Prince Amukamara Meets Tiki Barber - NY Giants At 2011 NFL Draft

Of all of the NFL Draftees at the 2011 NFL Draft, former Nebraska Cornerback Prince Amukamara has the least walking distance: he gets to remain in New York City because he was the first pick of The New York Football Giants. And Tiki Barber, Giants Running Back Legend, was there to welcome the Prince to NY Giants land.

Tiki, planning a comeback to the NFL, was there working for Yahoo! Sports, and, with this blogger, was able to speak with the new Giant. But I decided to turn the tables on Tiki and Prince, and ask the young player what it was like to talk to the legend before him. Prince was at his best "As you can see, I was startled and speechless with him holding the microphone to my lips. But, I mean, it's an honor. He's one of the best, and I hope I don't let him down."

Tiki praised Prince for his answers and poise, as evident when Prince said he "might live on the Jersey Shore" in response to Barbers question if Prince was going to live in New York City or outside New York City. (Tiki was advocating for living in New York City.)

In Prince, Giants fans are getting a guy who's "ready to work" and happy to be in the Big Apple. Indeed, by the time I officially met him, Mr. Amukamara had already attended several parties, and even forgot the name of ESPN College Football Reporter Erin Andrews.

And how's Tiki Barber's comeback going? Barbers says that his training is coming along and "is good. I'm back working hard. I'm back in the gym with my strength trainer. My power-lifting coach. He's killing me. But it's what you need." Tiki's listening to classic rock as he works out, "squatting a thousand pounds a day" he says.

As for his timetable, Barber expects to be on the field in two weeks. He says the lockout gives him a chance to get back in shape and not worry about the OTA's. He always enjoyed training camp, and is looking forward to being with the NFL team that gives him a chance.

Regardless of what you think about Tiki Barber, and this blogger's rooting for him to succeed, watching him "reinvent" himself is fun.

Now, let's see if he can take a hit from Prince Amukamara.

AJ Green, WR - Cincinnati Bengals 2011 NFL Draft Pick Likes The Slant

Alabama and Georgia featured two of the best wide receivers in the South, and now they were both top picks in the 2011 NFL Draft: Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons and A.J. Green of the Cincinnati Bengals.

On the plane up to the NFL Draft, a man I was sitting next to was really upset Green left Georgia, skipping his senior year for the NFL. But Green's stock is so high, he had to do it. Plus, he's in a position to contribute to the Bengals Wide Receiving Group, and possibly even replace Number 85 Chad Ochocinco.

Indeed, where Chad has been blasted over the middle by the New York Jets, who then said he didn't want to get hit over the middle, A.J. Green, in an interview at the NFL Draft, says his favorite pattern to run is, get this, the Slant and is not afraid of getting hit, saying "You just go in there. You gonna get hit, regardless. You can't have that at the back of your mind."

And to clarify, as the video shows, we weren't talking about Chad at the time; A.J. Green was talking strictly about his favorite pattern to run, and I asked him about dealing with the safety closing in to make the hit.

A.J. Green will be as much an asset to the Bengals as Jones will be for the Falcons. And from the looks of the latest news, Chad's not leaving the Bengals any time soon.

Von Miller, LB - Denver Broncos 2011 NFL Draft Pick Interview

Von Miller, The Denver Broncos 2011 NFL Draft Pick at linebacker, looks more like a professor than a football player. So if Von Miller does live up to his lofty potential, his nickname should be "Dr. Linebacker."

After he was selected as the second pick in the 2011 NFL Draft First Round, Miller said he was so busy, he'd felt like "a machine." But Miller, the 6-1, 243-pound standout defender from Texas A&M, played like a hitting machine in college, so it's not surprising to here that coming from him.

While some, like Clark Judge at CBS Sports, have said there's no obvious "best pick" from this year's NFL Draft, others would counter that Miller is the exception to that rule. He was never once placed out of the top five or ten in anyone's draft list, and now he's the second pick in the draft.

Miller's looking forward to the "honor" of working with Broncos Linebacker Elvis Duberville, and being a Denver Bronco, even though he was at Dallas Cowboys fan. He says he's a team player who will do everything it takes to win.

To Oakland Raiders fans, who have to see Miller twice each NFL season, he says "I'm sorry."

Clark Judge Of CBS Sports Gives View Of The 2011 NFL Draft

Clark Judge has covered the NFL Draft for CBS Sports as an NFL Columnist since 1982, and so has a reasoned, seasoned view of the 2011 NFL Draft. We talked about the draft at the NFL Play 60 event in Chelsea Park last week, where Judge offered that it, contrary to this blogger's assertions, was not the most contentious of all recent drafts - the 2005 Draft was.

"It's one of them, certainly, but I remember back in 2005," he said. "Reminds me a little of the 2005 Draft. San Francisco had it (the first pick in the first round), nobody wanted it. So they wanted to trade out of there - couldn't. So they ended up drafting for need, took a quarterback - Aaron Rogers or Alex Smith, they took Alex Smith."

