Though the speed with which the first two rounds of the 2008 NFL draft moved was welcomed by nearly everyone (with the exception of folks who were trying to keep up with everything that was happening while doing a live blog), many believe that the draft should be moved back to its former starting time of 12:00 p.m. EDT.
In a PFT Planet poll regarding the issue, more than 3100 of 3600 responses favored a move back from this year’s 3:00 p.m. EDT kickoff.
And it’s one of the ten topics that some Internet hack addressed in reviewing this year’s draft for SportingNews.com.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I could see maybe moving it back an hour…but not everyone goes by eastern time…If it was at noon it would start at 9 on the west coast…that’s a little early.
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Rating: 4.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
April 29th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
A 1:00 start would make the most sense. That would leave more time for tailgaiting than starting at 12:00 and it would be just like the usual 1:00 kickoffs on Sundays.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
April 29th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Do the first round on Friday Night
2nd-4th rounds Sat starting at Noon
5th-7th rounds Sun starting at 11:00
That would be the perfect schedule.
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Rating: 2.6 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
April 29th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Yup I voted for 11 a.m. I did enjoy the speed of the draft, however.
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April 29th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
it used to start at 9am pacific time. I hated getting up that early on a Saturday. Maybe have it start at 11 pacific.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 29th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Give us a break, Florio. Asking me to be awake by noon is a bit unrealistic, the three-o-clock thing worked out just fine for me. Quit nitpicking, and get me a beer will ya?
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Rating: 4.5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
April 29th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I think not only should they move it back to an earlier start, they should include round three on the first day.
I was also disappointed that they didnt announce the terms of the trade this time around. Last year (first round only) when the Commish announced the names, he also announced the details of the trades involved.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 29th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Living on the west coast I would have to disagree. Like the above poster stated, maybe an hour earlier would work.
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April 29th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
This year was especially difficult…even on the west coast.
Usually I feed my lady buckets of sangria on the Friday night before the draft so she has a massive hang over for Saturday monring and I can sneak a couple of rounds in there before she wakes.
This year was a nightmare for that…I had to get her drunk Friday night…then give her some drowsy Advil so she’s fall back asleep. Barely worked…we were out for an afternoon walk by the time the Jerome Simpson lottery was on.
Please, keep it at 9am.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 29th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
12pm central time FTW!
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April 29th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Sinsor is right people do live in the Pacific and Mountain Time Zones so starting it at 12pm EST is early especially on a Saturday Morning. 1pm EST would be fine since that is when games normally begin. This is a prime example of East Coast selfishness. In fact, one-sixth of the NFL teams are in the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones. 3pm EST does not hurt anyone except those who have to work the draft a la Florio.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
April 29th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Change it up, make it a month-long thing every night for 3-4 hours on NFLN. Let fan voting determine the draftee that’s selected by a given team. Hey it would mean we have to listen to less griping from the armchair GMs.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
April 29th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I agree one hour back or two at the most. 10am isn’t too early for us west-coasters. Contrary to popular belief not everyone lives on the east coast.
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April 29th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Being the East Coast right now, I would have prefer to have an earlier start. However having watched many draft when I lived in California I didn’t like the early start. Since I will be in California again sometime, I would prefer to see them keep the start time of 3 pm Eastern.
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April 29th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
And people wonder why LA has no NFL team.
The draft was perfect this year. Having round 3 on Sunday made Sunday interesting.
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April 30th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Being in Europe I would favour as early as possible
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April 30th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Nah, as a lazy person, I loved the 3 est start. I could wake up at 1 or 2 and still see everything.
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April 30th, 2008 at 7:17 am
I agree; move it back to the original time. Saturday night is much more impportant than Saturday morning. As, long as it took last year, it didn’t affect my plans. If it starts at # again next year, I will be watching ESPN’s recap the next morning.
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April 30th, 2008 at 8:19 am
I firmly believe that the late start contributed as much or more than the 15 to 10 minute time reduction to the fast pace of the draft. Teams have a much better chance to contact players and other teams and work out what they will most likely do ahead of time. Then they don’t have to d**k around and use as much of the clock when their time arrives.
I think the 3:00pm start time worked perfectly. Everyone was compimenting the pace and presentation of this year’s draft. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!
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April 30th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Knowing who was the first four picks before the draft started really ruined the drama. Either change the time back or punish the leaks. It as like someone describing the plot of a movie right before it starts.
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April 30th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Poll? There was a poll? Where?! I go directly to the rumor mill… never noticed a poll. Oh well.
I’m in favor of a compromise. How about 10 am Pacific, same as the Sunday morning games?
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