On Monday reports broke that the NFL would do the sensible thing and ask that all teams conduct their business for the 2020 NFL draft virtually. No gathering in war rooms at the club facility or in a conference room somewhere — the league is asking coaches, scouts, and executives to work from home, and communicate virtually.
Picks will then be called in to the league office, where they will announce them via a closed studio where the televised offering will be broadcast from.
With a global pandemic going on and many states issuing shelter-in-place orders, this is a smart decision. And also one that will almost certainly result in hilarity.
I have been apart of many virtual conferences in my life, where people from around the world have to join together for an online meeting. The success rate of these conferences is about six percent. There is ALWAYS an issue, be it with software needing to update, video connectivity, faulty WiFi, someone who forgets to mute, etc.
With things like Zoom bombing and other hacking threats, the league will also almost certainly institute additional levels of security, which will undoubtedly make the entire thing more complicated.
Throw in a league full of Football Guys who regularly struggle to work tablets on the sideline, this is a catastrophe waiting to happen, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Will we wait 15 minutes for the Giants pick as Dave Gettleman tries to get Zoom to download to his fax machine? Maybe! Will we catch a glimpse of a shirtless head coach accidentally going live via webcam as he throws in a lipper? Here’s hoping!
We need to find the beauty where we can these days, and if that beauty is watching NFL executives and coaches fumble with technology for an hour during a nationally televised broadcast, that’s A-OK with me.
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