Nothing new today, just destroying my parents’ house.

“Let’s play the hammer game.”
“Yea! The hammer game!”

The NFL Combine is this weekend and I felt like taking this time to revisitting mock drafts. The folks at HaliRedskins have the best list of mock draft links I have seen. So far, they’ve compiled 91 mock drafts. These may not be accurate, but it makes for interesting reading material. Most mocks agree the Bengals biggest need is defensive linemen. Centers and interior linemen are also high on the needs list. Which is good cause there are supposedly a lot of quality centers.

All that stuff in the first paragraph I wrote last week, before the Randy Moss trade and Mushin Muhhamad signing. That pretty much changed everything so most of the drafts are now flawed. Despite that, I put a lot of work into this entry, so I’m going to publish it anyway.

Basically, the only offensive player I can see us drafting, assuming we remain at the 17th spot, is Heath Miller, the tight end from Virginia. The mocks agree with me. More than likely we’ll get a defensive lineman or a safety, unless one of the special corners or linebackers drop. The biggest difference between my first look at the mocks and the second is that the Dan and Shaun Cody (no relation) are mentioned more often with our pick. I don’t think I would mind either fella wearing the stripes. Travis Johnson still appears to be our pick according to a majority of the mocks.

Aynway, here’s a second look at how people thought the draft would go down and who we would get if held the day before the Randy Moss trade.

Travis Johnson, DT, Florida State:
Underground Sports Guru
EastCoastSportsNews
DraftSeason
Draft Gurus
DraftAce
900Sports
On The Clock
NFL Draft Countdown
Jeff’s NFL Picks
Haven’s World
Ask The Commish
FF Toolbox
NFL Draft Blitz
Friendly Bet
NFL Post
Mock The Draft
Akkhorus
ProFootballDraft (Brian Amyx)
Mock Draft Heaven

Dan Cody, DE, Oklahoma:
DraftBoardInsider
Football.com (Mark)
ProFootball Draft Editor in Chief

Shawn Cody, DL, USC:
Inside The Eagles
HuddleGeeks
Dallas Cowboys.net
Great Blue North
DraftDaddy
Niners Fanatic
Packer Chatters
OurLads

David Pollack, DE, Georgia:
Consensus Draft Services
SNIVLEM 77 NFL Draft Blog

Marcus Spears, DE, LSU:
QI Sports
Bengals Zone
Heard’s Football
Lionbackers
Fantasy Tailgate
Draft Notebook
Big C

Erasmus James, DE, Wisconsin:
Sports Genius
ProFootball Draft (Andrew Wynne)

Antaaj Hawthorne, DT, Wisconsin:
ProFootballDraft (Tim Sabatke)
hailRedskins (Nate)

Justine Tick, DE, Notre Dame:
DraftStudio

Shawne Merriman, DE/LB, Maryland:
Football Expert

NFLReport: Odell Thurman, LB, Georgia

Heath Miller, TE, Virginia:
Draft Exchange
N2FL
Huddle Report

Antrel Rolle, CB, Miami:
Philadelphia Eagles Mock

Pac Man Jones, CB, West Virginia:
Football’s Future
Rob’s Scouting

Justin Miller, CB, Clemson:
DraftKing

Marlin Jackson, CB, Michigan:
KAC Sports

Thomas Davis, S, Georgia:
Sports Dialogue
NFL Smackdown
Sporting News War Room

Due to difficulties with Movable Type, the second round selections were erased. Upon further review, I will wait to explore the second round until the sites have updated with the new draft order and post-combine rankings.

“Oh why don’t you just knock down every idea I have? How about you call Bruce Springsteen and tell him to get a new nickname because you’re obviously the Boss! Huh? Yeh? Yeh!”

I wanted to give everyone a heads-up on some quotes that were guessed incorrectly in the past few weeks and are still in play. Jeff picked the wrong Friday the 13th sequel, so that quote is still up for grabs. Also, I was kind of dissapointed no one got the Creighton Duke reference. Maderer missed his first guess, I think. I don’t remember that quote being in the movie you said. If I’m wrong, I apologize. I just think you have Coming To America on the mind and that would be your guess to everything. Amy picked the wrong cartoon, but got the scenario right. I have seen that happen a few times with this show, which is really overlooked and needs to come out on DVD, if it hasn’t already.

