After consulting with my agent and a brief phone call to Mel Kiper Jr.'s new ESPN mobile to see where he had me on the big board, I am officially declaring my candidacy for NGS 2. Since I met my end in the original NGS I've posted little, read three different books on bullfighting, tried to really learn Spanish and bought a new Stetson, which I'm throwing into the ring today.

There have been some major changes to the site since I took my brief sabbatical, and I'm happy to be back with a new look for the site (silver), a new font (Tahoma), and a nice new avatar. It seems as if there are a number of new people on the site and right now it feels a lot like spring training. Hope springs eternal, the veterans from NGS 1 are meeting back up and every one is trying to figure out how the hot new free agents are going to fit in the mix. Personally, I look forward to reading the new posts as well as checking in with some old favorites

Also, it's an entirely new sporting season and it should add an interesting twist the to contest. We've got the winter sport playoffs, baseball, some big racing action on all fronts and the biggest sporting event in the world all on tap. With that said, I'm going to use my first post as a sort of preview of what interests me in the coming weeks.

NFL Draft 2006

Actually, this only interests me because it doesn't interest me. I'm a big college football fan and a small pro football fan, but the past three weekends I've had the following thought: "The draft must be today." Well, it wasn't, we've just been talking about it for three weeks.

Now that the NBA draft is closer to the MLB or NHL drafts, where players are taken based on upside rather than immediate impact, I suppose the NFL has the best draft around, but I'm tired of it cutting in to my playoff hoops.

Derby

We're only eight days away! While I won't be ankle-deep in bourbon, mud and blood on the infield like I was last year, I'll still be out at Suffolk Downs with the rest of the punters to take a shot and record the whole day.

I haven't officially started my prep work, but like a lot of others, I'm partial to Lawyer Ron at this point. I saw in the Globe today that early oddsmakers had him at 5-1, but I suspect he'll be priced a lot shorter than that come next Saturday. As I do every year, I'll be researching all next week only to have every theory I concocted undone in those final 50 minutes before the race when the tote board starts to blink like the green light at the end of Daisy's dock.

Fans as Sportswriters

In the past few weeks I've read two books, To Hate Like This is to Be Happy Forever by Will Blythe and Wrigleyworld by Kevin Kaduk, that are immersive accounts of what it is to be a fan. (One is good, one is merely middlin'.) But what is interesting to me is that, not only are these people fans, they're also writers and they represent a monumental shift in the world of sportswriting: the fan as the less objective/authoratative, more passionate voice. A description that probably fits most of us here on this site.

U.S. Soccer

I've mentioned it before, but I'm increasingly excited for the World Cup to kick-off. I was never a soccer fan, but living with a die-hard footballer for three years introduced me to the game and now I'm hooked. I even watched an entire Tottenham-Arsenal game from start to finish last Saturday.

I saw Landon Donovan on the Best Damn Sportshow last night and I was really impressed with his honesty. When asked how the best MLS team would fare overseas, he basically said they'd be fighting off relegation. When asked about the American's chances in the World Cup, he acknowledged the brutal draw but diplomatically gave the team as good a chance to at least equal their success from 02. There is so much pressure on the few American soccer stars to be delegates for the game, that I was happy to see Landon speak truthfully about the fact that, while American soccer is as good as its ever been, they still have some work to do.

And speaking of the best they've ever been, the U.S. is still currently ranked 4th in the world. Add that to the fact that Coach Arena is announcing his final WC roster on Tuesday and Nike's "Joga Bonito" campaign and I have futbol fever like never before.

The Cubs

After documenting much of the Cubs 05 campaign, I've been surprisingly quiet on their start to 06. (Even avoiding the annual "the season is lost" post following Derrek Lee's injury.) But with today's 2:20pm start against the Brewers, I'll try to recap the season thus far while also providing a running account of the game on XM Radio.

It's good to be back...