European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 28, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Stars and stripes saturday april 282007 ports Kobe rallies lakers past suns to Cut deficit to 24 pistons go up 30 Page 36 for Gas information Hast made draft any less a guessing game by Mark Craig Minneapolis Star Tribune the 1968 nil draft began on Jan 3016 Days after super bowl h there was no scouting Combine no pro Day workouts no dotcom mock draft do Jour for 12 stinking weeks no one asked Southern Cali fornia tackle Ron Yary to tiptoe through a three one Drill Broad jump or Bench press 225 pounds Heck i didst even Start lifting weights until 1980 said Yary who now works in real estate in los Angeles when i was a boy they told us not to lift weights youd get too muscle bound there was no Wonderlic test no 20yard shuttle and not one person asked Yary if he was a cat or a dog or subjected him to any other psychological Mambo jumbo that5s the one that gets me Yary said All of this psychological testing and All this introspective of the players they do today it Hast done the nil much Good has it they still pick hoodlums with none of today so called advanced scouting Vikings coach Bud Grant watched game film and grilled his most trusted scouts a lot of people today cant make a decision unless they have reams of paperwork in front of them to Back it up Grant said see 1968 on Page 35 saturday 6 pm of sports mock first round of the draft Page 34 draft May be overblown but its uncertainty holds mass Appeal for nil fans by Tim Dahlberg the associated press Joe Thomas will be somewhere in the Middle of a Lake in Wisconsin when his name is called in the nil draft not to worry though be cause the nil network plans to have a camera installed on his fishing boat to chronicle the moment for posterity it should be a big Day for the offensive lineman who will Likely go High in the draft and become an instant millionaire and what better Way to celebrate than trying to catch a Walleye or two Thomas picked a Good Day to go fishing because the Lake should be empty his football Loving neighbors like millions of other americans will be in their armchairs for a big Day in front of the to libation in hand  watch clocks tick and talking Heads talk every 15 minutes or so someone will go to a podium and make an announcement a few people will cheer others will boo the talking Heads will spend another 15 minutes analysing what just happened a player win be shown smiling someplace or walking on stage to put a team hat on his head the talking Heads will talk some More and to think the late Pete Rozelle thought a fledgling network named esp was crazy when it came to him in 1979 and asked if it could Tele Vise the leagues annual draft Rozelle was right about most things nil but he never thought the draft would grow into some thing so big that it takes not one but two networks to broadcast it see Appeal on Page 35 leu quarterback Jamarcus Russeli 2 and notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn 10 have been at the Center of the debate on who is the drafts top quarterback Russell May be the drafts top Overall pick Wade Payne Russell and Alex Brandon a Burnett jays hand Yankees sixth straight loss i inn 027664 463149