The immediate past POTUS declared the NFL dead in fall of 2017. Like so many other of his acts and prognostications, he was wrong.
NFL interest is not waning, it is surging. Last Thursday’s NFL Draft opening round broadcast averaged 12.52 million viewers across ESPN, ABC and NFL Network. It was the second-highest TV rating in draft history, only topped by last year’s 15.26 million average viewers.
The 2020 NFL Draft was broadcast when there were no live sports events going on and most Americans were heeding shelter-in-place COVID-19 protocols. Thus, the 18 percent decrease in viewership compared to last year’s all-virtual selections.
According to SportsMedia, this year’s draft rating blew out the Academy Awards (10.4 million viewers) and topped every 2020 NBA Finals game.
The only television programs (not just sports) to top the NFL Draft numbers were Game 6 of the 2020 World Series (12.70 million), the Gonzaga vs. UCLA Final Four matchup (14.94 million) and the Gonzaga-Baylor championship game (16.92).
Other NFL Draft notes
-The first two players selected in the NFL Draft – Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson – are white and play quarterback. Twenty-nine of the remaining 30 selections were Black or interracial, beginning with the third quarterback picked at the top of the draft, Trey Lance.
-Several NFL pundits, led by NBC’s Chris Simms, foretold of a dramatic fall in the draft for former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields. Simms had Fields being the final player drafted in the first round.
The Chicago Bears moved up in the draft to select Fields with the 11th selection of the first round. There were several “work ethic” comments from anonymous sources. It seems to happen to every Black quarterback that is about to launch an NFL career. It is troublesome, but it remains a real thing.
When asked about questions about his commitment, Fields told ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, “I honestly take that personally.”
“That’s kind of a bigger insult to me than saying that I don’t have a strong arm or saying I’m not accurate.”
-Beginning with the selection of first-round pick receiver Jaylon Waddle, the African American duo of Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and GM Chris Grier pieced together an outstanding draft.
“I’m not sure there was a tougher team to pick a favorite for than the Dolphins,” said ESPN’s Todd McShay. “It was a masterful Thursday and Friday [first three rounds] for Chris Grier.”
Fellow ESPN pundit Mel Kiper Jr., gave just two ‘A’ grades. One went to the Dolphins and the other to the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Excitement. Anticipation. The expectation of winning,” wrote Miami Herald sports columnist Greg Cote.
“Those are some things Miami Dolphins fans have not felt around here in a long time.”
Lewis leads F1 early
After three races of the 2021 Formula 1 racing season four-time defending champion Lewis Hamilton has won two and finished second in a third.
Last week’s win in Portugal was a testament to Hamilton’s skill and swagger and his Mercedes team. After qualifying second to teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton slipped to third place behind Max Verstappen early in the race.
Verstappen, who will battle Hamilton for the driver’s title all season, errored in a tight corner and Hamilton zipped past him to claim second place back.
A few laps later, he passed his pole-sitting teammate and then held off a desperate Verstappen, who had climbed to second place.
“It’s always great when you have a race like today where you’re able to follow and overtake and capitalize on the small margins and gaps,” Hamilton said following the race.
“Max had been pulling absolutely everything out of the Red Bull and given us a great run for our money so I think it’s going to be like this for the rest of the season, which I think can be incredibly exciting.”
It was Hamilton’s 97th win, and he is chasing his record eighth driver’s title. He leads the standings with 69 points and is followed by Verstappen (61) and McLaren driver Lando Norris (37).
The Reid Roundup
There were no players from HBCU football programs selected in the 2021 NFL Draft. Most HBCU schools did not field teams in 2019-20, and those that did played a spring schedule…Grambling guard David Moore and North Carolina Central University defensive back Bryan Mills were the highest prospects on the NFL’s official Prospect Tracker compilation. Moore signed a free-agent deal with the Carolina Panthers, and Mills did the same with the Seattle Seahawks…Trevor Lawrence, selected first by the Jacksonville Jaguars, chose MGC Sports as his representative. Jay Courie, who is white, is his lead agent, and Black agent Sean Howard, who previously represented a pair of white first-rounders, is on the four-man representation team…Cheers to Washington University for landing NBA Hall of Famer, author and statesman Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as 2021 commencement speaker…According to LGBTQNation, FOX News has aired 126 segments since 2019 on transgender athletes – but has only found nine nationwide. Most of the hateful airtime focused on two Black transgender former high school track athletes, Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller of Connecticut, who have not competed in years.
