It was, as usual, another six-hour drafting special, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves, I know I sure did. We had plenty of food, ham biscuits, sausage dip, queso dip, brownies cookies and then of course delicious burgers during the night cap. My compliments go out to Adam and Courtney Smith for being lovely hosts.

LaDainian Tomlinson went No. 1 overall, no surprise there, but the surprise came when Adam Smith wasn’t the one holding up the draft.

His lengthy picks have slowed down the draft in years passed, but I’d have to say he did his part in keeping things moving, Good work.

 After Tomlinson was taken a few more running backs went then went my golden boy, Tom Brady at No. 5. His partner in offensive crime, Randy Moss, went a few picks later. When it came time for my pick, at No. 12, I went with Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo and Kansas City running back Larry Johnson. I’m hoping that Johnson has a breakout year and returns to the beast he was a few years ago. Johnson was a No. 1 overall pick in our draft just a few short seasons ago.

I had Romo last year and he was great. He put up fantastic numbers including a few three and even four TD performances. My biggest regret though is that I could have and should have taken Terrell Owens instead of Johnson. Owens is guaranteed 15 TDs and over 100 receptions, plus he’ll be catching them from Romo, it’s like double the points. But because they’ll have the same bye week I chickened out. Hopefully Johnson will work out well and I won’t kick myself for that pick.

One of the guys in our league, Shawn Rine, picked Moss and Owens with his first two picks, a few studs right off the bat had his team looking stacked. But then he drafted Brett Favre as his QB super early, stunning the room. Perhaps it’ll pay off, but for now we just think he’s got a crush on the Packer legend now with the Jets.

Other draft notables: Brad Pinkerton, a league member, used his Sporting News work experience and tools to draft his team in some sort of computer formula. His odds of winning the league have to be better than the rest of us average Joe’s because his mug shot and by line was slapped all over several of our Fantasy Football guides.

He writes for SportingNews.com and when they do mock drafts, he’s one of the guys participating. That’s a pretty cool job to have, especially if you’re going to try to rip off some money in a Fantasy Football Draft with your Times-News brothers.

One former Times-News legend, Jeff Wirick, sports writer turned Accent writer, jumped ahead of the draft order to take Jerry Porter. He was three or four spots out of turn and interrupted a phone conversation with Pinkerton who was actually on the clock. After minutes of harassment and laughter, someone ended up taking Porter before Wirick could get his hands on him. I think the pick was mostly out of spite because Porter isn’t all that good.

Instead making the less than two-hour drive from his North Carolina home, Matt Tate, decided to stay at home and join us via phone. He made sure to fill us in on his daily activities wich included, shopping and taking a nap. I hope he’s well rested.

I’ll close with a few more of my picks. I also drafted Wes Welker to supply my Patriots craving along with Chris Cooley, Ahman Green and Matt Hasselbeck. I’ll make sure to include the entire roster when all the teams are updated on our draft site.

We’ll hold our draft Sunday at Adam Smith’s house and our draft lottery took place Tuesday night.

We have 12 teams in the league and I hold the No. 12 pick in the draft. I’ve got mixed feelings about my drafting position.

My opinion is that I’ve never wanted to be in the top 3, somewhere in the middle or towards the end has always been my preference.

The luxury with the 12th pick is that I get two picks in a row each round, but the bad part is that 11 really great players will be selected right before me.

According to the Yahoo player rankings, which I won’t be going by, but just for an example, Larry Johnson is the 12th best player. I don’t planning on picking Johnson. He was one of the best a few years ago, but now I’m not so sure. He’s definitely not a sexy first-round pick for me.

Ryan Grant of the Packers comes after him and he had an awesome season last year, but who knows if that was a fluke or not.

Last year I had Randy Moss and Tony Romo, two of the league’s top producers and I might not get either one this year. The player I wanted the most and vowed to draft with my first pick no matter what was Tom Brady.

As a huge New England Patriots fan I obviously want Brady on my team and it doesn’t hurt that he’s the best QB in the NFL. But I guess I’ll have to face the facts that I just can’t have him.