"In this draft, you go 'Is Cam Newton the best quarterback out there?' I don't know. Maybe? But no one knows. Is he the best player? Probably not. I think Patrick Peterson's probably the best player in the draft. Everyone's got a hole in them, and Patrick Peterson, after three or four year, might be a safety, not a cornerback. So, it's a draft that's got a lot of talent, but not one consensus guy like Ndamukong Suh was last year. I remember, a few years ago, (2008), Calvin Johnson (Detroit Wide Receiver) was the consensus guy. You don't hear that this year."

For Clark's views on the NFL Draft and the NFL, click here: CBS Clark.

I noticed he's soured on Cam Newton's chances, but I think Newton, especially with all the crap thrown at him from the mainstream media, is going to perform extremely well.   Regardless, that, the debates, is what makes NFL Draft Prospect watching fun.

J J Watt - Houston Texans 2011 NFL Draft Pick Interview

Today's the official start of the NFL Draft recap period, as it was partially held-up by the announcement of the end of Osama Bin Laden, starting with President Obama's address on Sunday. Now, we can get back to the issue of the NFL and the NFL Draft, with a focus on the interview of J.J. Watt, the former junior Wisconsin Defensive End (he skipped completing his senior year), who selected for the same role by the Houston Texans.

Watt, one of the highest rated defensive ends along with Aldon Smith (49ers), Ryan Kerrigan (Redskins), and Cameron Jordan (Saints), understands that his job is to come in and contribute right away. As was the case when the Texans picked Mario Williams number one in 2006, and over Reggie Bush, the job is still to get Indianapolis Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning. "I'm extremely excited," he said. "Anytime you get to work with Mario Williams. He's a guy who makes everyone better around him."

Watt is friends with former Missouri Quarterback Blaine Gabbert (Jacksonville) and former Florida State Quarterback Christian Ponder (Minnesota Vikings), and connect frequently via Twitter, but Watt says their fishing trips, and plans to hit the Florida Keys to take advantage of an excursion they won will have to be placed on hold, because it's time to go to work.

Updates report that Watt received what's called a "preliminary playbook" from the Texans, part of an effort to make sure Watt's able to prepare for the NFL while the NFL Lockout is active. The 6-6, 292-pounder also went over the "basics" of the Texans Defense with coaches last week.

Christopher Meloni Of Law And Order Special Victims Unit At NFL Draft

In the NFL's on-going attempt to meld entertainment and sports - and that's not a flip sentence, because it's a good idea - more celebrities were invited to last week's 2011 NFL Draft. And while 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin skipped out on the NFL Red Carpet, and reported due to "the weather" (it had been raining, but cleared-up nicely), Christopher Meloni Of NBC's Law And Order Special Victims Unit was kind enough to be a guest of the NFL and bring his young son with him.

Mr. Meloni was good enough to take a minute to talk about what makes the show so popular.

"I think people connect to the characters. I think it's a subject matter than people feel passionately about. We touch on issues that people feel about societally and culturally. And there's a resolution to all that, after one hour of hanging with us."

Christopher says that the show will be back with all new characters and writers. But, after years of Emmys and acclaim, is an Oscar-targeted movie in the works? "I like the way you think. We have a lot of things we're shuffling around the figuring out. There's not too much time for that."

With all of this fame, Christopher Meloni says he doesn't have a website. I checked on Google, and at one point he had a website. Now, where it once at Christopher-Meloni.com was has this:

Chris has closed his web site

He would like to thank everyone for their interest and support.

Chris will retain ownership of the domain name, but will not be establishing another presence on the internet, including on services such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Which may mean Meloni had, sadly, some kind of bad experience. It's too bad that it takes one or two people to ruin the chance to for millions to keep up with their favorite stars.

Stay tuned.

Star Wars Day And Godzilla 2012 At Comic Con?

Wednesday was Star Wars Day, and if you're wondering where that came from, it doesn't seem to have had a thing to do with Star Wars, but with Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister of the 80s. Reportedly, the new PM was installed on May 4th and the saying was "May The Fourth Be With You," a play on the words "May The Force Be With You," from Star Wars, and that's how we got into this mess.

So, it was a great Star Wars Day, but equally great is the unfolding news about the next Godzilla Movie, called "Godzilla 2012." While attempting to secure an interview with the legendary Thomas Tull, head of Legendary Studios, I learned that the studio wasn't granting talks because the movie was in "full active development."

That leads one to speculate if Legendary Pictures will have something ready in the form of a presentation for Comic Con 2011? We can only guess at this point, but the news is that the process to make Godzilla 2012, led by Tull, Godzilla Producer Brian Rogers, and Director Gareth Edwards is under way.

And in the frenzy, this blogger ran across a cool movie clip that features a CGI Godzilla which could be a great forcast of monster to come. Called "Return of Godzila 2009, it's here:



At first, the origin of the video was not known to this blogger, but other Youtubers pointed to a movie called Always Zoku Sanchome no Yuhi (Always sunset on third street 2).

The film has nothing to do with Godzilla, other than that it was set in 1958. Godzilla appears in an "imaginary sequence" at the start of the film, and his role was kept a secret until the movie was shown in 2007. It marked the first time Godzilla was created using computer animation, rather than a person in a suit, or motion capture.

And the effects were terrific.

Stay tuned.