Prognosticator’s Paradise

America has become a land impassioned with predictions, forecasts and estimates. We always want to know what the future holds. In this, the information age, that obsession with future analysis has increased exponentially. We crave information sooner and faster and this has been evidenced by the explosion in popularity for the NFL Draft.  
Gregg Easterbrook, a columnist for ESPN.com, has developed the "Unified Field Theory of Creep." This theory arose from his observations that over the years, and increasingly over the past decade, department stores have slowly, but steadily begun to display their holiday merchandise earlier than the previous year. Easterbrook first noticed this with the Christmas season but the theory has been applied to everything from St. Patrick's Day parades in February to the Dallas Cowboys' yearly late-season collapse occurring in November instead of December. I am asserting the theory can be easily applied to America's insatiable appetite for prediction and analysis, especially in the sporting world.
The NFL Draft is the paramount example of "creep." It seems as though we have been inundated with Draft coverage since before the season even ended. It was only a few years ago that the Draft was an afterthought during baseball season. Now, it is not unheard of to see mock drafts predicting what will occur three years down the line. This blistering pace of Draft "creep" has taken on a life of its own. The Draft has, in a way, become a sport in and of itself. With all of the coverage, analysis, break down and pageantry it is quickly becoming an integral part of American culture.
Even in the past half-dozen years the amount of coverage for the event has grown from relatively non-existent to the lead story during almost every SportsCenter. Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. have only become household names because of our clamoring for more Draft coverage. We see their faces plastered on every sports channel seemingly all year.
Only recently has the event become a true spectacle. The move to prime time is an indication that the NFL Draft has solidified itself as a true sporting exhibition. What was once an underground event reserved for the hardcore fan has morphed into something much more palatable for mass consumption. No longer is the event mired in the back pages of the sports section. It has taken center stage, culminating in the unprecedented three-day prime time event that kicks off today.
At this pace, we will soon see McShay and Kiper debating how the 40-yard dash times of middle schoolers will affect their draft stock.