I gotta be honest, I wasn't expecting to get five other dudes that would be as excited about drafting American Idol's top 24 semifinalists as I was. Lar and Mags, of fantasy Survivor and Big Brother fame, were chomping at the bit to get in on the Idol action this winter. JJ, who has watched every season of Idol since the master piece that was Season Two, gladly accepted the offer to pick his favorite contestants. Rizzo and Ty are new to the singing show, well except for making fun of it on a consistent basis, and are in it for the long haul in Season Nine. So there you have it. Six contestants to pick 24 Idols.
With much less to score than its reality brothers, fantasy Idol scoring will have all to do with who makes it through, who gets cut and who gets in the bottom three. With each week that passes, the performances will matter more and more. You may think you should get major minuses for getting out first, but at that point nobody really cares about you so who cares if you get out during week one of the semi-finals.
When it gets down to the top four or five contestants and you forget the lyrics a la Jason Castro, you deserve to get majorly penalized for letting down your fans in that moment. So as your points for getting through each week will increase as the Idols get fewer and fewer, the negative points for getting ousted by America or earning a spot in the bottom three will also gain steam as we chug along on this karaoke adventure.
And now we get to the draft itself. As Erik Karabell and the boys at ESPN do when analyzing their expert fantasy football or baseball drafts, I will give some analysis on my pick each round and any other thoughts on the picks of my competitors.
Round 1
1. Tyson- Andrew Garcia
2. Me- Todrick Hall
3. Mags- Ashley Rodriguez
4. Lar- Casey James
5. JJ- Didi Benami
6. Rizzo- Katie Stevens
My Pick: After Andrew Garcia was taken off the board I went with Todrick Hall because 1) he seems really sweet and I'm gonna enjoy rooting for him, and 2) his version of 'I'm Yours' during Hollywood Week was better than any other I've heard (including Mraz's).
Other Picks: I feel Didi Benami and Katie Stevens were both solid picks based on the fact that it seems it is a year of the females. For all the love Ashley Rodriguez seems to be getting on Wall Street, she received hardly any screen time during Hollywood Week which isin't always a good sign (although it didn't seem to hurt Kris Allen at all).
Round 2
7. Rizzo- Jermaine Sellers
8. JJ- Lilly Scott
9. Lar- Janell Wheeler
10. Mags- Joe Munoz
11. Me- Crystal Bowersox
12. Tyson- Paige Miles
My Pick: I was pumped that MamaSox fell to me at 11. EW's Michael Slezak is already driving the Bowersox bandwagon and his backing seemed to do well for Allison Iraheta a year ago. This girl has much more talent than Iraheta could have dreamed of and many others are calling her a favorite at these early stages.
Other Picks: I again like the front-running girl picks of JJ and Larry in this round. Lilly Scott and Janell Wheeler have both been given a ton of screen time early on and have shown that they have the chops to be top ten competitors. Joe Munoz and Paige Miles, on the other hand, haven't had more than a few seconds of time in front of the camera. At least Rodriguez got some play early on. These two haven't been seen until they made it through.
Round 3
13. Tyson- Aaron Kelly
14. Me- Tyler Grady
15. Mags- Haley Vaughn
16. Lar- Tim Urban
17. JJ- Lacey Brown
18. Rizzo- Katelyn Epperly
My Pick: I couldn't remember much about Tyler Grady's singing abilities when draft day came (I missed the first 10 minutes of Wednesday's ep), but I remembered he had a very outgoing personality and I felt his quirkyness could win over many viewers. His weirdness could also pull the plug on him early.
Other Picks: Hard to find anything wrong with picks this late in the game. if there was one pick other than my own that I liked the best this round, it was Rizzo's Epperly at 18. Like her more than any of the others picked before her here.
Round 4
19. Rizzo- Alex Lambert
20. JJ- Michael Lynche
21. Lar- Lee DeWyze
22. Mags- Siobhan Magnus
23. Me- Michelle Delamor
24. Tyson- John Park
My Pick: With only two contestants left, I had a choice between a dude (Park) that I thought had potential to do well and a chick that I hadn't seen at all yet in the competition. My only reason for picking Delamor was that I did not want three dudes and only one girl on my squad.
Other Picks: It took until pick 22, but Mags finally buckled down and selected his cousin. Nothing else of much note other than there really isn't any chance of Alex Lambert doing well is there? Not with that last name.
After a great draft let's get ready for another great season of Idol.
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