In The Crease W/ Javier Gorriti: What We Learned from Day 1 of the NFL Draft

It's hard to describe the level of excitement I had as the draft was about to begin. Food on the grill, some friends over, trash talking; all great things as one of the best nights of the year loomed. As I watched the first round of the 2010 NFL draft unfold, I learned many new and wonderous things. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. The Bills take a strangle hold as the worst drafting team in the NFL. They take an injury prone player at the one position they are actually OK. You can roll with Lynch and Jackson. Anthony Davis is the pick here. I learned that you don't need to block or tackle, just really fast 3rd down backs.

2. The Raiders make a surprisingly great pick at 8 selecting Rolando McClain, LB 'Bama. Rolando will be one of the top 3 players out of this draft when we look back three to four years from now. This upgrades their defense immediately and builds on an increasingly solid core of youg players. Now if they would just release Jamarcus. I learned that Al Davis might not be completely senile yet.

3. Detroit gets the best player in the draft (Suh) then trade up to take the fastest RB,outside of Spiller,in the draft. Fills a huge need and adds another weapon to a pretty good offense. Suh will help a vastly improved defense. I learned that it is possible to build a team and draft well in Detroit. Watch out,this team is going to surprise a lot of people next year. In the WC hunt.

4. Denver dumps Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler the past two seasons. They come back with Demaryius Thomas and Tim Tebow. Thomas played in a spread option offense and there is just simply no way to tell how he will play in a pro offense and he has trouble catching the ball. Tim Tebow is the worst 1st round QB prospect......ever. I learned that Josh McDaniels is dumber and more incompetent than I thought. Careening towards being the worst team in the AFC West. Oh I also learned that if I can convince teams I'm a good enough guy, I could be drafted in the first round.

5. Colts get a gift with Jerry Hughes. I learned that the Colts will stay at the top levels of the NFL for another 8-10 years.

6. The Jets take Kyle Wilson, making their secondary, especially in nickle, almost impossible to throw into. In a division with Moss and Marshall, that is going to serve them well. I learned what I have suspected since they hired Rex Ryan: Rex Ryan will turn this franchise into a perrenial SuperBowl contender.

7. New England trades down from 22 to 27 and takes Devon McCourty, CB from that football power Rutgers. Interesting move, not one that is need based and many would argue that Kyle Wilson is a much better prospect and player. Dez Bryant made a lot of sense there as did Hughes, or Sergio Kindle. I learned that Billy still thinks systems win games,not players.

8. Titans are handed an absolute gift with Derek Morgan at 16. Probably one of the top 5 players in this draft. I learned that Jeff Fisher just keeps getting it done.

9. The Giants take boom or bust prospect Jason Pierre-Paul. We know Osi is fighting with big blue, but this is a defense that was #30 last year. I expected them to draft a LB here, but their history of drafting ends makes this pick, at least positionally,not surprising. I think they will rue passing on Morgan, but time will tell. I learned that you can never have enough DE's in NY.

10. Tim Tebow goes before Jimmy Claussen. I learned nothing from this.

My three best players to come out of the first round are #1 Suh, #2 McClain and #3 Berry. The three worst are #1 Tim Tebow, #2 Tim Tebow and #3 Tim Tebow. Seriously, this is the worst 1st round QB prospect of all time. The Spiller pick is pretty horrible as well, but nothing even comes close to the atrocity of Tebow going in the first round.

Can't wait for round two tonight!!!!

Javier is the co-host of the PM Jab and the owner of Mermaid SeaFoods. He is an unabashed Jets fan who has an autograph of the great Johnny Hector somewhere in his house.

In the Crease With Javier Gorriti-Why the NHL Fails to Capitalize on Olympic Momentum

As I sit through these 2010 Olympics, it continues to shock me how badly the NHL has cannibalized the greatest team sport in the world. As I watch Mike Millbury and Eddie Olczyk embarrass themselves and the entire sport of hockey by uttering some of the most idiotic things any sports fan has ever heard following the Canada/Russia game, I suddenly understood....I had an Olympic revelation. The people running the NHL are so stupid that they will successfully achieve their goal of completely destroying the NHL.

As a talk-radio personality, I get a good feel of what people are watching, what they are into and what they dislike. In the last two weeks, we have taken more calls about hockey than we have in the 16 months I have been at the Big Jab. The reason is simple: the NHL plays a boring, clutch and grab style that simply does not appeal to the masses. There are too many teams in too many teams in cities that simply don't care about hockey and people are loving the Olympic version.

Olympic hockey is simply a different sport than the clutch and grab fest we have to endure in the NHL. Admittedly there are only 8 teams that are at this top level, but the game is better because it's played and officiated as it was meant to be. Hockey is an offensive sport. Played at the highest level, it should be high scoring. 5-4, 6-3, 4-2 are normal hockey scores. What's abnormal and has destroyed fan interest are scores of 1-0,0-0,2-1 on a nightly basis.

There are two main reasons for the deteriation of the game itself. One is clearly that although the NHL has improved the game, there is still way too much clutching and grabbing. The league simply won't fully commit to calling the game at the level that you see at the Olympics. For those who say that would ruin the game, please see above. People LOVE Olympic hockey. The NHL struggles to even get a real TV contract.

The second reason is the fact that coaches, scouting and systemic play can really hinder the ability of teams to generate and sustain offense. The only way to combat this is by changing the rules. The NFL changes rules on a yearly basis. Big changes to rules that fundamentally change the way the game is played, always with one goal in mind: making it easier for the offense to perform. The result has been, for better or worse, that the NFL is the most popular sport in the US by a mile. The NHL needs to look at the NFL as an example of how you can leave the past behind for a better future. It took the NHL 80 years to take out the 2 line pass rule, which was put in when hockey made the daring move of allowing the forward pass (gasp) somewhere around 1920.

I have a solution. As I write this, I know there is absolutely no possibility that the NHL would even consider the following.

Roller hockey enjoyed a brief moment of popularity in the mid to late 90's. There are many reasons as to why it failed, but one moment of genius came from it. In roller hockey you could carry the puck in offside, but you could not pass it in offside. Meaning that if one of your players was already in the offensive zone, you could carry the puck in without drawing a whistle. Allowing this would create chaos for defenses in the NHL. Defending this would be a nightmare. In any team sport, whether it's basketball, football or hockey, sudden change of possession leads to scoring. When the offensive team is all going one way and lose the ball, puck etc. the team transitioning to offense has a huge advantage. That's why 300 lb lineman can run back fumbles for TD's with guys that run 4.2 40's chasing them. This sudden change situation is nullified many times during a hockey game because of the current offside rule. Many offensive rushes die at the blue line because players are forced off by defensemen. With this rule change, defenses could not use the blue line as an extra defender, it would make them sag in creating more scoring chances and more goals.

Again, I know this is far too radical for the NHL. It will never happen, but it needs to.

I sincerely hope the NHL learns from this Olympics, but when Gary Bettman comes out after the USA/Canada game and says that's what you see every night in the NHL, my confidence is not high. Maybe the NHL will get a TV contract that is on both cable AND DirecTV, but again, I doubt it. Oh well, I guess I only have to hold until 2014 to see more good hockey. That's not so bad.

Javier Gorriti is the co-host of The PM Jab weekdays from 3-7p on 96.3 The Big Jab. He is also the owner of Mermaid Seafoods in South Portland. His nickname is "The Spanish Inquisition", and would love it if you called him that on the air from now on.