need to make adjustments to your mock draft because it has become obvious that everybody else wants your players and they pick before you.

Day Three—Friday

It’s a good idea to go check the police logs and make sure that none of your teams current players have any new arrests or pending court appointments. Draft adjustments might need to be made if you find that half your team has made their acquaintance with the local police force. More times than not, those run-ins have nothing to do with charitable events.

Day Four—Saturday

Catch up on some other sports, watch a baseball or basketball game. You might even turn on that fishing program just because it features a couple of your team's offensive linemen, only to get pissed off because you find out that they are better fishermen than they are blockers.

Day Four—Sunday

Make sure you read the Sunday sports section in your newspaper. Log on and check out the Facebook pages of your draft picks. If they have Twitter accounts, go and check and see what they’re doing.

Day Six—Monday

Now is the time to go back down the draft list and look for some late round sleepers. There is nothing like watching a sixth round pick win a starting position on the team through their preseason play. There’s got to be a few of those guys out there that you can pick up for cheap money.

Day Seven—Tuesday

This would be a good day to give your draft list a rest and go shopping. It’s a great time of year to go hit the bargain stores for last year’s sports attire. You know it’s time to give last year's jersey a rest. Don’t forget to tell your boss that you won’t be in on Friday. You need that extra day for preparation.

Day Eight—Wednesday

Again, you need to take a day of rest. By this time, your significant other will be at their wits' end with you. Go shave your face and comb your hair, and remember to say nice things. Remember, you need to win some bonus points to be able to watch the draft in peace.

Day Nine—Thursday

Go over your draft picks one more time. Check your team’s web page and see if there is anyway that you can upload your picks to the General Manager, VP of personnel or Head coach. They really need to see what you’ve put together, otherwise, they are bound to get it wrong.

Day 10—Friday

Grocery day, there is no way that you are going to make it out tomorrow so you need to stock up with the necessary condiments and beverages today. Don’t be stingy and make sure that you will want nothing the day of the draft. Don’t forget to set your alarm for an early wake up.

Day 11—Saturday

Draft day is here. Get up and eat a good breakfast. You might want to set up a draft board, if you have a dry erase board at home, then you're all set. If not, then you might want to see if you can borrow one from the neighbors.

You can easily do this in Excel on your computer, but I prefer the big visuals.

If you’ve invited friends, then make sure that they have arrived before you lock the doors. Lay out your meals and beverages. Don’t forget to grab a couple of boxes of Kleenex because you know your team is going to make a wrong pick or that is bound to reduce you to tears.

Pace yourself, if you make it through the first day of the draft and the beverages and food stuffs hold up, you can make it through Sunday as well.