Such Sweet Karma: Tim Tebow Goes Before Jimmy Clausen

So, here I sit, blurry eyed and delirious.  My arch nemesis, Mel Kiper Jr., has been utterly defeated.  It is a defeat the dimensions of which he has never experienced:  A route from which no honor can be salvaged.

For months now, I have taken guff from Kiper-clones who insisted that Florida quarterback Tim Tebow was no better than a fifth round pick.  Worse, they parroted Kiper's bloody little line about how Tim would have to be converted to tight-end or H-Back to have a career in the NFL.

Worse still, I had to endure the endless rubbish about Jimmy Clausen being the 'the most pro-ready' quarterback in the draft.  It became utterly intolerable when Kiper attempted to rank Clausen as the No. 1 QB in the draft.  He subsequently nudged my Rams to select Clausen No. 1 overall. Oh no, no, no, no!  Balderdash!

Tonight, I have witnessed a partial vindication.  Tebow was selected No. 25 overall, in the first round, by the Denver Broncos.  Clausen was still on the board at the time.  Tebow was the second quarterback selected.  Sam Bradford was the first.  I hope my Rams do not live to regret this choice.  I doubt the Broncos will.

Mel Kiper's reaction to this event was utterly priceless.  Kiper was livid.  He was well beyond steamed.  He looked like he had been personally humiliated, and well he should.  I was laughing my ass off.  I just couldn't get enough of that sweetness.

But wait!  The story line grew sweeter still!  As it turns out, the entire NFL passed on Clausen in the first round of the 2010 draft.  He is still on the board as we place our heads on our pillows this Thursday night to sleep.

So why is this such a humiliating defeat for Mel Kiper Jr.?  It is very, very simple.  This signifies that Mel Kiper Jr. has no street cred with the real NFL.  

When he placed the imprimatur upon Clausen and declared that this was the most pro-ready quarterback, nobody in the NFL believed him.  Worse still, when he placed anathema on Tebow and declared that this was no NFL Quarterback, many powerful people in the NFL did not believe this either.  Several teams were making moves to get back into the bottom of the first round just to select Tebow.

No such interest in Clausen so far.  His buddy Golden Tate is likely to be the first kid taken off the board tomorrow by the Rams.  It is either Tate or Charlie Brown of USC.  Clausen will have to wait some more.

Memo to Mel Kiper Jr:  Consider yourself bankrupt.  You decided to slap a good kid down, and talk a mediocre kid up.  You got a little too full of yourself.  You thought you could be a king maker!  Just when you thought you had arrived, the NFL said "Oh no you haven't."  Your street-cred is now shot-out, buddy.

And just remember:  I'm laughing like hell at yah!

So how did I know things would turn out this way?  I didn't, but I felt that they should.  I've seen a lot of Notre Dame and Florida in the past four years.  Tebow always looked like a man playing among boys.  You knew he was great immediately.  Clausen always looked like a kid trying to play football better than he actually could.  He looks to me like he wants to play better than he actually can.

I was shocked by Kiper's ratings, and considered them preposterous.  Evidently, most of the NFL agrees with me