Morning Report: Tinkering with NFL draft order?

A potentially significant change to the NFL draft order will be debated next week at the owners' meetings in Dana Point, Calif.

The competition committee's proposal would keep intact the order for non-playoff teams, based on record.

But playoff teams would be seeded according to postseason performance.

"A team can win a playoff game and yet get to draft before the team it beat," Rich McKay, the committee chairman, pointed out yesterday.

That situation will occur next month when the Eagles get to pick 21st while the Giants pick 29th.

The Eagles, of course, ousted the Giants in the NFC semifinals.

(The Eagles' additional pick at No. 28 is a result of last year's trade with Carolina.)

Such a change, if adopted, would not apply to this year's draft.

Relatively speaking. Cornell is in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season, and part of the reason is guard Ryan Wittman, the son of the former NBA player and coach Randy Wittman. Ryan is a three-point machine, hitting nine treys against Syracuse in a game when he scored 33.

Outta here. Portland State says it is dropping its Division I wrestling program because of financial problems, academic deficiencies and a dismal record.

That pretty much covers all the bases, doesn't it?

Finally. I may be the only person in the country who agrees with Bud Selig, but I think the World Baseball Classic is a pretty cool idea. It's just being played at the wrong time.

The sport has far outgrown the confining borders of the U.S., and is played at a very high level in Japan, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and a few other places.

Seeing all the great stars of the Dominican or Puerto Rico play for their homelands is great entertainment for any spectator. And seeing the spontaneous celebration of the U.S. players after Tuesday night's 6-5 comeback against Puerto Rico was great theater.

But the idea is being destroyed by the timing.

How in the world the lords of baseball think they'll get noticed during the week of Selection Sunday and the first round of March Madness, plus the NBA and NHL hitting their playoff drives, is hard to see.

Not to mention spring training for the fans whose teams have a shot at contending in the majors this season.

This tournament could be a big deal. But it needs serious rethinking. Maybe a fall date, in November, in the Caribbean countries, would be the answer.

Playing in front of 13,000 fans in Miami and San Diego in mid-March is not.