Prepping you for a draft weekend on the couch:
• Fans tuning in Saturday can expect not only a later start, but a quicker pace, too.
After the first round of the 2007 draft dragged a record 6 hours, 8 minutes, it became obvious: There Is no way the first 32 picks should last as long as an NFL doubleheader.
And so the time between selections was sliced from 15 minutes to 10 in the first round, and from 10 to seven in the second round. Time between picks in rounds three through seven will remain five minutes.
Meanwhile, the start of the draft was moved from noon to 3 p.m., meaning the first day will feature two rounds instead of three. To fill the time, ESPN and NFL Network will carry dueling four-hour predraft shows at 11 a.m.
''It's going to be a challenge for television,'' ESPN producer Jay Rothman said of the reduced time between picks. ``We've scaled down to be more fleet-footed. Fans love debate. They want banter about their team and . . . analysis of their pick. When it becomes a show when you're chasing cards at the podium and reacting to picks, it is a less compelling TV show.
``It's going to take a lot of discipline from all the folks on the set because everybody can pile on every subject matter. . . . From a ratings standpoint, it helps us to be later in the day, to have a better West Coast start time.''
• Despite the reduced time between first-day picks, ESPN still will use a five-man set: Chris Berman, Mel Kiper Jr., Keyshawn Johnson, Steve Young and Chris Mortensen. A second set will feature Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Kirk Herbstreit. Trey Wingo, Kiper, Jaworski, Cris Carter and Mortensen anchor second-day coverage. Meanwhile, ESPN will dispatch reporters to five team headquarters -- the Dolphins ( Hank Goldberg), Cowboys, Chiefs, Ravens and Falcons.
• NFL Network, carrying gavel-to-gavel draft coverage for the third time, counters with a main set of Rich Eisen, Mike Mayock, Marshall Faulk and Steve Mariucci. Deion Sanders will be on the set initially, and then report from the floor. The second set features Charles Davis, Jamie Dukes and Brian Billick.
• Kiper, working his 25th draft for ESPN, noted people in his line of work no longer are subjected to public ridicule. And he insists he welcomes competition.
''The more the merrier,'' he said. ``I'm glad Mike Mayock's doing it. I'm glad [ESPN's] Todd McShay is doing it. I hope the business keeps expanding because back in the day . . . we had to deal with so much negativity about what we did and what our livelihood was. Now, everyone jumped on the bandwagon.''
So does Kiper check out Mayock's work? ''I don't ever watch anything he does except the combine and Senior Bowl practices because you have to,'' he said. ``I don't look at anybody else's list. He works hard, just like everybody else has all these years.''
But Mayock -- asserting ''there's mutual respect'' between him and Kiper -- admitted, ``I'd be lying if I told you that I don't notice what his mock draft might say -- his last mock draft. I don't really care about all the ones leading up to it. I check out what he does, especially as it relates to difference of opinion. . . . I try to earn respect from all 32 teams for being a football guy and not a television guy. And because of that, I think people trust me.''
• Kiper will study tape of every serious prospect, and Mayock also watches lots of film. They both form their own opinions instead of relying on others. ''You're [like] a 33rd team -- you like to have a running dossier on every player that plays college football,'' Kiper said. ``You can't spend time watching every single player in every game. It's physically impossible.''
Kiper speaks to teams who are willing to tell him if there are any red flags with players. ''I don't talk to 32 teams,'' he said. ``It's just a handful of people. I don't talk to people I know would not tell me straight what a team is or not doing.''
• Jimmy Cefalo, Jim Mandich and Joe Rose anchor WQAM's draft show at 2 p.m. Saturday, with Orlando Alzugaray contributing and then hosting from 6 to 8 p.m., and Jon Linder and Troy Drayton broadcasting from 8 to 11 p.m.
• 790 The Ticket will broadcast all afternoon Saturday from D.Wade's Sports Grill in Fort Lauderdale, with Sid Rosenberg and Michael Irvin anchoring from 3 to 6:30 p.m., and Dan Le Batard contributing from New York. Channel 4 carries a draft special at 7 p.m. Saturday.
ELSEWHERE
• Alonzo Mourning will be in TNT's NBA studio Saturday, and Dwyane Wade appears next Thursday.
• NBC exercised its NHL option for next season.
• Friday's game at Milwaukee was included among the 12 Marlins games not being televised because FSN is carrying Red Sox-Rays and partner Sun Sports had been holding the date open in case it had an NBA or NHL playoff game. As it turned out, it doesn't.
