NFL draft hype crazier every year

The hype surrounding the NFL just keeps getting worse. At least I'm no longer a small part of the machine that is churning it out.

The best part of working daytime hours and no longer copy editing in a sports department of a newspaper has been being able to spend much more time with my family (I just wish it was like this long before my older son started college!)

The second-best part is being able to lower significantly the amount of information I consume about sports such as pro football and auto racing.

I care nothing about NASCAR and rarely if ever read any stories about that sport. With that sport, luckily there isn't a hype machine that bombards me with information. I know very little about NASCAR season other than Danica Patrick's struggles, and I'm absolutely fine with that.

The difference between NASCAR and the NFL is that I actually enjoy watching NFL games even though I'm not a huge fan and don't have a favorite team. But I never watch the pregame NFL shows on Sundays and only give preview stories cursory looks. It really has increased my enjoyment of the football season.

Considering the attention that the NFL draft receives, many may not believe me. But I didn't watch even a second of the NFL draft last year and won't watch a second of the draft later this month, either.

When the sports viewing choices are Major League Baseball, the Stanley Cup playoffs and watching Mel Kiper Jr. yap about the upside of an offensive lineman, the choice is easy.

I will keep up with how it goes on Twitter or in the newspaper the next day. But watch it? Are you kidding me?

Judging from what the NFL hype machine produces every April, I'm obviously in the minority. If people didn't devour all of the information, it wouldn't be out there.

While I might care mildly about the results of the draft, I really have no interest in how anybody predicts it will go. Mock drafts? I have no use for them, but there are numerous ones thrown out there.

The two all-sports stations (WCMC-FM 99.9 The Fan and WDNC-AM 620 The Buzz) in the Triangle have some sort of draft challenge. Some hosts are drafting listeners to make picks for teams in a mock draft. One host's team will win the challenge. I believe they did this last year as well.

There's obviously no chance I'll be listening when this "draft challenge" airs. It's irritating to hear how much air time is being wasted promoting this contest. But I do have to thank them for the steady warnings so that I don't accidentally listen.

Hearing anybody predict how the draft is going isn't interesting to me when it comes from Kiper or others deemed "draft experts." But when it's a random listener? Even worse.

A Saturday morning ESPN Radio show, Dari and Mel did something similar this weekend. Once I realized that during my run, I was off to other stations.

To me, that's like having a sports radio show have people call in to talk about how their fantasy baseball team is doing. And just as compelling.

Long-winded draft analysis stories, previews of the prospects for area players, NFL draft capsules and other copy leading up to the draft will be of interest to many NFL fans. I'm just glad I don't have to copy edit any of it!