One of my favorite sporting events of the year is about to take place. This event doesn’t transpire in a giant stadium, it doesn’t happen on grass, and besides feelings no one is likely to get hurt. What is this captivating event that steals my attention every spring, it’s the NFL Draft.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been infatuated with the NFL Draft. I would always watch as much of the draft as I could, and since this love affair started before the internet (stop laughing), I would scour the newspaper (I said stop laughing) the day after the draft and look for my favorite team’s selections, where players I remembered from college were selected, what I considered late round steals, and notable players who were not drafted. The internet revolutionized following the NFL Draft. I could follow the draft where ever I was, and there was an infinite amount of information available for me on all the players and possible scenarios. Oh, and Mock drafts, glorious, glorious mock drafts.

However, over the last ten years or so some of my enjoyment of the draft has been stripped away. You see, the best part of the draft is pretending you are the GM of your favorite team. You are the one with all the power, you know what is best for the future of your team and you know the exact player that would help your team the most. I don’t get the enjoyment from any of the above, I don’t bother guessing who my team will pick and I know for sure I’m not smarter than the GM. Why do I think this way? Well, I’m a New England Patriots fan.

It wasn’t always like this. I actually became a Patriots fan in 1993 when they selected Drew Bledsoe number one overall. That is a story for another time though. The next year they selected local legend Willie McGinest and I was ecstatic. College stand outs like Ty Law and Terry Glenn were selected in later years. Those years were fun. The Patriots were like every other team, it was easy to guess what they would do, and what players they might select. Then everything changed.

When Bill Belichick took over as head Coach and General Manager for the New England Patriots nothing was the same. Belichick is the smartest guy in the room and he has proved it over and over again. One of the many smart things Bill Belichick does is trade away draft picks. This is a great strategy for maximizing value and getting more future picks. As smart of a football decision this is it is awful to watch. It finally comes time for the Patriots to make their selection, all the anticipation is building, the room is filled with excitement and wonder at what name will be called, and then the commissioner steps out alone and announces a trade. Sigh. All my friends in the room are smiling about what new players their teams selected, but I guess I’ll just wait till later when the Patriots pick again.

The trading away of picks is upsetting, but the absolute worst part of watching the draft as a Patriots fan is when the team actually makes a selection. More often than not I have no idea who the chosen player is. I great example of this was in 2005 when the Patriots selected Logan Mankins. That year the Patriots had the last pick in the first round of the draft, so I had been waiting patiently to see who they would select., and when the name is finally announced it’s a lineman, and not a lineman from a big school, no, no, no it’s a lineman from Fresno State. Huh? Sigh. This happens every year. The Patriots have drafted more players from Rutgers than I can count. Where is Kent State? I don’t know, but Bill Belichick and Julian Edelman do.

It may not be very fun watching the Patriots Draft every year. Constantly trading down and selecting players no one knows is boring and repetitive, Winning Super Bowls is great though. They say you have to take the good with the bad, and if the good that comes with the bad of a boring draft day is winning Super Bowls, I’ll take that every year. Bill Belichick has proved time and time again that he knows what he is doing, and I should trust him. Well, in the words of Coach Belichick, “On to the Draft”.