The NFL Draft: Making Fools of Football Fans Since 1936

The offseason.

Isn't it glorious?

Without it, when would we find time to chop that pile of wood that's been sitting in the backyard since September, or catch up on those Hallmark Classic movies with your wife?

Life doesn't get any better.

OK, enough of the delusions. The offseason sucks. I'm going out of my mind and it's only the first week without any form of football (aside from the headlines that Brett Favre is making).

So I find myself anticipating the next event on the football schedule: Draft Day.

That beloved spring Saturday when suddenly your team doesn't suck anymore. When there is hope of victory in a young quarterback named Stafford or a stud running back named Wells.

This is the day you forget your team only won four games last year, or zero for that matter (sorry, Detroit fans).

This is the beginning of the football season.

But there is one small catch, one tiny problem with the draft, and with football in general from the fans' perspective.

You see the problem comes when your favorite NFL team decides to pick up a player from your favorite college team's rival.

Uh-oh.

"With the ninth pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers select...Malcolm Jenkins, defensive back, Ohio State."

I'll say it again...Uh-oh.

Malcolm Jenkins? A Buckeye? In Badger country?

Suddenly you're faced with a dilemma.

The Packers do need a DB, and Jenkins (swallow) is one of, if not the best in the country.

BUT, this is the same guy who intercepted Wisconsin's Allan Evridge with 53 seconds left in the game to seal the home loss for the Badgers.

The player that had Evridge admitting "...just didn't see [him]."

And now this player, this rival, is a part of YOUR team.

What do you do? What can you do?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Except swallow your pride, make your sign, put the foam cheese on your head and your newly purchased No. 2 Jenkins jersey on your back.

Sure he wreaked havoc for four years of his college career against your Alma Mater, but lets let bygones be bygones. And hopefully he'll be as much a benefit to your NFL team as he was a thorn in the flesh for your college team.

So here's to the NFL Draft, our little sunshine in the winter gloom of the off-season.

Here's to past heartbreaks and futures victories.

And here's to all the fans who will once again learn to love the player they use to loathe.