The NFL combine is a lesson in marketing. How else can we explain the popularity explosion of an event during which draft prospects simply run sprints, lay down on the bench press and generally do a flurry of exerctises you can see nightly at the personal training stations of your local Lifetime Fitness? (Granted, it's at a much, much higher level, but still ...)

Yet perhaps the biggest wonder of the combine is the over-analysis that mushrooms annually throughout the event. Consider this: the NFL Network is planning more than 50 hours of coverage with nearly two dozen of their analysts ready to chime in. With that in mind, it's nearly impossible to keep things in full perspective. So if you fail to take a step back, you may be convinced later this week that a prospect's NFL hopes have been obliterated after he posts a time of 4.58 seconds in the 40-yard dash instead of the expected 4.52. You may believe that every run through the three-cone drill is career defining.

Which leads us quickly to the two most talked about players at this year's combine: Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, a pair of players who could likely be taken with the first two picks in the draft. One is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. The other has been cemented at the top of draft boards for close to two years. And yet if you get sucked too far into the combine hype, you may be led to believe that both have a ton left to prove. And you will hear plenty of conversation in the coming days debating whether Luck or Griffin should partake in throwing drills at the combine instead of waiting for their respective pro days to show off their arms for NFL teams.

Well, on Wednesday on "Pardon the Interruption," ESPN's Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser performed a little "Role Play," discussing the inanity of the belief by some critics that both Luck and Griffin owe it to teams to throw at the combine.

Said Wilbon (posing as RG3): "We don't need to throw. I'm tired of these lazy pro evaluators. Come to a game. What were you doing in September and October and November and for the bowl game? Get off your sofa, put down your stopwatch and sit at a game and watch us throw against live defenses."

Responded Kornheiser (acting as Luck): "This is interesting. Because they would have missed you for one year. I've been an All-American for two years. That's 26 games. You're the idiot if you haven't seen me throw already. I'm willing to stand there. I'm willing to be measured, to be poked and prodded as if I am a farm animal. But I'm not willing to throw right now because you've had opportunity to see me throw. I'll turn my head to the side and cough. But I'm not throwing."