NFL Draft Is a List of Names, Little Else

Ray Ratto, ridiculing the NFL draft in his column at ESPN.com: “Nobody knows anything, won’t for years, and far more often than not will end up being wrong ...

“The NFL, more than any other industry, is insulated against its own silliness. Throw a team logo up on the screen, and jaws go slack, drool forms at the corner of the mouth, and a hypnotic hum fills the room.

“People love this stuff, even without the burden of accuracy. [And you can take it from me, because I’m the guy who said Ronnie Lott would never make it].”

Trivia time: Who is the only player to complete the career Grand Slam at the Masters?

Not a clue: “Hockey Night in Canada” commentator Don Cherry doesn’t believe the Ottawa Senators have enough playoff-caliber players. He believes that team is soft and he blames the Senators’ general manager: “Marshall Johnston, he wouldn’t know a hockey player if he tripped over Bobby Orr.”

Give me a Dodger dog: A survey by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals marks Coors Field in Denver the No. 2 vegetarian-friendly ballpark in the nation, behind Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Tropicana Field was cited for its garden burger, French fries, fruit smoothies, garlic knots, peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, black beans and rice, vegetable stir-fry and pasta.

That’s fine, but other than pasta and fries, what do you eat if you’re really hungry?

Good old days: Reader Devlin Espeleta to the San Francisco Chronicle:

“I was watching a baseball movie the other day, and Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones went to a Red Sox-A’s game in Boston.

“They bought two dogs and two beers for $8. Talk about ‘field of dreams.’”

A no brainer: A full week before the Detroit Tigers had an 0-6 record and fired manager Phil Garner and general manager Randy Smith, Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News posed this quiz question:

“The first thing to go in baseball is: (a) the legs; (b) the eyes; (c) the manager.”

A trend? The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Reds had their weekly chapel services before Sunday’s game in the usual place--the weight room.

That won’t be necessary next season. Great American Ball Park will be the first major league park with a chapel.

Looking back: On this day in 1907, New York Giant catcher Roger Bresnahan introduced an innovation in a game against Philadelphia: wooden shin guards to protect his legs and knees.

Trivia answer: Gene Sarazen, who won in 1935, defeating Craig Wood in a playoff.

And finally: Jon Stewart, host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central, had this take on baseball economics:

“The New York Yankees lead all teams with a record payroll of $126 million, with the Boston Red Sox coming in second at $108 million. A Red Sox official defended his payroll, saying: ‘You have to spend money to come close to winning, then slip back, then appear to win again, then ultimately choke and dash the hopes of millions of fans.’”