Another sad note is that the man behind the scenes, Mr. Josh Jones, won’t be attending our draft this year. Josh has been a long-time agate clerk in the Sports department here, but he’s so much more than an agate clerk. Josh is so skilled in his job that he regularly helps out the copy desk and does tons of other tasks outside of his responsibilities. Oh yeah, and did I mention we all love Josh like a brother? Well we do.

And everyone is disappointed that he won’t be attending the draft. He has a family matter to attend to and the details I can’t release incase the person involved is one of the 100 people that read this blog. Probably not, but better safe than sorry.

But it’ll be a slow rest of the week with draft day anticipation at a high. I can’t wait.

As I’ve been keeping up with a tight race in the American League East and other hot stove baseball items, I’ve bypassed even the idea that football is upon us.

It wasn’t really until Monday that it actually hit me. We’re just about a month away from the start of the NFL season and it’s even less to the first college football kickoff.

I think my reasons for ignoring the obvious have been all the Brett Favre coverage. I wrote about how much I didn’t care a few weeks ago and I’ve tried to ignore the hours and hours of coverage about the topic. That story and the Manny Ramirez saga have been two recent stories I haven’t cared to listen to or discuss.

But upon receiving an e-mail notification from Times-News family commissioner Stephen Schramm about our Fantasy Football League I got excited. It was time to rejoin.

That’s right, this 6’2, muscular, sexy man with a gorgeous six-pack and stunning facial features got all giddy inside like a school girl in pig tails when he received that glorious e-mail. OK, the physical description was a bit off, but you get the point.

Fantasy Football season is the king of all fantasy sports and although us Times-News brothers compete in a variety of sports including basketball and auto racing, none compare to the competition and comradery of the football season.

It all begins with a bang and what better way to start the season than with a live fantasy football draft. We all gather at the Smith resident, home of wonderful hosts Adam and Courtney Smith, oh and don’t forget their young daughter Lilly, who might start fielding her own team one of these years.

I mean Adam might think we’re dumb, but we know that he’s been grooming her for perfection. Her young baby mind is like a sponge soaking in a variety of draft strategies each year in the Smith family living room. She tosses aside words like coolie and the double to focus on more appropriate terms like receptions, bye weeks and goal line carries. All to take home the cash prize and feed the family. Genius.

But back to draft day. Everyone brings a variety of beer, usually way more than necessary, lots of chips, dips and all sorts of food.

While we feast and I pack on 15 more big ones, we draft. If you don’t have a fantasy magazine you’re not in our league … usually. Drafter beware. Everyone whips out their mags and goes to work. It’s a long process, at least five hours, but with the beer drinking, eating, joke telling and poking fun at Josh Jones’ lack of acquired taste for alcoholic beverages; we’re left wishing we could go all night like my boy Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights.

At the conclusion of the draft we feast on delicious burgers on the deck and talk about how we hate our teams. One year I broke from this notion and claimed “I really like my team.” I finished last. I’ll never make that mistake again. It made the Fantasy Football Gods very unhappy.

To wrap things up, I can’t wait for Sunday afternoons in the fall which are usually spent on the couch with a beer in one hand and the remote in the other. Stattracker is running on the computer and I’m usually yelling at the Patriots or the refs while praying for my players to get in the end zone. You just can’t beat it.

The draft is still a month away, but that month is worth the wait. Maybe I’ll actually win this year. Doubtful, but win or lose, it should be a fun season.

So, I’ve gotten a few e-mails about my blogging absence and I apologize. I’ve been back on the campaign trail the last week with former president Bill Clinton visiting Elon last Wednesday and Sen. Hillary Clinton making a stop in Graham this morning.

To be honest, these campaign stops are wearing me out. I can only imagine how tried both the Clinton family and Barack Obama must be after countless hours, days and weeks straight of campaigning for the democratic presidential nomination.

Both Bill and Hillary have been in and out of North Carolina the last few weekends with the May 6 primary approaching quickly. North Carolina’s primary will matter for the first time in a long time and could be the deciding factor in who takes home the party’s nominee and continues their campaign for the White House.

But back on the sports front. I won’t touch on a whole lot today, but I’ll mention a few things from the weekend.

First off, Elon University took two of three on the road against UNC Greensboro to stay close in the battle for the regular season Southern Conference title.

