The Draft, Bulaga, Clayborn
Posted 04-23-2010 at 03:40 PM by GodGodGodBathia
The NFL Draft is one of my favorite events in sports; it is a short breath of college and NFL football that interrupts the seemingly endless NBA season and stirs up excitement for the approaching year. Truly the one area where college and pro intertwine, the Draft contains the unknown of the future with every name the Commissioner reads—maybe this player will be the next rookie of the year, the next Super Bowl MVP, a hall of famer starting his legendary career.
In most drafts the University of Iowa has a couple of prospects looking to go in the first round and receive the millions of dollars that comes with it, and this year it was Brian Bulaga. Bulaga, projected by many analysts to go in the top five or top ten picks, fell off the radar and heard offensive lineman after offensive lineman called before him. He finally heard his name called by the Green Bay Packers as the 23rd pick, a disappointment after expecting to go higher. As a fan of Bulaga and his impact and contributions to Iowa Football over three years, I wanted the best for him and for him to go as high as possible, leaving me disappointed as well. However, even though he fell off the radar, he gets the benefit of playing for a team in contention with a rising superstar in Aaron Rodgers. Because of this, Bulage will not suffer the same fate as Robert Gallery, an offensive lineman picked second overall in the draft by the Oakland Raiders. I am sure now that Gallery would have sacrificed a few picks to be chosen by a team that has the potential to make the playoffs and compete year after year. Picked by Green Bay, Bulaga’s potential will not go to waste and he will not be the “forgotten man” as Gallery was; Iowa fans interested in following his career as a professional will get the option to do so.
As the ESPN “experts” (who really don’t know anything more concerning the draft than you or me) discussed Green Bay’s pick, they referred to Bulaga as an Iowa “Farm boy”, one of the terms used frequently when Iowa sports are brought up in the national media. Before games, the television station carrying it usually shows a cornfield being slowly plowed or a barn, portraying Iowa as revolving strictly around farming and everything and everyone in the state is a farmer. While I’m certainly proud that are state is a leader in agriculture and know that farmers are the backbone of America, I think that the national media uses those terms too loosly. Brian Bulaga is not a farmer, he isn’t even from the state, and without knowing anything about him, Chris Berman labels him as a farm boy because he’s from Iowa. If you’re going to call Bulaga a farm boy, then I guess that “Michael Brown” from Detroit has to be Black, or “James Smith” from the state of New York has to be a city boy. If a farm boy from Iowa succeeds as an athlete and is recognized by the media for it, great, way to represent the state, but don’t call someone something that he isn’t.
I’m really looking forward to next year’s draft as well. I believe that Clayborn has the potential to and will be in the top five picks as Suh was. He won’t be as good as Suh, a once in a million years athlete, but he definitely has similar skills of shutting down opposing offenses as shown in the Orange Bowl.
In most drafts the University of Iowa has a couple of prospects looking to go in the first round and receive the millions of dollars that comes with it, and this year it was Brian Bulaga. Bulaga, projected by many analysts to go in the top five or top ten picks, fell off the radar and heard offensive lineman after offensive lineman called before him. He finally heard his name called by the Green Bay Packers as the 23rd pick, a disappointment after expecting to go higher. As a fan of Bulaga and his impact and contributions to Iowa Football over three years, I wanted the best for him and for him to go as high as possible, leaving me disappointed as well. However, even though he fell off the radar, he gets the benefit of playing for a team in contention with a rising superstar in Aaron Rodgers. Because of this, Bulage will not suffer the same fate as Robert Gallery, an offensive lineman picked second overall in the draft by the Oakland Raiders. I am sure now that Gallery would have sacrificed a few picks to be chosen by a team that has the potential to make the playoffs and compete year after year. Picked by Green Bay, Bulaga’s potential will not go to waste and he will not be the “forgotten man” as Gallery was; Iowa fans interested in following his career as a professional will get the option to do so.
As the ESPN “experts” (who really don’t know anything more concerning the draft than you or me) discussed Green Bay’s pick, they referred to Bulaga as an Iowa “Farm boy”, one of the terms used frequently when Iowa sports are brought up in the national media. Before games, the television station carrying it usually shows a cornfield being slowly plowed or a barn, portraying Iowa as revolving strictly around farming and everything and everyone in the state is a farmer. While I’m certainly proud that are state is a leader in agriculture and know that farmers are the backbone of America, I think that the national media uses those terms too loosly. Brian Bulaga is not a farmer, he isn’t even from the state, and without knowing anything about him, Chris Berman labels him as a farm boy because he’s from Iowa. If you’re going to call Bulaga a farm boy, then I guess that “Michael Brown” from Detroit has to be Black, or “James Smith” from the state of New York has to be a city boy. If a farm boy from Iowa succeeds as an athlete and is recognized by the media for it, great, way to represent the state, but don’t call someone something that he isn’t.
I’m really looking forward to next year’s draft as well. I believe that Clayborn has the potential to and will be in the top five picks as Suh was. He won’t be as good as Suh, a once in a million years athlete, but he definitely has similar skills of shutting down opposing offenses as shown in the Orange Bowl.
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