Doug Franz’s weekend wishes: Wins for the D-backs and the NFL Draft to happen already

Every Friday I look to the upcoming events of the weekend to give you what I’m hoping to see this weekend. You can tweet me your weekend wishes @doug987FM.

DIAMONDBACKS

Barring a five-game winning streak, I think Kevin Towers and Kirk Gibson are going to be fired late next week. If the Diamondbacks lose two of three to both San Diego and Milwaukee, the timing would be easy for public relations purposes. Arizona would move them both out as the rest of Phoenix focuses on the NFL Draft.

Some teams like to bury bad news. Other teams like to steal a little local thunder on a day where they’d get little coverage. I have no idea which goal the Diamondbacks would be shooting for, but they would accomplish both.

Ian Kennedy pitches Saturday for San Diego. If he goes seven innings for the win, Kennedy could really rub salt in the wound of the man that traded him. For a man that’s had so few of his trades work out for the Diamondbacks to this point, Kevin Towers has little chance to save his job, but a dominating performance by Kennedy would end it even faster.

NFL

I know it won’t happen before I write it. The NFL needs to announce that the draft is moving back to April. The May draft has been a tremendous success in their minds. For two extra weeks, talk shows, sports networks and fans have been focused on the draft. National baseball news is centered around Tommy John surgeries. The NHL is having a magical playoff and ratings are atrocious. The NBA first-round is the best it’s ever been, yet that only moves it to the second-best topic.

The plan worked, but is it worth it? Sure, we’re talking NFL deeper into the “offseason” than any other year, but I’m tired of it. Bring on the draft already. There’s only so much Johnny Football talk everyone can take. It wouldn’t be a disaster for the NFL to admit that they have fans who like basketball too. I’d rather enjoy the playoffs this weekend and not wait another week for the draft. I think there’s a lot of fans who feel the same way. I’m not tired of football but I’m getting tired of talking about it. I want to move on. April is the perfect time for the draft.

MY DRIVER

An important person within local sports has asked me to play golf next month. He’s good. I shot my worst score in two years last week. I put the ball on the fairway on two of the 14 times I pulled out my driver. I’ve only been playing for four years but I’m regressing. I’m so afraid I’ll embarrass myself and waste his time. I must figure out my issues in the next two weeks and the draft doesn’t give me the time.

NBA PLAYOFFS

Someone please give the Heat a series. I’m OK with Miami winning another championship. I’m not OK with them going 12-0 while the West kills itself and comes into the Finals exhausted. I could easily see the West champion playing seven more games through the Western conference playoffs while Miami rests at the end of every series. The NBA has to adjust the playoff format and seed the teams one through 16.

A decent guess at the Heat’s trip to the Finals will be from Charlotte, through Toronto and Washington. Miami might be looking at 13 to 14 games in that scenario. If the playoffs were seeded irrelevant of conference, here’s Miami’s path: Phoenix in round one, the Clippers in round two and OKC in round three, all before the NBA Finals. For a team that finished in a tie for fifth, sixth and seventh in the overall standings, the Heat’s easy path through the East is not justifiable.

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