The Master Hoodie Tade-Off: Dreams For Wins!

Well, it's that time of year when I start my grand plans that deep down inside know will only end in utter useless failure. Why do I say that?

I love everything about football, everything. I loved playing it, I loved watching it even at the age of 6, heck, I even loved coaching Pop Warner and drawing up offensive plays and defenses all the while happily suffering hovering, obnoxious parents demanding their "little Johnny" be quarterback and NOT be inserted at middle guard for the last five (5) plays of the game all the time.

But what I REALLY love is this next couple of months. You see, baseball has spring training, a time of renewal, of televised packing of U-Hauls for the trip from Boston to Florida of every bit of equipment needed to bring hope that this would again be the year they'd actually beat the Yankees and win the World Series. It's a ritual that plays itself out for every fan of every baseball team in this country and even beyond our borders for baseball fans everywhere. Football's Training Camp doesn't nearly equal that same feeling for football fans. But what's going to happen in the next two months does!

I'm talking about the NFL Combine, the countless Mock Draft sites, the predictions of who will pick what guy with what pick and why, and then finally, THE DRAFT. I mean, I DIG THIS STUFF! I LIVE FOR THIS STUFF! So, you might ask, if I love it so, why am I waiting for utter failure?

My team is the New England Patriots. I'm sure they have roughly the same scouts, checking the same information, watching the same years and years worth of game films on players in which they're interested. But they are not lead by Master Hoodie, Coach Billy B. And that's what year after year takes the steam out of my engines at the end of these two months.

You see, Master Hoodie is an iconoclast when it comes to draft day. No matter how much time you spend looking at the combine results, or the Private Workouts and College Day Workouts, or the growing volume of player film on You-Tube, you just cannot predict what this man is going to do. Each year you think you've got a good handle on who they'll take and BAM, Master Hoodie trades the pick, or trades down and all the time spent planning and plotting and research goes out the window on the first selection of the first day of the NFL Draft!

I know it's my own fault. I should know better by now, I know, I know. But it's the allure of renewal, the vicarious feeling of having a role, even imagined, in running the team, guessing the possible fate of the Pats that I would like to see. Yeah, right, not with this guy! It's almost as if he needs to control every aspect of this team completely, without exception, including the dreams of those who loyally follow the team. But I guess that's the price you pay for winning. Even the fans need to get in line and get with the program.

I'm O.K. with that coach! Who do you want me to hit now?