After losing the first game with ace Steven Hensley on the mound, Elon bounced back and took two close ones against the Spartans. Elon has six conference games remaining, three against Appalachian State and three against Davidson. Both are much lesser teams and Elon should sweep the six games, but of course that’s easier said than done.

The College of Charleston holds a slim winning percentage points advantage over Elon for first place.

For some weird reason, both those remaining conference series take place during the week with doubleheaders.

The NFL Draft took place Saturday and Sunday and as promised I didn’t tune in. I did check the paper Sunday morning to see who went where, caring only for who the Patriots and Panthers drafted and where my boy Matt Ryan of Boston College ended up. Ryan went to the Atlanta Falcons officially ending the Michael Vick era in ATL. Finally.

I heard a funny skit on the radio on the way to work last week about Vick. The radio host pretended to interview Vick from jail, but it was obviously someone impersonating him on the phone. The interview took place with the sound of inmates lifting weights in the background and was pretty hilarious.

Vick talked about how he’s been lifting and staying strong. He said he feels stronger and tougher than ever. He also added that he’d been playing and dominating on the prison football team. The fake Vick also said he’d been writing Falcons owner Arthur Blank a latter a day, trying to show his continued commitment to the Falcons. He said he asked in some letters for Blank to purchase equipment such as a shovel and a garden hose so Vick could escape “Shawshank Redemption” style.

The interview was funny and further pushes Vick’s life into humor than seriousness. I doubt Vick will ever be as successful as he once was.

Of course I’m interested in the draft and who my favorite team the New England Patriots draft, but I don’t care for the ridiculous amount coverage.

This time of year ESPN dedicates its network to the NFL Draft even though the NBA and NHL playoffs are in full swing. I’d also much rather watch a college baseball game on ESPN than 20 some odd hours of the draft.

The network will be airing every round and pick of the draft with pregame, postgame analysis. Everything you need to know, don’t need to know and wouldn’t even care to know will be covered this weekend.

I don’t care for the product I just want to see the end result. I’ll glance when it’s all over at who went where.

This weekend I’ll be keeping a close eye on Elon’s baseball team. The Phoenix has a three-game series against UNC Greensboro on the road. The Spartans are hungry to stay in the conference championship race. Right now, Elon, College of Charleston and UNCG all have five losses in the league. Elon is in first because it has more league wins because it has played more games.

This weekend is a big series for the Phoenix. Last weekend Elon dropped two of three from the Cougars which hurt Elon a little bit, but it still controls its own destiny.

Another thing I’m excited for this weekend is Elon’s spring football game. Usually I don’t care for this stuff and prefer to wait until August, but after attending Elon’s road tour in Greensboro last night, I’m excited for the upcoming season.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to attend Saturday’s game at 3 p.m. in Rhodes Stadium, but I’m going to try. Coach Pete Lembo spoke at the event and seemed extremely positive about the team he has for the upcoming season.

Elon returns its two best and most explosive players, QB Scott Riddle and wide receiver Terrell Hudgins. I can’t wait to watch these two go off again this season.

The star wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals is getting on my nerves. If I hear one more time this offseason that he wants to be traded I may fly to Ohio and whoop his … OK I’m just kidding there. I don’t really care that much.

But seriously, Johnson demanded again Wednesday that the Bengals trade him. He’s been vocal about his dislike for the organization and the direction it’s headed and pronounced he wanted to be traded “now.”

I admit, I used to enjoy Johnson’s end zone celebrations after touchdowns and looked forward to watching whatever antics he had cooked up. His acts were a regular part of the football routine which is Sunday afternoons. I also loved his ESPN commercial which was basically a brainstorming session on new TD dances.

But now I realize that all of his showboating, trash talking and dancing was just because he’s a punk.

Looking back at all the stunts he’s pulled he really is a child in a grown man’s body. Let’s remember a few.

1.) He dies his hair blonde and shaved it into a mohawk.

2.) He wores a grill in his teeth before several games

3.) He wore a jacket with Hall of Fame written on the back

4.) He wore special cleats with pictures of himself on it.

5.) He taped the words Ocho Cinco on the back of his jersey.

And of course, don’t forget about the TD dances which have accumulated thousands in fines. The CPR one might be my favorite.

