I miss football

It's Sunday afternoon at 3:23, and you know what I'm doing? Watching the LPGA U.S. Open. So not only am I so bored that I'm watching golf (which is as exciting as watching cows graze) - I'm watching women's golf. Kill me now. With my hours of boredom, I can't help but wonder why some billionaires have'nt come up with a good sport to watch in the summer.

OK, there's baseball, but that hasn't been America's pastime since steroids tainted the Home Run Chase of 1998. Tennis is solid, but I'd rather not get up at 6 a.m. to watch Roger Federer destroy some dude I've never heard of at Wimbledon. And then there's golf. Which would be fine, if I were a retired, 60something with an expanding wasteline, receding hairline and those awful golf pants.

God, I miss football. Save me, Mark Cuban!!!

In the meantime, I'll settle for Maria Sharapova and Morgan Pressel.

*******

Now that my ears have finally stopped ringing from the Stephen A. Smith-Dick Vitale scream-off Thursday night, I thought I'd give my reflections on the NBA Draft as a whole - as if my 2,700-word liveblog wasn't enough:

* The Pacers screwed up - as usual. We traded a future second round pick to Miami for the No. 39 pick: Stanko Barac, a center from Bosnia. I try not to question Larry Bird's basketball moves too much - he is kind of a living legend, or something. But still. We traded two future second round pick last year to draft James White...who didn't make our roster. And Thursday, in the deepest draft in years, we trade a future pick for a guy who won't play on the Pacers in three years. If you're the Spurs, you can afford to do that. If you're a struggling team with a ticked-off superstar that's losing its fanbase, you can't. If you think Indiana is going to get behind a guy we've never heard of named Stanko, you've got another thing coming.

* I realize my hating on Yi the other night could be seen as xenophobic - it wasn't intended to be. It's really hard to get behind international players in a draft because most Americans (myself included) know nothing about them. Who thought Dirk would be an MVP? Or that Peja would be one of the best shooters in the league? With college players, we know who they are, where they're from, what they can do against good competition. Even with high school players, we can watch them in the McDonald's High School All-American game or read about them in SI. But with international players, all we get is some grainy highlights that look like they were recorded onto a VCR from stolen cable and clips of them posting up short, white dudes during practice.

* Speaking of Yi, interesting pick by the Bucks, seeing as China doesn't want Yi to play there. Perhaps Bucks fans - all two of them - should be making "Yi Hate Me" t-shirts? When I've got the No. 6 pick in this draft, no way am I taking a risk like that. I'd rather have Cory Brewer's versatility or even Joakim Noah's bowtie.

* Glad the Bulls picked up Oklahoma State's JamesOn Curry, even if he is undersized. I've heard he's a nice guy, and the Bulls were rumored to have told him that they'd take him. Nice that they kept their word...though I'm still not sure where he fits in with that team.