The NFL went the extra mile in preserving the dramatic presentation of the 2015 NFL Draft and prevent the widespread pick tipping that has become commonplace on social media in recent years. In addition to strong-arming gently requesting that ESPN and NFL Network ensure their reporters did not reveal picks ahead of time, the NFL also requested all of its television partners to do the same. That meant there would be no pick tipping coming from the newsbreakers and NFL insiders at NBC, Fox, and CBS in addition to ESPN and NFL Network.
Naturally, as we said before the draft, someone would step in to fill the void. No matter how much power and influence the NFL has over its rights partners in the national media, they can’t stop all reporters from following their journalistic protocol and breaking news. It’s like trying to stand in the ocean and stop the tides. Just like in years past, if you were on Twitter during the NFL Draft, you were tempting fate. Pick tippin gwas going to happen, it was just a matter of who.
That “who” was the legion of beat writers and reporters following NFL teams from around the country. Scores of individuals at websites and local papers were well ahead of television coverage throughout the evening and tipping picks, even the NFL Nation beat writers under the ESPN umbrella. Here’s a small selection of those reports… and the fans that still haven’t figured out that Twitter is not the place to be if you don’t want information in real time.
Paul Kuharsky (ESPN Titans reporter)
@PaulKuharskyNFL spoiler alert
— Spliff Sanders (@SpliffSanders) May 1, 2015
Mary Kay Cabot (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
@MaryKayCabot stop tipping picks damn it
— Matthew Boyce (@hornbybrown) May 1, 2015
Brad Biggs (Chicago Tribune)
https://twitter.com/NotStateFarm/status/593972704765685760
John McClain (Houston Chronicle)
@McClain_on_NFL John…love ya, but you gotta stop tweeting picks before they're shown on TV.
— ClayV (@Auburn90) May 1, 2015
Andrew Abramson (Palm Beach Post)
@AbramsonPBP can you please stop tipping picks? Thanks
— Adam Petrie (@adamp26) May 1, 2015
Aaron Nagler (Sports Illustrated)
@AaronNagler please stop tipping picks. SO annoying!!
— Troy Biggs (@TroyBiggs) May 1, 2015
Dan Graziano (ESPN Giants reporter)
https://twitter.com/apswagga12/status/593944129735757824
And there were many others…
Even if it’s just a couple minutes before the telecast announces what is an inevitability, being first to publish that information is what is demanded of these reporters the other 364 days of the year. These beat writers from all around the nation don’t answer to Roger Goodell or to “the best interests of television.” They answer to breaking news and being journalists. And that isn’t going to change no matter how hard the NFL tries.
At this point, if you’re on Twitter during the NFL Draft, it’s your own fault for spoiling the outcome on television because there’s always going to be someone tipping picks.
