old, but still relevant.



What in the Wide World of Sports is Going on Here?
by: Nooch

Mario Bowie was a Bad Pick
May 05, 2006 | 9:55AM

Ordinarily, I would say that the Houston Texans’ selection of Mario Bowie as the #1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft was a mistake. Except there was no Mario Bowie in this year’s NFL Draft. Or a Reggie Jordan, for that matter.

Of course, these seemingly minor details have not prevented a slew of people from comparing the 2006 NFL Draft to the 1984 NBA Draft. And in this amalgam-driven comparison NC State defensive end Mario Williams somehow has gotten turned into former Kentucky center Sam Bowie and USC running back Reggie Bush has magically morphed into a skinny junior guard from the University of North Carolina who would go on to become the greatest player in NBA history. And the clock gets turned back 22 years. And the ellipse-shaped ball held onto like grim death by running backs and wideouts gets turned into a giant sphere bounced on the floor by guards and sent rattling through a metal rim by centers and forwards.

This is starting to make my head hurt.

Houston’s selection of Mario Williams (even with incumbent Heisman winner Reggie Bush still clearly on the board) in the 2006 NFL Draft is not tantamount to the Portland Trailblazers’ decision to choose Bowie over Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA Draft. Period. Fin`e. Th-Tha-That’s all, folks!

Jordan and Bowie were professional basketball players who debuted in the NBA 20 years ago and whose careers have long since been completed. Williams and Bush are about to become professional football players. Neither has played a single down in the NFL. Assessing the relative greatness (or mediocrity) of each at the professional level isn’t even possible yet. So, the whole Reggie=MJ thing must wait.

Thus, the Mario Williams=Sam Bowie equation should also be tabled. Bowie was already injury-prone in college. He missed two full seasons at Kentucky with various leg maladies. So, it was no surprise when his injury problems followed him into the NBA and lead to a star-crossed pro career. Williams, on the other hand, missed exactly ZERO games due to injury during his three-year collegiate career at NC State. And, if the actual draft order plays a part in this, Bowie was not selected #1 overall in 1984, Hakeem Olajuwon was. However, comparing a 21-year-old rookie defensive end to Hakeem Olajuwon makes just about as much sense as comparing him to Sam Bowie. (Interestingly, the true draft order of the respective 2006 NFL and 1984 NBA Drafts would actually turn Bush into Bowie and Vince Young into MJ!)

And if the Williams-Bush, Bowie-Jordan thing can somehow, mercifully, be shown the door, so, too, should any comparison of Reggie Bush to football legends such as Gale Sayers or Barry Sanders and of Mario Williams to Bruce Smith or Reggie White.

What we really have here (you have no idea how tempted I was to say “a failure to communicate,” but in deference and utter respect to the late, great Strother Martin, I shall not) are two supremely gifted athletes who project favorably at the NFL level. Any attempt to qualify those projections by predicting duplicate performances of past NFL greats at this time seems pointless.

If some form of projection at the pro level must be made for Williams and Bush before either has had a chance to have any of his NFL career play out, then a brief look at the production/longevity trend by position is probably in order.

Running backs are the sleek, high-performance engines of the NFL, combining power and speed in nearly equal measure. Their careers tend to burn bright and burn fast. Any slip in either power or speed, and their careers tend to end instantly. Zero to 60 in a blink, and 60 to zero just as fast.

Some want to compare Reggie Bush to Gale Sayers and Barry Sanders. Ok. Sayers was electrifying on the football field. His twisting, slashing runs are the stuff of legend. His career was seven years of blinding intensity and then it was abruptly over. Sanders had an equally fascinating running style, darting and dodging would-be tacklers at will, all the while keeping his powerful but compact 5’8” frame close to the ground. He thrilled fans and perplexed and maddened opponents for ten years before suddenly leaving the game. The image of the star running back is akin to a bolt of lighting: intense, jarring, and gone in an instant.

Conversely, defensive ends are steadier, more methodical. Although they also rely on speed and power, some measure of each can be substituted with superior technique. Thus, their careers tend not to burn quite as fast as running backs. Though, it may also be argued, not nearly as bright, either.

And if comparisons of Mario Williams to Bruce Smith or Reggie White are to be made: Smith played for 19 seasons; White, 15. The current NFL career sack leader Michael Strahan will be entering his 14th NFL season in 2006, and he is still a pass rushing force.

So what does any of this mean? Not much really. Frankly, no one has a clue as to how either Reggie Bush or Mario Williams will perform in the NFL. History tells us that the running back (Bush) is more likely to be flashier and that the defensive end (Williams) is more likely to have a longer career. However, neither factor really indicates if (or by what degree) the Houston Texans made a mistake by drafting Mario Williams over Reggie Bush. And outside of serious Texan fans (and, as by-product of Bush slipping to the 2nd pick, serious New Orleans Saints fans), why does anybody really care if the Texans made a draft pick mistake in the first place?

