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A Freaky Sports Week
Friday, 24 April, 2026
This week’s sports scene has featured an assortment of odd headlines and stories. Let’s dive right in! NFL Draft Day 1 in Pittsburgh featured a record 320,000 fans! For 51 years, the NFL Draft was held in a major hotel’s ballroom or banquet facility in New York City. There would always be a full house of (perhaps) several hundred interested spectators who had somehow finagled their way into the festivities. Of course, New York’s Giants and Jets fans dominated the scene to cheer their teams and lustily boo their biggest rivals. It was April, 2015 when the NFL smartly decided to capitalize on growing fan interest by taking its annual NFL Draft on the road. That initial NFL Draft “road show” in Chicago became a rousing success. A genius marketing idea was implemented to stretch the proceedings from two days to three. Allowing Round 1 (which featured the most well-known college football players) to stand alone on a Thursday night was a big draw for fans. Rounds 2 and 3 are held on Friday. The festivities end on Saturday afternoon with Rounds 4, 5, 6, and 7. Fans flocked to Chicago in 2015 to be part of that three day party. The event was primarily held outside and attracted more than 200,000 fans over a three day period. This annual party has become the NFL’s springtime equivalent of the Super Bowl itself. Since 2015, the NFL Draft has taken place in Philadelphia, Dallas, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Detroit, and Green Bay. This year’s event is being held in Pittsburgh. The NFL Draft heads east to Washington, DC in April, 2027. Thursday night’s opening round in Pittsburgh brought a record 320,000 fans to the Steel City. Most fans literally just stand around within the designated fenced areas. They wait to cheer for their favorite team and loudly boo draft selections made by the Steelers’ hated rivals (Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Dallas to name a few). Detroit still holds the 3-day record with an estimated 700,000 people attending the 2024 NFL Draft. Green Bay pulled-in 600,000 for last year’s 2025 NFL Draft. Pittsburgh is off to a good start and might establish a new record. However, there is an 80% chance of rain on Saturday which might diminish the turnout. Speaking of the NFL Draft… The Los Angeles Rams finished behind the Seattle Seahawks in losing the NFC title game. They held the lucky 13th pick in the opening round of Thursday night’s NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. In one of the biggest Round 1 surprises in recent memory, the Rams selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson. The college quarterback had a shaky final season at Alabama and was widely expected to be taken very late in the first round or in the second round. Plus, last year’s starting quarterback in Los Angeles was also last year’s NFL MVP, Matt Stafford. The Rams could have easily traded down several spots, received an extra mid-round draft pick, and likely found Ty Simpson still available later in the first round on Thursday. Apparently the Rams’ coaching staff saw something that the rest of us missed. Did someone just mention Alabama? Following Nick Saban as the head football coach at the University of Alabama could be one of the toughest jobs in football. Former University of Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer accepted that position two years ago. He has posted very un-Alabama type records of 9-4 in 2024 and 11-4 in 2025. Many Crimson Tide fans already had their fingers ready on the “Let’s fire the football coach” button as Coach DeBoer begins his third season in Tuscaloosa this fall. In a surprising move this week, the University of Alabama handed the football coach a brand new seven-year $12.5 million/year contract through the 2033 football season. Coach DeBoer’s salary went up by $2 million per year despite posting back-to-back underwhelming (by Alabama standards) seasons. If fired (without cause), Coach Kalen DeBoer will be due 90% of the remaining amount on his contract. Bama fans appeared rather unhappy with this move and are openly questioning the sanity and decision making skills of Athletic Director Greg Byrne. New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel’s problems are getting worse This married pro football coach was caught on camera recently at a luxury Arizona resort cuddling with a younger sports reporter. This week, New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was in the news again. A New York City newspaper released photos of the coach getting frisky with that same woman in a New York City bar back in March, 2020. The female reporter (who is also married) had her journalistic (uh) methods in obtaining information from the NFL coach questioned. Her actions created a firestorm from other women within her profession. She resigned from her most recent employer several days after the initial story broke. As for New England coach Mike Vrabel, he told the media that he is leaving the NFL Draft this week prior to Day 3 (Saturday) to seek counseling. Translated – he wants to avoid the media. His counseling should involve marriage counseling plus a good legal counsel, too. The New England Patriots have not signaled any specific actions (if any) the team might be taking with their coach. You might remember that New England (under first-year coach Mike Vrabel) surprised many by reaching this February’s Super Bowl. The Seattle Seahawks downed the Patriots 29-13. Another WWE wrestling legend ended his long career this week First, it was WWE superstar John Cena hanging up his wrestling boots. One month ago, long-time WWE star and fan favorite A.J. Styles also joined the retirement club, too. Last weekend, another legitimate wrestling giant decided it was time to end his pro wrestling career after his Wrestlemania event. Brock Lesnar was never a classic professional wrestler. He was weak at working the microphone and never seemed to get the hang of doing promos to help build suspense for his next match. Lesnar was an absolute beast in the ring, though. Most of his matches generally went less than five minutes. The 6’3” 290 pound giant would toss pro wrestling opponents around like lightweight rag dolls using his signature “Suplex City” moves. No matter what you think of pro wrestling, it hurt to be on the receiving end of any Brock Lesnar wrestling move. Brock Lesnar was the NCAA heavyweight college champion in 2000. He won 106 matches and lost only five times. In case you didn’t know, the winners in amateur wrestling are not predetermined before the match. Lesnar quickly advanced in professional wrestling. He found himself on WWE’s national telecasts less than two years after leaving college. After five years in the WWE, Brock Lesnar decided to try mixed martial arts with the UFC in 2008. He became their world champion within his first two years. It was then back to the WWE for Brock Lesnar where he would dominate all comers for the majority of the next 15 years. “The Beast Incarnate” would benefit from having WWE’s slick talking Paul Heyman at his side as a manager to help sell the sizzle for upcoming matches. Now 48 years of age, Brock Lesnar stunned the crowd at Sunday’s Wrestlemania. He lost a fairly quick match to up-and-coming 300 pound giant named Oba Femi. This time it was Brock Lesnar being tossed around in the squared circle. Ouch! After the match, Lesnar took off his wrestling boots and left them in the ring. That signaled to fans that they may have witnessed the final wrestling match of Brock Lesnar’s career. Of course, we’re talking about the never-ending soap opera called professional wrestling. The WWE might offer Brock Lesnar enough money to entice him to return into the ring again soon…if the price is right! Did you see that great catch made by a baseball pitcher’s shirt this week? You owe it to yourself to watch an amazing once-in-a-lifetime catch made in Major League Baseball this week. Click here. A line drive quickly coming right back at Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Logan Gilbert caused him to turn sideways to avoid being hit directly by a speedy oncoming baseball. As the pitcher spun counterclockwise toward first base, the baseball somehow found its way into a tiny gap between two of the buttons on Gilbert’s baseball jersey. The surprised pitcher quickly retrieved the baseball from inside of his jersey and produced it for the umpire to see. Did the umpire call the batter out? Nope. Leave it to Major League Baseball to have a rule covering such a weird play. Rule 5.06 states that the fielder (pitcher, in this case) may not use his clothing or paraphernalia to catch a ball. The rule was likely intended to prevent a player from using his baseball cap to catch an oncoming ball, for example. In this case, the batter was awarded first base. The play was scored as a single. Seattle pitcher Logan Gilbert told the media afterwards that his stomach was a bit bruised from the play, but he was otherwise doing fine. Wonder if he is going to request a few more buttons to be sewn onto his jersey prior to his next pitching assignment? The post A Freaky Sports Week appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.