While I’m thinking of quotes, here’s the latest standings.

dupree 13
Rinnert 9
Johnny 8
Jeff 7
Kelley 3
Kerry 1
MOe 1
Amy 1

For those who easily forget stuff or are new to the Sock Drawer, here’s a brief rundown of the quote contest rules. At the end of every blog entry, I leave you with a quote. Be the first one to make a comment stating where the quote from and you get a point. Even if new entries are put up, all previous unclaimed quotes from 2005 are still fair game. Whoever has the most points is the winner.

“I’ve come for the woman. And your head.”

Fan Film Friday will take another week off. I spent a lot of time working on Sunday’s entry so no new movie this week. (unfortunately, a glitch in Movable Type and the Randy Moss trade made the whole exercise pointless.) Maybe I’ll take off a few more weeks off from fan films cause I haven’t seen anything out there that really seems worthy of attention right now. In related news, the Movie Blog discovered Grayson recently and was appropriately wowed. Slowly but surely, this artform is spreading over the internet and giving people an entirely different avenue of entertainment. If you’re new to my site, here’s my rundown of the Fan Films I reviewed in 2004 and Losing Lois Lane, the only really good film I reviewed this year.

“My backpack’s got jets… I bounty hunt for Jabba hut to finance my vette.”

I don’t think it can be official yet, but Randy Moss is pretty much a Raider now. Lots of national media folk have examined how Moss will work in Oakland and what Minnesota will do with the seventh overall pick in this year’s draft and a superstar-sized hole in their offense. That’s all well and good, but how does this big move affect my team?

First off, we don’t have to face Randy this year. The Bengals take on Minnesota, but not Oakland. So, we may have some happy defensive backs. Second, any hope of Braylon Edwards or Mike Williams dropping to the 17th spot is completely dashed. There’s no way these two quality guys will get passed up by sixteen other teams including, but not limited to, Chicago, San Diego, Washington, and now Minnesota. ?Unless Heath Miller is still available, it looks like Marvin will make his first defensive palyer a first round draft pick. Third… I think that’s pretty much it. No wonder real media outlets aren’t taking on this angle.

An unexpected side effect of the trade is now the futility of an overwhelming majority of mock drafts. Most were going to update after this weekend’s NFL Combine so they most will probably be outdated until next week. Despite this futility, I will still take a good long look at these mock drafts again on Sunday. Ain’t futility fun?

“There’s no love lost between these emotionless devices.”

Too busy breaking my parents’ house today to post anything of interest.

“We’re an interstellar squad of superior beings, for God’s sake. Now quit your bitchin’, and get out of the kitchen!”

At this weekend’s Wondercon, whatever that was, came great news that I daren’t hoped was possible: we’ll get another year of Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassady. I am thrilled to hear that because their run on Astonishing X-Men has been as good as any run on X-Men during my tenure reading comics. And that says a lot.

I get a bit disgruntled when I read some online reviews that claim this series is trapped in the past, repeating a rut. There are no bounds to how strongly I disagree with this. Sure, the tone harkens back to the classic Claremont-Byrne stories. But, unlike other certain X-comics, it doesn’t disregard previous runs as soon as that writer is out the door. Joss has built on the storylines introduced during Grant Morrisson’s run and added his own flavor to the world of mutants. And the art has been a spectacular compliment to these fun, multi-dimensional stories.

I understand there will be some time off between the end of their current twelve issue run (#8 came out last week) and their second year. That’s fine by me. Cassady’s art has seemed a little rushed lately and I think the last few issues have been a little late. I’m all for titles taking a “break” so they can catch up and get ahead on the new stuff.

“Every now and then, Summers, I remember why you’re in charge.”

If you went to the bathroom last night following Family Guy on adult swim, you might have come back and completely missed another show: Seth Green’s Robot Chicken. It was barely eleven minutes long and seemed about half that. It was pretty funny but I didn’t feel completely fulfilled. Mostly, cause I didn’t see any of the stuff I was expecting, and the quick run-time didn’t help. But for the brief time it was on, it was pretty funny. And we’ll see more of it in the next month and a half at the 11:30 Sunday night slot. It was almost as funny as the NHL season that was saved and re-cancelled this weekend, except that it didn’t cost anyone their jobs. If you’re a fan of quick visual gags, this is the show for you.

“Megatron was quickly defeated, with only 50 humans killed in the crossfire. A new record.”

This is the first Sunday without the NFL in any shape or form since Labor Day. Still, in honor of football’s place on Sunday, I have another football post. Actually, it was something I began working on in November and just want to get it done. Here is the results of my Nagel Fantasy Football League draft and how well (but mostly poor) my picks performed.

