This is the time of the year when everyone embraces their inner Mel Kiper.

Pundits break out the cans of hair spray and gulp down bottles of Red Bull to get that glassy-eyed, frenetic energy in order to break down NFL draft picks No. 1 through Mr. Insignificant.

Everyone thinks he is a draft guru.

They are wrong all too often.

Trying to predict the NFL draft is like trying to predict what Hollywood hot-spot Paris Hilton will show up at next or how many more babies Angelina Jolie will have and/or adopt.

It's an inexact science to be sure.

Case in point: the 2008 NFL selection meeting.

Kiper, the unofficial grand pooh-bah of all things NFL Draft, hit on only four of the 31 first-round picks a season ago.

Three of his hits came in the top six picks.

Yet people scour these mock drafts, which are updated hourly, it seems, as if all of it will come true.

It won't.

Not by a long shot.

The odds are much better that your favorite team

won't select the player these gurus have predicted.So, Steelers fans, the Black and Gold most likely won't tap Percy Harvin, like NFL.com resident draft expert Pat Kerwin predicts.Mock drafts should be mocked.They are useless. No one really knows what's wobbling around in the heads of the people who make the decisions for the 32 NFL teams.There is so much misinformation, the former Soviet Union would be proud.In reality, three days before the draft, many teams have no clue who they will select.That's because the process is so fluid. There are trades. Teams move up and down like stocks on NASDAQ.And at least a few franchises make selections that are curious or Matt Millenesque.Remember Edgerrin James going to the Colts ahead of Ricky Williams in the 1999 draft?And then there was the story of a lovely QB named Brady Quinn, who sat in the green room for hours as ESPN cameras caught every uncomfortable moment.Team after team passed on the passer, even the Miami Dolphins, who the Kipers of the world had giftwrapped Quinn for the Fins.That's what makes watching the draft so entertaining. The drama and the suspense of whether or not Kiper and McShay will throw down and go all MMA on each other.That would be productive.The mock drafts? Not so much.Want to impress us, Kiper? Predict who will be the

last player selected.My guess: Marlon Lucky, running back, Nebraska.Why not? These mock drafts are all luck anyway.Want more Mike Kilroy? Read the Butler Eagle staff writer's blog at butlereagle.com