Some random thoughts that occurred to me sometime between 5:30 a.m. this morning and just this minute:

• Has there ever been a rapper named MC Escher? Shouldn't there be?
  
• In a theoretical Craig Barker style music tournament to determine the best Dead Teenager song, I would hope the final four would be Last Kiss (not the Pearl Jam version), Tell Laura I Love Her, Leader of the Pack, and Dead Man's Curve.
  
• Barring people I liked solely for breast-related reasons, Rob from the current season might be my favorite Survivor of all time. He's a weasel-y little guy with no survival skills, he's hilarious, he's the talking head go-to guy in a way never seen before except for Michael Ian Black and Hal Sparks on VH-1's "I Love the '80s", and he's playing exactly the way I've always thought the game should be played--as manipulatively and back-stabbingly as possible. That said, if he makes the final 2, he may be the first person ever to lose unanimously in the finals.
  
• While I'm on the subject, this has been a great Survivor if only for this reason: in each of the past several seasons there has been a moment where some group of people got cocky about the "inevitability" of their alliance's success, only to have it all unravel. This season that has happened on at least three separate occasions!! Most notably, Deena angered the Survivor gods in a beat-the-love-goddess-in-a-beauty-contest kind of a way when at least once a week she felt the need to look into the camera and proclaim that she controlled the game. Then she tries to convince everyone to turn on her most popular teammate. HELLO?!
  
• If I had to name a favorite piece of instrumental music and was barred from choosing any surf rock, I guess I'd have to go with the Maple Leaf Rag. The closest thing to music theory I've ever learned is the AABBACCDD structure of ragtime songs, and I love actually being able to pick that out.
  
• If I was allowed to choose surf rock, I'd probably go with The Ventures' "Telstar".
  
• OK, I love football. Not like, not enjoy--love. I used to go to high school football games and actually watch the game. For four years (and, hopefully, counting) I went to the bar at 9:45 a.m. every Sunday for a third of the year to watch Steeler games, often after watching 6-12 hours of college ball the previous day. I love football.
  That said, I may actually love the NFL draft even more. I don't study it extensively, I don't go out and buy draft guides or pretend like I know anything about guys picked in the fifth round, but I love speculating about the first round and the Steelers' strategy, and I could easily watch all 10 hours of ESPN's Saturday coverage. It's my favorite sporting event that's not actually a game, and probably in my top five overall.
  I have no idea how things will play out, but here's my best guess for the top ten:
  1. Carson Palmer--Cincinnati
  2. Charles Rogers--Detroit
  3. DeWayne Robertson--Dallas (trade)
  4. Andre Johnson--Jets
  5. Terence Newman--Houston (trade)
  6. Marcus Trufant--Arizona
  7. Jimmy Kennedy--Minnesota
  8. Byron Leftwich--Jacksonville
  9. Terrell Suggs--Carolina
  10. Jordan Gross--Baltimore
  
  I'm just changing up a few things from conventional wisdon to be different, but I could see all of this happening. I hope the Steelers end up with Troy Polamalu, Kyle Boller, Rex Grossman, or Willis McGahee, but I doubt it--Andre Woolfolk seems much more likely. I think Onterrio Smith will be one of the more underrated players. McGahee will go in the first ten picks of the second round. Chris Simms will drop like a rock, and pity the team that gets him. One of Kliff Kingsbury, Seneca Wallace, and Brian St. Pierre will be the closest thing to a Tom Brady out of this year's draft--the more I think about it, the more I think St. Pierre might be that guy. Mel Kiper's hair will not move tomorrow. That last thing, and Carson Palmer, are about the only predictions I'd take to the bank from all of this.
  
• Though not the best player, the best name in the draft is uncontested: Nnamdi Asomugha.