1. WR Marvin Harrison
A solid choice. Marvin started out good with a double digit effort every game of the first month of the season. Then he tailed off for a few weeks. In that time, I dropped in the standings and made a desperate move to try and right the ship. I traded Marvin in order to bring in more players to fill more needs. I felt I made a good decision picking up Rudi Johnson, Rod Smith, and Chad Lewis while getting rid of some deadweight. But it was too late.
2. QB Matt Hasselbeck

Yeah, this fan says it all. I almost picked Hass up with my first round pick. Man, it’s a good thing I didn’t. He only scored double digit points three times this year.
3. RB Charlie Garner
In the future, if I have a choice between drafting a Buccanears runningback or scrapping my fantasy team right then and there… I will scrap the team in a heartbeat. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to figure out what these bums will do.
4. DEF Baltimore
Far and away, the best performing unit on my draft board. I had some buyer’s remorse following the pick, fearing I went to the D a little too soon. In this league, we had a Pro Bowl where we nominated our best player and two teams were formed. (One from the East and West division, the other from the North and South division.) This was my representative and they did me proud.
5. RB Emmitt Smith
Another choice I almost immediately regretted. I grew to appreciate this decision. Not only did he run well, but he also had a nice TD throw, too.
6. TE Erron Kinney
Kinney, like many of his teammates, suffered the injury bug. I either traded him or cut him at some point to free up a roster spot.
7. QB Mark Brunell
Much like Coach Gibbs, I was fooled by the potential of Brunell. fortunately, my job is not on the line for making such a foolish decision.
8. WR Reggie Williams
Not as explosive as I hoped. But decent value at this pick.
9. K Morten Anderson
Besides defense, I feel the kicker spot is a very underrated position in fantasy football. This senior citizen did alright.
10. DEF Denver
Probably a little soon to go back to defense, especially considering I wouldn’t use them that much. During the Ravens bye week, they did well against the Raiders scoring me 15 points. I pressed my luck starting them another week against the Bengals on Monday Night. Bad choice, they got three points. The Ravens team I kept on the bench: 27.
11. WR Tai Streets
I was hoping he’d blossom more now that he was reunited with the Mooch.
12. K Aaron Elling
I don’t even remember playing this guy.
13. WR Bobby Engram
A Seattle Seahawk receiver. ‘Nuff said.
14. RB Sammy Morris
Did about as well as can be expected for a guy drafted this deep, and a Dolphins offensive player, to boot.
15. WR Wayne Chrebet
All I remember about him is he dropped a touchdown pass on Monday night and it cost me a win.
16. QB Ben Roethlisberger
Who would’ve thought the best QB I drafted would be in the 16th round? Unfortunately, I traded him before the season started for Joey Harrington. Most weeks, I was lucky just to avoid negative points from the former Duck.
17. TE Ken Dilger
Once Brian Griese got involved, he played well. But that came way too late.
18. QB Chris Simms
Same strategy I used with Big Ben: go for a young guy who was looking to get some playing time so I could have some trade value. Unlike Ben, though, no one wanted a piece of Simms. A wise choice on the part of everyone in the league.

Yeah, I know no one cared. But I put a decent amount of work into it and just wanted it to finally see print.

“Oh, what luck! There’s a french fry stuck in my beard!”

I took Jeff up on his advice and tried something other than football today. He arranged for some tickets to the Miami University-Wichita St. game today. It was a part of ESPN’s bracket buster Saturday and definitely an enjoyable game. But probably the most amazing athletic dsiplays weren’t performed by the basketball players, but the halftime entertainment. This group of local girls, the Firecrackers Jump Rope Team, did some amazing stuff like cool routines, freestyle jump-roping, and jump-roping on their butt. It’s hard to describe without showing you (sorry, forgot my camera) and even still pictures wouldn’t do them justice. They’ve been on Letterman and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade so they know their stuff. If you ever get a chance to see them, do so. They’re almost as entertaining as the Zooperstars. Almost.

The other day I shared about Cincinnati sports blogs. Here’s a look at sports radio in the Queen City. It’s much improved since the last time I lived in Cincinnati. We had two all-sports stations in Cincinnati back then and neither one was spectacular. One eventually collapsed, and their talent was swooped up by the Clear Channel station so it’s pretty good now. Especially since they removed their sorry-ass “talent.” And by sorry-ass, I mean Wild Man Walker. Unfortunately, the ESPN Radio affiliates are a good bit away and reception on those stations are pretty weak. That’s about the only thing I could think of that would make it better.

So, I tried something new today. But with the Combine a week away, I’m sure I’ll be spewing the NFL draft talk again real soon. Sorry, Jeff.

“You got lights. You got cameras. Picture technology!”