Saturday was billed as the biggest day that the sports world has seen in a while. Between the NFL Draft, the Kentucky Derby, Game 7 of the Spurs-Clippers series, and the mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao with things like the NHL playoffs and Red Sox-Yankees thrown in, there was no reason to leave your couch. However, many people were disappointed with the day in general so I’m going to grade the four major events of the day in terms of how exciting and watchable they were.
NFL Draft Day 3
Grade: C-
Day 3 of the draft is where championship teams are built. That’s what you hear all the time about it. However, the sports event that kicked off Saturday was just not very compelling. Last year we had three notable SEC quarterbacks (AJ McCarron, Aaron Murray, and Zach Mettenberger) get selected on day 3 and that was all the lead up to the big story of the day when Michael Sam was selected in the seventh round. There were intriguing and notable players in the draft’s last day last year where there just weren’t this year. Unless you count the La’El Collins story as notable, which it was but nobody thought he would be drafted, then there was really nothing interesting about the last day of the draft. I give it a C- because Bryce Petty going to the Jets was slightly newsworthy and it was cool to see some LSU and TCU guys I’ve been following get drafted.
Kentucky Derby 
Grade: B
The most exciting two minutes in sports. We’re only about 250 words into this and I’ve already used two clichés. Anyway, I usually don’t watch the Kentucky Derby, but the draft finished in time and I quickly switched over right before the main race took place. I have to admit, it was pretty entertaining even though I had no idea which horse was which until American Pharaoh pulled away at the end. It entertained me for two minutes and that’s really all I could ask for. My understanding is that this is an event you need to go to in person in order for it to get an A, unless you’re in the infield.
Spurs vs. Clippers Game 7 
Grade: A++++++++
I loved this freaking game! There are not enough plus signs in the world for me to give this game so I’ll just stop at eight. This game was so awesome and the team I was cheering for didn’t even win. I really don’t like the Clippers with their flopping and their whining, but I have to give them ton of credit in this game. Both teams stepped way up and the level of competition and basketball play in general was just insane. While I don’t like the Clippers, I was pretty happy for Chris Paul as a Pelicans fan. He balled out on one good leg and is the biggest reason the Clippers are still playing basketball.
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao 
Grade: C
I know a lot of people would give this a much lower score because of how boring the fight was, but let me explain my rationale. I’m 19. I’m a 2000s kid. Boxing has not once intrigued me in my life to the point where this was the first fight I have ever watched. I wasn’t even planning on watching it. I was watching SNL and checking Twitter when a link for an illegal stream of the fight popped up on my timeline and I thought, “Why not? I don’t have anything better to do.” That being said, the fight was pretty boring, but I’m giving the fight a C because I thought the whole event was a pretty cool spectacle. Jimmy Kimmel as Pacquiao’s “Bieber” was hilarious, the Burger King being in Floyd’s entrance was random, and seeing pretty much every celebrity in the world was cool. Also, I really don’t know what an exciting fight looks like because I had never seen one before.
What grades would you give the major events of Saturday? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @_the5thquarter!
The 5th Quarter 