NFL leads sports world – It’s all NFL, all the time

By STEVE KING

Turn on the TV.

Listen to the radio sports talk shows.

And yes, go on the web.

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What you’ll see when you do so is that the NFL leads the sports world – with the Browns and the 31 other teams — is the only game right now not just in town, but also in the world, especially, of course, in this country. All the other sports are on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the NFL, to which nothing bad ever seems to stick, at least for any great length of time, continues on, having lucked out this year into an advantageous situation attention-wise in that its offseason comes at a time when no games of any kind in the other sports can be played. Its draft will still be held, on schedule, in three weeks, April 23-25. The draft, which is a sport within a sport, is a TV ratings bonanza even when it goes against early-season major league baseball games and the first round of the NBA playoffs. That will especially be the case now for a

sports-hungry public that has had nothing to watch since mid-March.

Er, that would be nothing, that is, except wall-to-wall coverage of NFL free agency and also the draft. With free agency all but over, it’s all draft all the time. People like Mel Kiper, Jr., Todd McShay and former Browns safety/special teamer Louis Riddick are rock stars, and what they have to say about the draft and the prospects in it is football’s version of the gospel.

Then following the draft, every pick – every team’s job during the three-day affair – will be broken down, analyzed and scrutinized over, over and over again. And the fans, instead of becoming bored and getting turned off, will lap it up for as long as it is served to them.

That will take things into early May, about a month from now. By that point, the NFL leads the sports world even more, which will still be sidelined for an indefinite amount of time, will be seemingly insurmountable.

What, then, can possibly go wrong?

Well, plenty, actually.

More Cleveland Browns News

• “Stuck In Minnesota, Browns Coach Adjusts To ‘Strange Times’” (AP)
• Joe Thomas All-Decade (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Joe Thomas explains the challenges facing rookie left tackles, and who best fits the Browns’ offense” (cleveland.com)
• “Baker Mayfield killing his garage workouts” (PFT)
• Good for the Haslams (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Jarvis Landry donates $15,000 of hygiene products to East Cleveland families” (WKYC)

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