Today in Indianapolis, an event all of us sports fans discuss so much but really know very little about is taking place: The NFL Scouting Combine.

The truth of the matter is, this event has reached an unprecedented level of attention for what it is: a bunch of guys running around in shorts, bench pressing weights, and running the 40-yard dash----in other words, it's your sixth grade gym class.

In between, it's time spent interviewing with teams and being administered tests----in other words, an event that seems as boring as it seems manufactured.

Here's the catch though-----and trust me, this is one that doesn't involve a wide receiver. The combine may be a fan's dream but to an NFL team, it's actually a very small piece to their overall organizational picture.

Sure, most teams build through the NFL Draft these days. The simple notion that free agency is too expensive and too much of a gamble these days has made that a rather agreeable explanation. However, do scouts learn more watching a guy in college for years or by watching him run around some cones in Indianapolis for a day? I'd always take the former.

This is why I think the NFL scouting combine is highly overrated. Years of work by a collegiate player show plenty of things that a one-shot deal or snapshot at the Combine cannot. An entire body of work shows the ability of a player to improve, mature, and really grow into his own as a football player. At the Combine, a body of work means two 40-yard dashes run a few hours apart.

There is also very little hitting at the combine. In one way that makes sense, after all, players come here to be tested, not to potentially fall victim to injury. However, if you're evaluating someone's ability to play football, shouldn't their ability to absorb punishment---something they will most likely endure when they arrive in the NFL----be shown also?

A lot of teams show up wanting to find a "diamond in the rough" type player and while that may occur, consider this also when evaluating the importance of the Combine. The Broncos decided that Jay Cutler was going to be their star quarterback of the future and they hardly talked to him at the Combine.

These next few days may not alter the overall status of a top prospect, though it can help to enhance the status of marginal players and for that I think this event is positive. They have a chance to shine and turn some heads, when ordinarily they would be pushed aside. Other than those players getting a fair shot, I see little upside to this yearly hype. Although, plenty of others do. There will be around 300 players on hand------and 400 members of the press to cover them. Sound a bit strange? Yeah, 400 reporters covering 300 athletes. That is how big this has become.

My final argument is this: In 2000, a kid that grew up in San Mateo, California and played quarterback at the University Of Michigan showed up in Indianapolis to be tested. He did some work to show his skills and sat down with the front office types to gauge his intelligence. The consensus? Not great, I would guess because he ended up being a sixth round pick that year.

So whatever happened to Tom Brady anyway?

-"z"