WITH THE FIRST PICK

Draft day mistakes are common among all sports. Sometimes teams pass on one player for another that makes little sense, i.e. the Raiders taking Darius Heyward-Bey instead of Michael Crabtree. Sometimes teams inexplicably, and continuously, take players that don't improve their roster, i.e. the Detroit Lions in the mid 2000's. Rarely though are mistakes made with the first pick. When it does happen though, its instantaneously categorized as a "what if" for fans of that generation. This past weekend, the two current, biggest "what ifs" beg the question: Who's bigger?

On Saturday night, Kevin Durant hit a game winning three against the Knicks. Four years in to the league, Durant is the center piece to one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. On Sunday, Aaron Rodgers, more or less, led the Green Bay Packers past the Bears and in to the Super Bowl. After three years of waiting his turn, he's managed to make one of the most die hard fan bases in sports forget a legend. Both are just as famous for being snubbed with the first pick, as they are for outperforming the guys taken in their place. Lets compare.

KEVIN DURANT: 276 games played, avg. per game: 26pts./ 6reb./ 2asst., youngest player ever to win a scoring title, gave the Lakers everything they could handle in the 2010 playoffs, gold medalist.
GREG ODEN: 82 games played, avg. per game: 9pts./ 7reb./ 1block, yet to play an entire season due to injury including missing two, knees are in worse shape then Jenna Jameson's.   

AARON RODGERS: 54 games played (3 years sitting behind Brett Favre, last 3 as a starter),  98.4 passer rating, 87TD's to 32INT's, 27 - 20 in the regular season, NFC Champion 2010
ALEX SMITH: 54 games played (sat out one season), 72.1 passer rating, 51 TD's to 53 INT's, 28 - 50 in the regular season, never made the playoffs

It may be unfair at this point to really comapre Durant and Oden, simply because Oden has hardly played. He has looked serviceable when he has been in, but his inability to stay healthy makes it hard to call him a bust, with so little to go off of. Still, Durant is such a dynamic player that it's hard to think Oden would have made a similar impact on the Trail Blazers. The comparison between the QB's is a lot more telling. Rodgers has played as many games, with two to three times the production of Smith in half the time. Case closed. Until Oden stays healthy to finally play some games, or retires for good, its not fair to say Durant was the better of the two. Thus far, Rodgers is clearly ahead when compared to his draft day counterpart. Compared head to head, Rodgers and Durant, it has to be Durant. Rodgers has all the promise in the world. If he wins a Super Bowl in two weeks, then he's the biggest "what if" without question right now until Durant can take it from him. But Durant isn't just the face of his own team, he's the new face of the league. Re-watch Sunday's NFC Chamiponship game, and outside of the initial drive Rodgers really didn't play that well. Durant is clutch. He has no fear to step in to the biggest shot, and to this point doesn't really have a big game in his career where he no-showed. Either way, both guy's play will be responsible for Oden and Smith's name being synonymous with Sam Bowie's (famously taken #2 in the 1984 NBA draft ahead of Michael Jordan) for years to come. That's just how it is. You win some and you lose some, and then sometimes you really lose some. As I'd like to think they say in the Bay area, "Smith happens!"