He sat down with Michael Irvin a few months back and the interview was out of control because Chad is out of control.

After hearing his Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer say that he expected Johnson to be at training camp, Johnson went off. He called ESPN NFL reporter John Clayton, the ugliest man I’ve ever spoke with in person, to vent.

Johnson said he wanted Palmer to stay out his business and reiterated his demand for a trade, saying not after the draft, not over the summer, but “now.”

But who is he to demand trades? I hate more than anything when players make demands like this one. Johnson is under contract therefore too bad if you want to be traded.

I don’t mind if players ask for a trade in a respectful manor, like behind closed doors with management like an adult. But going off in the media and demanding left and right you be moved without actually setting up a sit down with your bosses is so childish. Short and simple, Johnson is a baby. He signed a contract to play with the Bengals, that’s his problem and no one else’s.

I hope the Bengals don’t trade him and he spends the year miserable. I hate when players get what they want in situations like this. As if the millions of dollars and fancy cars he already owns aren’t enough to keep him happy. Just play football and shut up already. I don’t care how good you are. Enough of the crap.

There is more unnecessary coverage of the draft than coverage of the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals, the College World Series and the Women’s Final Four. That fact is sad.

I change the channel every time they start talking on ESPN about who’s going to pick who in the draft. Who cares? Why with all the speculation?

I care about who my favorite tram drafts obviously, I’m not saying that, but why would I want to hear hours and hours of television debate, speculating something that’s almost impossible to predict.

There is no way anyone can tell who a team is going to pick with the 20^th selection in the first round. And in this year’s draft no one even knows who’s going to go No. 1 overall. So why waste everyone’s time by guessing. It’s just stupid.

Tell me what teams need and what positions they are looking into because that is useful information. But don’t tell me who’s going where and in what round, it’s just foolish.

There are plenty of other sports going on and things to talk about, why talk about the NFL Draft. It’s not a game, a controversy, or anything really. It’s just teams picking players in order. I usually don’t even watch the actual draft. There isn’t really anything exciting going on. It’s just more pointless analysis and discussion. I bet if someone went through after the draft and amazed the analysis, they’d find that most of what was said was inaccurate, therefore a waste of time.

Just a thought.

The 16 teams that will fight for an NBA title are set in stone. The only thing left to be determined is seeding in the Western Conference, but with the Golden State Warriors losing Monday night to Phoenix, they were eliminated and secured the eighth spot for Denver.

I’m actually excited about the NBA playoffs this year pretty much because the Boston Celtics are in it again. With the Celtics missing out the last few years I really haven’t cared much for the playoffs, but now I have reason to watch again. The Celtics have the best record in the NBA and will open with the Atlanta Hawks, whom they swept 3-0 during the regular season. I better clear off a week in June for the finals.

But Brett Favre is different. Loved by all and worshiped in Green Bay, Wisc., I’m not ready for Favre to retire.

Favre’s agent Buss Cook told ESPN that Favre spoke to Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy and told him he’d be retiring after 17 seasons in the league.

After pulling for Favre to reach the Super Bowl last year, my respect for the gunslinger grew to the highest regard. He is such an amazing quarterback and his ability wowed me time and time again a year ago. Just when everyone thought he was washed up, he proved everyone wrong. He got the Packers into the NFC title game, where they barely lost in overtime to the Giants.

Favre is still the most spectacular player I’ve seen play in person and I’ll never forget that night. The Packers were in Charlotte playing the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football and Favre turned in one hell of a comeback.

I was covering the game for our sports section and was writing a sidebar on Favre. As the game went on, it took a path that Favre’s season had, an unsuccessful and disappointing one. With a midnight deadline fast approaching with the late start for MNF games, I began pecking away at a story proclaiming the end to Favre’s career.

I had stats and evidence proving why Favre’s career would end after the season and I think I even had typed that it was a mistake for him to have comeback for another year. I was wrong.

The fourth quarter began and the Favre of old came out of his shell and wowed the entire crowd and media members, including myself. Favre began dancing around the field, scrambling hash mark to hash mark, and throwing unbelievable touchdowns that turned the game from a blowout into a nail biter. At times it seemed he ran around behind the tackle box for minutes. I immediately began rewriting my story.

