Thank goodness the NFL draft is this week (Thursday, April 25th-Saturday, April 27th). It could not have come at a more convenient time. You may be wondering why exactly this is the case, but, believe me, you will understand soon enough. 

First, I want to talk about the draft very briefly, as it is always my favorite three-day period of the year. Being hosted in Detroit, the Steelers will be drafting 20th (barring any trades, of course). The team has numerous areas of need, which include left tackle, center, wide receiver, and defensive line depth. This draft has the potential to be one of the most interesting in recent memory. I literally just received a notification that University of Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s odds to be drafted second overall by the Washington Commanders have fluctuated from +950 on Wednesday to +2000 Thursday and back down to +800 today (per DraftKings odds, via Bleacher Report). 

This would be stunning, as it has been the general consensus for some time that, assuming the Bears draft USC quarterback Caleb Williams first overall, the Commanders would either draft reigning Heisman winner and LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels or University of North Carolina QB Drake Maye. There are zero picks after 1.01 that are set in stone, which makes the upcoming week substantially more intriguing. 

Mystery and unpredictability aside, the main reason that the draft is so exciting is because its entertainment value is in direct comparison to the past week of competition for my favorite sports teams. It was a week from hell for the Pirates, Penguins, and Manchester City Football Club. 

The Pirates lost all six games they played last week—three of which were in Queens against the New York Mets, and the other three at home against the Boston Red Sox. They have gone from an 11-5 record at the time I wrote last week’s entry to being 11-11. The most frustrating aspect of this skid is the fact that the Pirates had a lead in four of those six games. They were up 3-0 on Monday against the Mets and lost 6-3. They were up 1-0 on Tuesday and lost 3-1, despite 5 innings of immaculate one-hit pitching from phenom Jared Jones. They led 1-0 Wednesday before Bailey Falter gave up 2 runs—a respectable start, mind you—and the bullpen followed by conceding 7 runs in a 9-1 rout. 

I had hoped the day off on Thursday would allow the team to re-calibrate, but could not have been more wrong. An 8-1 loss to the Red Sox on Friday in former top prospect Quinn Priester’s return to the majors was very disappointing, especially considering how poorly Priester pitched. They followed that game up with a 4-2 loss to Kutter Crawford, who entered the game with a microscopic 0.48 earned run average. On Sunday, the Pirates again staked themselves to a 1-0 lead, only to lose 6-1 in a ballgame filled with base-running and fielding blunders from the black and gold. 

The season is in danger of spiraling out of control after only 22 games. O’Neil Cruz, who many thought would have a breakout year, has only 2 hits in his last 26 at-bats, a .077 batting average to go along with 15 strikeouts. Both of his hits were singles, reflecting a minuscule .077 slugging percentage. Ke’Bryan Hayes is batting .240 in his last 7 games, bringing his season batting average down to .280 after a blistering start to the season. He is a third baseman with zero home runs, which is frustrating for a position that often generates a ton of homers. Bryan Reynolds is in the same boat, seeing his average drop to .264 after a .240 week. 

It is not just the hitting that has bottomed out. Last week, the bullpen surrendered 20 earned runs. Twenty. Earned. Runs. The bullpen—whose job is to quite literally PREVENT RUNNERS FROM SCORING—averaged over three earned runs against per game last week. That is inexcusable!

Now, to the Penguins. Unsurprisingly, they missed out on the playoffs. However, the manner in which they were eliminated was quite frustrating. The Capitals somehow beat the Bruins on Monday while the Red Wings came back from 4-1 down to beat the Canadiens in overtime, meaning that a win on Tuesday from either of those teams would officially eliminate the Pens. 

Both the Capitals-Flyers and Red Wings-Canadiens (take two) games were tightly-contested. As the Flyers needed a regulation win to keep their slim postseason chances alive, they pulled their goalie in a tie game, allowing Washington to score an empty-net goal to seal their spot in the playoffs. The Wings again came back from a deficit against the Canadiens, although that triumph was in vain. Both the Wings sending their game to overtime and the Caps scoring on the empty net occurred almost simultaneously, breaking the hearts of both myself and Penguins fans across the globe. 

Manchester City entered Wednesday’s Champions League match against Real Madrid with a 3-3 aggregate score, meaning a win at home in the second leg would catapult them into the semifinals. Real struck first blood with a beautifully-worked goal, finished by Brazilian attacker Rodrygo. Kevin De Bruyne’s 75’ equalizer sent the match to extra time, despite City dominating play for the vast majority of the game. Nothing significant happened in the half hour of extra time allotted, meaning the match would go to penalties. Although City scored their first and Real missed theirs, back-to-back failures by Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovačić ultimately prevented City from progressing. I was just numb. There was no reason that match should have even gone to extra time, let alone penalties. It was extremely difficult to digest, and it still stings despite the Blues (perhaps undeservingly) beating Chelsea 1-0 in the FA Cup semifinal at the weekend. 

Let me put it this way: if the Steelers fail to address those areas of need and draft the proverbial “best player available” with each draft choice, I will be miserable beyond belief. Last week was bad…a seemingly poor draft would make this week even worse than the previous. Omar Khan, I am begging you to keep my sanity intact.