re: Are Mock Drafts and their coverage the dumbest part of the sports calendar?

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Yes. It's stupid they spend so much time discussing it and none of it matters at all. We will find out where players go when they are drafted, why do we need to speculate on it beforehand?

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This take is stupid, and this very website wouldn't exist if people had that attitude towards sports. Why speculate on the LSU football team in April? Or May? Or any month at all? Hell, why even speculate during the week on games coming up on Saturday? It does't matter at all. We'll find out what happens when it happens.

I'm pretty sure you post on the Poli Board. Posters on there speculate on the next election 365 days a year, every year. Why spend so much time discussing it? It doesn't matter. You'll find out who wins on election night. Why discuss Trump's various trials? You're not affecting the outcome. Why not just wait to see the verdict?

You see how stupid that is? We all have things that interest us, else we wouldn't be here. And discussing them has zero effect on their outcome. The Poli Board is 99% a conservative echo chamber. You're not changing anybody's vote. I'm a Saints fan. Nothing I think or post will affect who the Saints draft this weekend in the slightest. Doesn't mean I can't kill some time and be entertained by discussing potential prospects, though. It makes the draft more interesting.

I consume what's probably an average amount of content for a guy in his 40s who's an overall sports fan. But most of the content I consume is to be just enough informed to have discussions with my friends who are invested in the same teams, or to come back on here and discuss whatever topics interest me the most. I prefer the format of this website where there are back and forth conversations. It's why I've been here 20 years and have almost 60,000 posts. I have no interest in the 1st Takes or Skip Bayless type shows where morons are shouting at me about Lamar Jackson or Dak Prescott or 137 year old Lebron James on a random Tuesday when their sports are out of season.

But this place suits me because, not only is it entertaining, it's intellectually stimulating somewhat because it's interactive. But we could't have the greatest site in the history of message boards if people didn't consume some of 1-sided content that there's almost an endless supply of and brought it here. And I use it as a filter, using things people bring here for me to see what seems interesting and what I might want to explore further.

But whether or not you think all the NFL Draft coverage is ridiculous, overdone, irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and a waste of time, I think you at least have to tip your cap to the NFL. They took what Mel Kiper was doing at ESPN 30 years ago, saw an opportunity to stay in the spotlight for the 3 or 4 months where they were previously irrelevant, and turned it into a cottage industry (as someone above mentioned) that keeps them in the sports spotlight in a relatively down part of the sports calendar. There is no off-season in the NFL anymore.

And there's a clear market for this stuff. A lot of that is due to the lie they've sold us--that we desperately want to believe--that there's a ton of parity in the NFL, a very slim margin between wins and losses, being bad and making the playoffs. That every team is just THAT ONE guy away form winning the Super Bowl. Besides the terrible ESPN and FOX "takes" shows, there's a million YouTube podcast dedicated the draft overall and to your particular team. Watch, don't watch. Take everything they say with however small a grain of salt you want. But I will tell you one thing--even the worst ESPN draft show is better than bowling, billiards, rodeo, cricket, poker, and all of those other very, very niche "sports" that ESPN used to have fill their time slots with.

Like a lot of things on here, the self-righteous, "above it all" bitching is way more obnoxious than very thing you're bitching about. Don't like all the draft coverage? There's about 100 different streaming services with what is seemingly a million different tv or movie options. YouTube has at least 1,000 channels for any subject you could possibly imagine. Or you could read a book. Play with your kids. Go outside and touch some grass. Play some golf. Go for a jog. Whatever. Nobody's making you watch any of these nothing things that people seem to be so offended by.