Point/Counterpoint arguments between myself and my associate editor Dave McGrath are usually saved for the Wednesday segment of the same name. But this week, I just couldn't resist bringing it out to this back — or front if you, like many, turn to this side first — page.

Like Dave, I really can't wait for this weekend — but for very different reasons. I'm excited to tailgate at UW's softball game Friday, enjoy Mifflin on Saturday and make my first trip to Wrigley on Sunday. And just as importantly, I cannot wait for the NFL Draft to be over.

Tens of millions of people watch the Draft, which will take part this Saturday and Sunday. Tens of millions of people are wasting their weekends.

Yes, there is definitely an argument that the Draft is exciting because every team is involved. Perhaps that's part of the reason why I see no appeal to it, because I don't have a team — I haven't since Steve Young took too many bonks on the head and John York ran the San Francisco organization into the ground.

But, let me just say that anyone who knows me knows that I love nothing more than sitting on my ass all day and watching whatever sort of sporting event I can find on TV. But that being said, I would rather watch darts on TV than watch the Draft.

Furthermore, I'd rather watch an NBA Playoff game.

That might not sound that horrible to you, but to me, watching an NBA game is the equivalent to watching Lifetime original movies while simultaneously gouging my eyes out with the remote control.

And if I may, I will go one step further and say that, if I was going to be a couch potato on the best Saturday of the year in Madison, I would rather watch NASCAR's Nextel Cup Qualifying at Talladega — which coincidentally also begins at noon Saturday. Other options include "Mrs. Doubtfire," a World Poker Tour event and, if you can hold out until 12:30, a women's golf tournament.

If you live on Mifflin Street, I beg you, either put your TVs in a closet so they do not get stolen, or lock them tightly to some object which cannot be lifted and put on the Brewers/Cubs game at 1 p.m.

Mifflin does not need Mel Kiper Jr. I respect what the man does — and I would love to have a job that allowed me to do all of my work for just two days out of 365 in a year — but he is not essential, and especially not this Saturday.

McGrath offered up a plan of waiting out your team's pick and then either celebrating or drowning away your sorrows based on their selection. However, why waste your time and energy?

First and foremost, the Mifflin Street Block Party is about celebrating the fact that you don't need to have a reason to throw a big bash. Don't let the Draft tinker with that. Your drinking problems should not revolve around which 20-something player your team drafted.

OK, perhaps it should if you really love your team, but how about waiting a few years, seeing if that player pans out, and then deciding whether to celebrate him or detest him with barley and hops.

In fact, I know many of you reading this right now won't be in Madison for the party this weekend, and you don't need to waste a whole afternoon of your life on the Draft either. I don't care what else you do — that's your business — but take 10 minutes out of your life to read Sunday morning's paper to see who was drafted — that's really all that's necessary.

If there is anything worse than the first day of the Draft, it is the second day of the Draft. Do we really need to go through all the fifth-round pick for a fourth-round pick swap? Everything is a crapshoot at that point anyways, why not just throw some names in a hat and pick one out.

Better yet, why can't they just get rid of the second day of the Draft? Do teams really need 15 minutes to sort through everything in the first round? Like I said, I hate the NBA, but its two-round Draft is shorter than the NFL's entire first round.

Go ahead and bombard me with e-mails about how you are awesome because you are going to watch the entire Draft because you are a "hardcore NFL fan." I love people who are passionate about their teams and their sports, but putting yourself through this is ludicrous.

Unfortunately for you, you are about as hardcore as the Bud Light Daredevil, and you probably aren't as funny as he is.

Enjoy your weekends everyone, and don't forget to pick up a Herald on Monday to see where your beloved Badgers go in the Draft.

Please send all mock drafts, predictions, photos of Mel Kiper Jr., and death threats elsewhere. If you have anything else, feel free to e-mail Schmoldt at [email protected].