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Draft strategy: Take the best thug
Posted: Friday April 14, 2000 08:08 AM
If I'm a general manager of a National Football League team, I guess I go into the annual college draft this weekend with my usual draft strategy: take the best thug available. Some of the other general managers, I know, draft for position, taking a running back or outside linebacker to fill an obvious need. But it is my opinion that a team is much better served by simply acquiring as many great thugs as possible and finding places for them to play. What's the old saying, "You can't teach violence?" I'm a believer in that.
Give me the heights and weights and times for the 40-yard dash, but also give me the rap sheets, if you will. Tell me how many times my young man has been arrested for assault in his college career. Tell me how many women have taken out court orders against him. Tell me about his tattoos. Tell me about the little gang sign he makes to the Crips or Bloods back home when the camera finds him on the sideline. A little anti-social behavior is not a bad thing to have on the football field. A lot of anti-social behavior probably is better. Find me the guy with a psychological profile out of "Silence of the Lambs." Find me someone with a good sense of road rage. Find me a banger, a clanger, a pure-bred sociopath, the baddest man in the whole damn college town. Best thug available. That's the modern NFL ticket. See you in the Super Bowl. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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