Don't Believe The Truth

[Bar-bq]

Clannies, take it in.

Sit down, grab a blade of grass, hopefully some air, and maybe some orange quarters that Avenger's mom (I really feel like I'm selling out writing it with the 'o' in the middle ) prepared for halftime. For the season is finally upon us: In less than one week, we'll have a new protoge', hopefully two or three, to gush over, admire or despise. Tis the season for an excitement that only the NFL draft can bestow, to paraphrase, it's Christmas in April.

Now is about the time where message boards are ablaze with speculation, smokescreens are rife and sports-bloggers are more than earning their keep. Typically, now is about the time of year when it's easy to get a little swept up in the pre-draft boondoggle. You're going to see posters come out of the woodwork citing sources you've never read, claiming to be in the know about things we've been debating for months. The beauty of the internet is that everyone is effectually an amateur expert. Last year, we had posters who were 70% sure Glenn Dorsey was the pick, others were lobbying for Chris Long and some were holding onto hope that the pick could be traded.

I'd like to issue a caution: take everything you read from now until the time that Goodell announces our pick with a grain of salt. Mock drafts will be abundant, published both by regular punters and those who make a living out of them. I'd encourage you to have faith in your own opinion, because for the next six days, those bloggers can be no more correct than you can. With that being said, there is a fine line between having the temerity to predict Mark Sanchez as our pick and having the naivety to vehemently disagree with anyone who advocates otherwise.

For the next week, you'll see a lot of posters get excited, posting more and more frequently, often with less and less substance. In that respect you can probably treat the next week as some sort of Groundhog Day, in that you will see the same posts repeated with different titles and by different users on a very frequent basis. Over the last few weeks, I've found myself posting less because of this. We have, as a collective, taken the draft from almost every conceivable angle we can without the assistance of further sensationalised speculation. In this day and age, it is becoming harder and harder to be original.

That's not to say we can't do it. That's not to say that we don't have a plethora of innovative posters chomping at the bit to say their piece. It just means that for the next week, innovation will likely succumb to sensationalism, originality will be replaced with repetition and the truth will become harder and harder to believe. But the aim of this post is not apathy, and I don't think reform will suffice. I guess I'm hoping that this will serve as a reminder that not everything that one thinks, nor every expert opinion one reads is worthy of objectifying on-screen, especially if it's the same old argument you've heard made before. (And let's face it, if an argument has been made, it, in all likelihood, was made here at the Clan long before the Kipers and McShays of the world transcribed it as if it were epiphany).

We live in a postmodern era where the truth is becoming an idealism, an entity unto itself. For the next week, I plan to have a lot of fun trying to decipher it.

Happy Drafting

[DistantRam]

Excellent post.

Everyone, paid "professional" or mere internet forum user, is merely guessing at what will happen next weekend. Sure, some people spend their lives watching game tape from every conceivable angle, whilst others are just going by what they've read or heard from others. Either way, all that draftniks do is make an (at times) educated guess.

Shame about selling out to the "o" though.....

[Bar-bq]

Excellent post.


Shame about selling out to the "o" though.....

Consider it a major courtesy "o" for our American counterparts. I get the feeling that pronouncing it with a "u" instead would be potentially fatal

[Azul e Oro]

Excellent post. I have also been posting less frequently because of the redundancy of the draft debates.

I'm excited about the impact this crop of new players will have on the Rams but I look forward to getting back to talking about the whole team.

For me, the success or failure of the upcoming season-and even the definition of those terms is open for debate- will depend far more on a core of players who are already on the roster; SJ,MB, McMichael,Hill,Barron,among others, even more than any new additions.

Of course they need help from the Noobs but they need to perform better and stay healthy in themselves for any significant progress in the win/loss column & I look forward to the discussion here broadening to include them again.

Leave my mater out of it. She loved me...at least she told me so but maybe she was jiving too.

[OldSchoolRamFan]

I think you have found an exact way to translate my thoughts to an incredibly well thought out post. By now it is plain and simple regurgitation. Our first pick is going to be one of a select few players (that have been discussed time and time again) that some will love and others will hate, but that is just the name of the game. Our remaining picks will possibly be names that have been discussed and could very well be someone who's name has yet to be mentioned. Until then, I will sit back and enjoy the show. Thank you Bar-bq!!