If there is one figure in the sports media I had to single out as someone I have the most disdain for (there are many), the #1 person would be Mel Kiper, Jr (can someone tell me who Mel Kiper, Sr is by the way?).

He once again proved himself to be nothing more than an walking talking idiot (hardly a surprise) on Saturday. The Oakland Raiders selected Darrius Heyward-Bey with their first round selection and that sent Kiper in a tizzy saying he was only the 17th best on his board. Umm, Mel you don't run an NFL team and considering Bey is blistering fast maybe you have never heard the adage that you can't teach speed. Maybe more embarrassing for Mr Big Hair is the fact that one of the analysts at the NFL Network guessed that the Raiders would choose Heyward-Bey with their pick.

The Raiders again proved (this time in a much bigger way) how dumb Kiper really is with their second round selection. With the 47th overall pick Oakland selected Michael Mitchell. This really got under Kiper's skin. Kiper declared that he had never heard of the player out of Ohio University and that the team could have waited till the fifth round to select the safety (or wait to grab him in free agency as his "sources" told him only one other team was looking at him). Chris Berman, perhaps number 2 on my hatred list of media-types, chimed in that ESPN didn't even have a highlight of the player. The world, doesn't revolve around Bristol, Chris. I quickly went to YouTube to watch Mitchell and right away knew why the Raiders choose him. He can play. Watch the clips:

NFL executives aren't going to tell every Tom, Dick, and Harry at ESPN that they have a blue-chip prospect that they think will go unnoticed. It appears that Kiper and Co. over at ESPN were proved to be even dumber with USA Today writing today:

The Raiders have taken some criticism among draft analysts for selecting Ohio safety Michael Mitchell with the 47th overall pick. (They also surprised many by taking Maryland WR Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh pick.)

Several analysts said on ESPN and the NFL Network last night that they knew little about Mitchell. The NFLN's Mike Mayock suggested Mitchell was a late-round pick at best.

But it turns out the Raiders may have had good reason to select Mitchell at 47. The Bears told Mitchell they planned to take him with the 49th overall pick.

"When (the Bears) did that, I was like, 'I'm going to be a Chicago Bear,' " Mitchell told reporters in a conference call. "That's what I was thinking."

After seeing the player they coveted gone from the draft board, the Monsters of the Midway traded their draft pick.

In the mid-90's Bill Tobin had the immortal line on Kiper saying:

"Who the hell is Mel Kiper? He's never been a player, he's never been a coach, he's never been a scout, he's never been an administrator, and all of a sudden, he's an expert. He has no more credentials to do what he's doing than my neighbor, and my neighbor's a postman."

It is a good thing Mel Kiper isn't running the Browns.