“Baby I’m a star. Might not know it now, baby, but I are. I’m a star. I don’t want to stop ‘til I reach the top.”
Lyric from: Baby I’m a Star from the Album Purple Rain
Written By: Prince
Performed by: Prince and the Revolution
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| Robert Griffin III, Photo Courtesy Jerry Lai/US Presswire |
Robert Griffin III won the 2011 Heisman Trophy, becoming the first player from Baylor to do so. He was a 2011 Consensus All-American. He was named College Player of the Year by the Associated Press. And he was the 2011 Davey O’Brien Award Winner.
Yet somehow he needed a great showing at the NFL Combine to help his stock rise for the upcoming draft.
Lest my first paragraph attempt to paint the entire picture of RG3, I should add that he was born in Japan where his parents, who were both U.S. Army Sergeants, were stationed at the time. He was a three-sport star in high school from which he graduated early, landing on campus at Baylor at 17 years old where he joined the track team and ultimately finished first in the 400-meter hurdles in the Big 12 Championship. Graduating early from Baylor as well, he started working on his Master’s degree all while playing football.
This is not a guy with character issues. He’s obviously pretty smart. He’s clearly athletic. And we knew these things before the combine. But only now are there rumblings from the Colts that maybe he deserves a look as the #1 pick.
To be fair, maybe this isn’t a discussion about Griffin being overlooked. It’s just as likely a story about the overly inflated, yet ambiguous importance of the NFL Combine.
Just before this year’s combine we learned that Trent Richardson wouldn’t be able to participate because he was having minor knee surgery. The talking heads of sports were aghast, saying that Richardson’s absence may cause his draft stock to fall. Not because teams would be worried about the knee but because teams were eager to assess his potential via the combine. Really? How is that even possible? A guy who was a 2011 finalist for the Heisman and a major contributor to two BCS Championship teams needs a standout performance at the combine to cement his reputation as a beast. How did we get here?
Not too long ago, we actually used a guy’s college career as the stick by which we measured his NFL potential. Now-a-days it seems as if all talk has turned to vertical leaps and 40-yard dashes. Andrew Luck’s numbers in this year’s combine are now being favorably compared to Cam Newton’s numbers from last year’s combine.
A comparison that is sure to yield further comparisons about what Luck can accomplish during his rookie season in the NFL and what records he will break. It seems almost ridiculous. Shouldn’t I care more about what a QB does in 20 or 30 yards than in 40?
Should I care at all about his broad jump ability? Please respect the marketing genius of the National Football League for engineering a scenario in which we do care about these things.
A comparison that is sure to yield further comparisons about what Luck can accomplish during his rookie season in the NFL and what records he will break. It seems almost ridiculous. Shouldn’t I care more about what a QB does in 20 or 30 yards than in 40?
Should I care at all about his broad jump ability? Please respect the marketing genius of the National Football League for engineering a scenario in which we do care about these things.
Jerry Jones was interviewed during the combine and talked at length about his desire to bring cameras into the interview sessions with athletes. He indicated that the move was the next evolution of fan access to this event. I am sure that his desire did not fall on deaf ears in the league offices.
The NFL has capitalized on its meteoric rise to the top of the sports world at every turn-most recently moving the draft’s broadcast to primetime. The league has taken full advantage of our football obsession and in these reality TV dominant times the feeling is often that the more exposure, the better.
The NFL has capitalized on its meteoric rise to the top of the sports world at every turn-most recently moving the draft’s broadcast to primetime. The league has taken full advantage of our football obsession and in these reality TV dominant times the feeling is often that the more exposure, the better.
But perhaps the combine’s more palpable value is that it’s the latest meal to whet our “what have you done for me lately” appetites. Our memories are so short. You know the drill, If a guy plays well all year only to fizzle out in a bowl game we replace the period at the end of his sentence with a question mark.
We require constant reminders of a player’s greatness. My guess is that our beloved athletes know this as well. It’s why even in an All-Star game after an evening of fancy ball handling and spectacular dunks that a guy like Lebron James is visibly dejected in his post game chat with Craig Sager on the heels of a turnover that costs his East team a chance to win.
And it’s why NFL hopefuls take the NFL Combine so seriously. They know how quickly we-team executives, the media, the fans-forget.
We require constant reminders of a player’s greatness. My guess is that our beloved athletes know this as well. It’s why even in an All-Star game after an evening of fancy ball handling and spectacular dunks that a guy like Lebron James is visibly dejected in his post game chat with Craig Sager on the heels of a turnover that costs his East team a chance to win.
And it’s why NFL hopefuls take the NFL Combine so seriously. They know how quickly we-team executives, the media, the fans-forget.
RG3 ran a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. And it’s a good thing he did. He spared us the chore of having to rely on our collective long term memories and spared himself a question mark.
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