In that fourth quarter Favre became magical. And although the Packers lost, anticlimactic I know, he made plays that made me walk away in awe. I’ve seen some dazzling QBs play, Tom Brady, Michael Vick among others, but neither did what Favre did that night.

He just had this cloud of determination surrounding him which made his teammates shine. And that season, the players around him were nothing special, but Favre made them glow with talent that night.

It will be sad to see Favre go, but he is doing a service to the Packers by parting ways now instead of in four months. Green Bay will have time to adjust to the idea of a new quarterback and will have plenty of time to prepare with a new man at the helm.

What an era it was though. A first-ballot Hall of Famer without a doubt. Favre will be missed.

Randy Moss is the biggest name on the board, but I think he’ll stay put in New England. Other names that aren’t necessarily free agents that could move are Julius Jones, Derek Anderson, Michael Turner, Donte Stallworth and Asante Samuel.

Also, Zack Thomas, Ty Law and David Carr were let go by their teams, so look for them to land in new places.

I saw an interview with Law last night during the Boston Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavs game, which was a blowout for the C’s, and Law said he’d love to go back to New England and play for the Patriots. That got me excited because he was one of my favorite players. If he did go to New England, he’d replace Samuel who’s probably gone, and then I could start wearing his jersey again.

The Carolina Panthers signed Muhsin Muhammad on Wednesday, bringing the veteran wide receiver back to Charlotte. They also cut Carr as Jake Delhomme returns from injury. Carr was also a big disappointment wearing those stupid white gloves that just made you cringe when watching him on TV.

I think signing Muhammad is a good move for Carolina because it brings in a guy who’s comfortable with the QB. The last season Muhammad played with the Panthers they went to the Super Bowl. Plus, Carolina was desperate for another receiver after teams just doubled up on Steve Smith and let Carr throw to no-name guys who couldn’t catch last season.

Another move, which I think would be dumb, is the rumor that the Dallas Cowboys would get rid of running back Marion Barber in order to draft Darren McFadden. Barber is a beast and a proven runner in the NFL. McFadden is good and impressed everyone at the NFL Combine last week, but he hasn’t had a touch in the NFL. I don’t trust that enough to trade away my No. 1 back for a rookie.

It should be an exciting offseason in the NFL leading up to draft day and then training camp. I’m sure I’ll touch on more as go along.

The Tar Heels were down as many as 15 in the second half at home to the Tigers, who have not won in Chapel Hill in 53 tries, but somehow managed to climb back for a win.

Carolina forced overtime and then the game went into double OT where the Heels pulled away and won 103-93.

Tyler Hansbrough again showed me why he is the best player in college basketball. I see no reason why he would stick around another year at the college level since game after game his hustle and numbers are incredible. Hansbrough dropped 39 against Clemson with 13 rebounds. He also hit 17 of 19 free throws.

His ability to get to the line and then make free throws is impressive for a big man. At the end of every game when Carolina is on top, the Heels get him the ball because he is money at the line. You can’t say that for any other big man.

I think last week’s loss to Duke had a major impact on the Heels in the first half, but they obviously got their heads out of their, well we all know, and started playing like one of the nation’s best. But without Ty Lawson the Heels are still shaky. Half the time Quentin Thomas brings the ball up court he turns it over or gets lucky with an AZD and somehow recovers it. For their sake I hope Lawson gets healthy soon.

Just found out this morning that the Pro Bowl was Sunday. Ok, I knew it was on, but who really cares?

The Pro Bowl is the worst All-Star game in professional sports. It takes place after the season and players are so worried about getting hurt that no one really tries. But it’s worth mentioning that Adrian Peterson was the M.V.P after rushing for 129 yards and two touchdowns.

Without Tom Brady and Randy Moss I had no desire to watch.

The Celtics, without Kevin Garnett, defeated the defending champion San Antonio Spurs on Sunday. The Celtics remain undefeated against the supposed more elite Western Conference. It seems to me that Boston is in a class of its own.

 Paul Pierce scored 35 and Tim Duncan had a good game but the Celtics bench stepped up to keep San Antonio in check. Big win for Boston.