I’m not going to lie – last night’s sports action was quite delightful. All three hockey games gave us great tension, whether it was Tampa holding on to beat Detroit, Pittsburgh starting a third-string goalie and watching how he held up, or Chicago throwing everything at St. Louis for almost four periods but coming up empty. That’s what makes the first round of the Stanley Cup so much fun. The basketball season ended with two memorable moments – the Warriors getting #73, and Kobe getting his sendoff – and the fact that Minnesota dropped 144 on New Orleans. It sure was nice of Houston to win their game, so the Jazz had nothing to shoot for but being a part of history. People don’t even take 50 shots in All-Star games!

Tonight has just hockey – NBA playoffs start Saturday – but also the thrill of the NFL 2016 schedule reveal. It also marks two weeks until the draft, just about enough time for most prognosticators & Commentists to rework their boards. (More on that soon.)

At least the Rams changed the tone for the next two weeks of draft debate. This one move has already brought today:

• “Who will they pick?” questions
• “How does this screw with the Browns’ plans?” questions
• “Will the Rams get burned like the [Redacted]s did?” questions
• “How does this affect the rest of the NFC West?” questions
• “How does this screw the Browns?” questions (to be fair, a perennial draft question)
• “How can Jeff Fisher turn all this talent into an 8-8 team?” questions
• “Has Mike Mayock had a stroke?” questions

Really, they are all important topics, and the slightly changed narrative should make counting down to “Chi-Town is once again Draft Town!” a little more tolerable.

I don’t buy the story that the Rams held off on the announcement until this morning, to avoid ruining Kobe’s big day. (FYI: that was actually in 2004, when the charges were dropped and a cheque made the civil suit go away.) Seems a little like ingratiating yourself to the neighbours. All it would have probably merited was a scroll on the ticker, and maybe the 5th or 6th story on Sports Center. It was a big deal today, and that’s what they wanted.

FYI, the Rams (according to Wikipedia), have had four first-overall draft picks since 1960: Billy Cannon (1960); Terry Baker (1963); Orlando Pace (1997); Sam Bradford (2010). Meanwhile, Kurt Warner was originally the backup to Trent Green. (Yay false equivalencies!)

On the other end of the spectrum, Drew Rosenhaus dropped Johnny Manziel as a client, just three weeks after signing on to that mess. An Argos jersey might look pretty sweet to JFF come mid-June.

Tonight’s entertainment!

Like I said, not a lot:

NHL:

• Flyers @ Capitals – 7:00
• Islanders @ Panthers – 8:00
• Wild @ Stars – 9:30
• Sharks @ Kings – 10:30

FX: Archer – 10:00

NFL: 2016 Schedule release – 8:00

I know what most of you will be watching during that Wild-Stars game. I WON’T BLAME YOU!