As for all of that business comparing football players in 2006 to basketball players in 1984, there is this kid, D’Brickashaw Perkins, who pass blocks like nobody’s business and can hit the medium-range jumper with some consistency. But can you believe he was picked 4th, ahead of that ferocious linebacker/rebounding machine AJ Barkley?

9/8/2006 1:31:12 AM

so fucking pefectly written its not even funny.

9/8/2006 1:36:15 AM

SNOOCH TO THE NOOCH!

9/8/2006 1:42:54 AM

yea, what he said

9/8/2006 1:43:31 AM

Good stuff

9/8/2006 1:50:53 AM

i mean god damn

9/8/2006 1:53:46 AM

Forgot to post a link.

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/Nooch/NFL_Draft/31913

9/8/2006 2:12:04 AM

Give this Nooch guy an award for his superb writing skills. Seriously!

9/8/2006 2:15:16 AM

Very well done.

I like this guy.

9/8/2006 2:53:26 AM

Quote :

"What in the Wide World of Sports is Going on Here?"

I hired you people to try to get a little track laid, not to jump around like a bunch of Kansas City faggots! /blazing saddles





Great article.

9/8/2006 7:35:05 AM

i liked it
D'brickashaw perkins made me chuckle

[Edited on September 8, 2006 at 9:03 AM. Reason : a]

9/8/2006 9:03:02 AM

And outside of serious Texan fans (and, as by-product of Bush slipping to the 2nd pick, serious New Orleans Saints fans), why does anybody really care if the Texans made a draft pick mistake in the first place?



this thread was totally worth reading

9/8/2006 9:09:04 AM

This guy should be a professional sports journalist. Excellent points and well written. Too many of the AP and syndicated columnists write like 8th graders.

9/8/2006 9:19:59 AM

much more convincing article than the one in the other thread with the opposite point of view.

9/8/2006 10:06:43 AM

MacTuckIzzle is an idiot

9/8/2006 11:25:09 AM

I can't wait for Macguyver to read this.

He makes a great point when Hakeem was actually picked 1st.

But of course he only turned out to be the best center of his time.

9/8/2006 12:14:21 PM

was a good read

9/8/2006 2:21:06 PM

i doubt this article will change MackDumbAzzle's mind

i made half of those points in the other thread and he is still convinced, before either of them have played a game, that Mario was CLEARLY the wrong pick

9/8/2006 3:04:25 PM

Quote :

"MacTuckIzzle is an idiot"

Agreed. Good article too.

9/8/2006 4:58:56 PM

3.3 yards per carry

10/2/2006 1:34:18 PM

So why draft him #1 when you could have traded down and gotten the same player cheaper?

10/2/2006 2:15:51 PM

Quote :

"MacTuckIzzle is an idiot"

Quote :

"MacTuckIzzle is an idiot"

Quote :

"MacTuckIzzle is an idiot"

Quote :

"MacTuckIzzle is an idiot"

Quote :

"MacTuckIzzle is an idiot"

Quote :

"MacTuckIzzle is an idiot"

Quote :

"MacTuckIzzle is an idiot"

Quote :

"MacTuckIzzle is an idiot"

10/2/2006 2:25:03 PM

b/c no one knows the future

10/2/2006 2:37:04 PM

Quote :

"So why draft him #1 when you could have traded down and gotten the same player cheaper?"

You incorrectly assume that trading down was viable

I mean, since you need two sides to complete a trade and all

10/3/2006 9:44:03 PM

Mario is getting paid less than Bush so they got him cheaper and got their man.

10/3/2006 10:00:51 PM

Figured I'd bump this one too. What an interesting troika of topics we have about this.

11/5/2006 3:22:40 PM

Quote :

"But of course he only turned out to be the best center of his time."

For Bowie's sake, I wish jordan didn't retire in the summer of 93, Hakeem wouldn't be half as lauded as he is. Yea he is one of the 5 or 6 greatest centers, but he should have sent a thank you to Jordan for retiring in 93.

11/5/2006 4:01:28 PM

Quote :

"And in this amalgam-driven comparison NC State defensive end Mario Williams somehow has gotten turned into former Kentucky center Sam Bowie and USC running back Reggie Bush has magically morphed into a skinny junior guard from the University of North Carolina who would go on to become the greatest player in NBA history. And the clock gets turned back 22 years."

Yet another gay attempt to include UNCommunity College in EVERYTHING THATS WRITTEN

11/5/2006 4:55:12 PM

^ sorry, but I don't see that complaint as being very relevant in this case; blame the folks who started with the Bowie-over-Jordan bullshit. If they hadn't started it, he wouldn't have had to revert to such horrid hyperbole.

11/5/2006 5:00:07 PM

Reggie Bush 11 carries minus 5 yards

ill take a sack over that everyday

11/5/2006 5:03:41 PM