NFL Draft Wraps Up in New York

• The Indianapolis Colts started the NFL draft on Thursday drafting Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, as expected. They ended the draft on Saturday drafting Northern Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnish. In between these two quarterbacks, 251 other men were drafted by all 32 teams. The Colts used their second round draft pick on Luck’s college teammate and friend Coby Fleener. Fleener was Luck’s best receiving target in college, and will provide the rookie a security blanket as he begins his pro career.
• The two best drafts are probably those of the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals. The Eagles addressed their most glaring needs by drafting Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox in the first round and Cal linebacker Mychal Kendricks in the second round. They continued to help a defense that was lacking in depth by drafting 4 defensive players in their top 5. The Bengals had a boatload of picks and were able to turn them into a number of players who should be playing right away. Dre Kirkpatrick, the cornerback from Alabama, Kevin Zeitler, guard from Wisconsin, and Mohamad Sanu, wide receiver from Rutgers should all contribute right away.
• Perhaps the most eye raising story from the draft was that of Sanu. Somebody called Sanu’s agent telling him the Cincinnati Bengals had drafted Sanu with the 27th overall pick. The agent relayed the news to Sanu and they both began to celebrate. However, when it became aware that the actual pick was Zeitler people were flummoxed. It turned out that the agent had been the victim of a prank. In a turn of fate, the Bengals actually drafted Sanu in the third round. Sanu has expressed no ill will towards the pranker, I do not believe I would be so forgiving


Clips come from 27 down to beat Grizz

• The L.A. Clippers have only been to the playoffs once in the past couple of decades, and it was showing as they were down by 21 points entering the 4th quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies (their largest deficit was 27).  Yet in the 4th quarter, against all odds, they mounted a furious comeback and ended up winning the game 99-98 after Chris Paul's 2 free throws with 23 seconds remaining.  
• The comeback was tied for the largest ever in the playoffs entering the 4th quarter, and it likely would not have happened unless Paul begged his coach to put him back into the game despite the huge deficit.  Fans and players alike were stunned afterwards and Blake Griffin could only mumble, "I've never been a part of a game like that at any level."
• The Clippers lost SF Caron Butler to a broken hand in the game (although that loss is more manageable than that of the Chicago Bulls, who lost reigning MVP Derrick Rose to an ACL tear in their own Game 1).