I sat through yesterday’s NFL draft coverage too long, so long that my mind began playing tricks on me.

Mel Kiper’s coif was melding with Chris Berman’s enormous ego, uh, I mean, head. Michael Irvin’s suit was whispering “Charged, but never convicted” over and over again, and I could have sworn I saw Archie Manning make a pass at Suzy Kolber. It was all very disturbing.

If you watched all 10 hours of ESPN’s coverage Saturday, you should be disturbed, too. Not just because you and I think alike, and not just because you wasted a nice spring day indoors on the sofa in front of the tube.

You should also be disturbed because ESPN has seven more hours and four more rounds of the draft today, and, if you’re a fan of the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, you are obliged to pay close attention. This is when the real fun begins.

Any Patriots fan who hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon in the last three years knows the first round of the draft can be rather uninspiring. Loyal rooters remember Ken Sims, Chris Singleton, Ray Agnew, Eugene Chung, Andy Katzenmoyer and countless other disappointments.

Even when the Pats have made good selections in the first round,Richard Seymour and Ty Warren being two recent examples, it hasn’t exactly sent fans into a tizzy. The last top pick to generate any palpable excitement in Patriot nation was Drew Bledsoe, and yesterday’s selections of Vince Wilfork and Ben Watson kept that streak alive.

Wilfork may turn out to be All-Pro players, vital to another Super Bowl run or two or three. Based on Bill Belichick’s history with New England, however, the picks made today in the final four rounds may be just as important.

We’ve all heard about how Tom Brady went to the Pats in the sixth round in 2000. No doubt, New England was lucky that everyone else in the league passed on him at least five times before our favorite genius scooped him up. But Belichick’s draft record suggests that he’s more good than lucky when the NFL’s annual meat market enters its second day.

Take the same draft where the Pats got Brady as an example. They also drafted Antwan Harris in the sixth round and Patrick Pass in the seventh. Neither was or will ever be a superstar, but both provided depth for the Pats’ first and, in Pass’ case, second Super Bowl.

Belichick chose quality over quantity in 2002. The Pats had only three picks in the final four rounds that year and selected backup QB Rohan Davey (fourth round), defensive end Jarvis Green (fourth) and wide receiver David Givens (seventh). Did Green look like a fourth round pick in the AFC Championship game? Did Givens resemble a seventh round pick in the Super Bowl? Not if your reference points from the Sam Jankovich and Bobby Greer eras were Dwayne Sabb and Sean Morey.

The immediate impact made by last year’s draft was obscene. As if getting Warren, Eugene Wilson and Bethel Johnson on the first day wasn’t enough, Day 2 may have sealed the 2003 draft as Belichick’s best ever. Defensive tackle/linebacker/fullback Dan Klecko (fourth), cornerback Asante Samuel (fourth), center Dan Koppen (fifth) and special teams contributor Tully Banta-Cain (seventh) all chipped in for Lombardi Trophy II, and QB Kliff Kingsbury (sixth) or nose tackle Ethan Kelley (seventh) may yet get a shot.

By no means is Belichick a psychic. In 2001, he picked such immortals as Arther Love and Owen Pochman in the later rounds. Hey, Red Auerbach has his Michael Smith, Bill Belichick has his Arther Love. Nobody’s perfect. At least he doesn’t overpay for mediocre quarterbacks (Hello, Giants fans).

But what happens today could mean just as much to the Patriots’ future as what transpired yesterday. The players Belichick picks in the fourth and fifth rounds are about as likely to be cornerstones of another championship as Wilfork and Watson.

While I’m recommending that all Pats fans at least pay cursory attention to the draft today, I’m not going to ask them to subject themselves to Berman for a second straight day. I may be pathetic, but I’m not sadistic.

By all means, get some fresh air today. Spend some time with the wife and kids, or watch the Red Sox sweep the Yankees, if you insist on remaining a couch potato.

Me? I’m going to enjoy seven more hours of inane, meaningless Draft TV, and watch a dynasty take shape.

At least until Mel’s hair starts hitting on Suzy. Then I’m going to bed.

Randy Whitehouse is a staff writer. He can be reached by e-mail at rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com

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