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Days at the dentist Harrington's adventure far from pain-freePosted: Monday April 08, 2002 11:26 AM
I talked with Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington, the mystery man of this year's NFL draft, twice this weekend. The first time was on Friday night, when he was about to start an odyssey that would take him through four NFL cities in four days. By cell phone from the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, near his agent's office in Newport Beach, Calif., he said, "I have no clue where I'll be picked. Absolutely no clue. Everyone's playing their cards so close to the vest." The second time was on Sunday night, from his hotel room in suburban Detroit. I didn't figure 10:05 p.m. was too late to call, but evidently it was, because he answered the phone with a raspy "Helllllooo?" and said he was just getting ready to go to bed. Said Harrington: "Still no clue."
I asked, "Is this process more like an adventure or more like a trip to the dentist?" "Right now, I'd say more like a trip to the dentist," Harrington said, gathering himself. "I mean, the whole experience is fun, but I'm in the middle of a trip that'll take me from Newport Beach to Eugene to Portland to Washington to Detroit to Buffalo to Carolina in five days, and I don't think I'm going to have much of an idea where I'll be picked even after that's over." Weird. We're 12 days from draft day, and the 1B of quarterbacks (in case you were under a rock last week, Fresno State's David Carr, Mr. 1A, is going to the Texans with the first overall pick) is out there dangling. If you ask NFL teams right now, many like Harrington more than Carr. Not most, but maybe half. He's got better mechanics than Carr, not as accurate, not as good of a deep arm, better in the clutch. So they say. I'm not much of a college-football watcher, but I caught Harrington in two games last fall, and I thought he was a poor man's Peyton Manning. What a take-charge guy, with great presence and command of the game. I get the feeling that two years from now, all these teams finding pockmarks in his game and looking at the John Hendersons and Ashley Lelies are going to be killing themselves and saying, "We passed on the best quarterback in the 2002 draft." We're in the netherworld of draft prognosticating right now. The 32 NFL teams this morning -- literally -- are at their team facilities, dissecting each position in the draft, day by day. It takes most teams 10 days to two weeks to get this done. By this weekend, or early next week, the teams will be in position to set their boards. That's when a team -- the Bengals, maybe -- sits there and says, "We've got Harrington ranked as the third player on our board. Let's trade up to get him." But until this ID process is over, most teams won't get too excited about trading up, down or sideways. Why should they? There's no rush. At some point a week from now, I expect the clouds to clear and a team or two (Cincinnati or Buffalo are my guesses) will emerge as Harrington favorites. On Friday, Harrington was stunned he didn't know anything yet. "I'm visiting two, three, four and 18," he said, referring to the teams (Carolina, Detroit, Buffalo and Washington) in those slots. "I'm so anxious. Anxious and exhausted. I'm tired of not knowing a thing. What I keep hearing from teams is, 'We like you, we're interested in you, we've got the X pick.' Not, 'If you're there when we pick, we'll draft you.'" It's not like he's angry at the process, or at Carr, or at anything. Just frustrated. "People ask, 'Does it hurt you to be the second quarterback picked?' No. Not at all. It's totally out of my hands. If it was a physical and mental competition between me and David, that'd be one thing. But this is the preference of teams analyzing us. Some people are going to like one thing, some another. That's football." "Will teams regret passing you up?" I asked. Long pause. I know he wanted to say yes. But he said, "Well, you're asking me if I have confidence in myself. I do. Will they regret it? That depends on who you ask, I guess, and when you ask." Harrington ate Italian food Saturday night in Maryland with Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, coach Steve Spurrier and director of football operations Joe Mendes. "It went well," Harrington said. "Sort of a get-to-know-you thing." But no commitment. Nothing. Which left him shrugging his shoulders Sunday night, waiting for the Lions to pick him up at 6:45 a.m. Monday morning. Another town. Another team. Another physical. Another day of not knowing.
Harrington took the Giants' 480-question personality test. He reports that one of the questions was: Do you enjoy beating animals? "And I wondered, if you're a linebacker, should you answer yes?" he said.
1. I think the two players in this draft who will perform at a level higher than where they'll be picked are Miami running back Clinton Portis and Syracuse pass-rusher Dwight Freeney. 2. I think I wanted to write about Kurt Warner after the Super Bowl, but didn't get the chance because he was so average and his team lost. But a few numbers from the last three years shouldn't be forgotten. One: Warner is the most accurate quarterback ever, completing 66.9 percent of his throws, better than second-place Steve Young (64.3). Two: Warner is the highest-rated quarterback ever, at 103.0; Young is a light year behind (96.8) in second place. Three, and this is one for the ages: Warner's career 9.02-yards-per-pass-attempt is almost half-a-yard better than No. 2 Otto Graham, at 8.63. No quarterback who has played football in the last 50 years has had a career yards-per-attempt average of eight yards, and Warner's is over 9. "I mean, do people have any idea what we're watching here?" say his coach, Mike Martz. 3. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week: a. Coffeenerdness, in a memo to Starbucks Corporate, Seattle: I know I have sung the praises of the Triple Venti White Chocolate Mocha, and I still am a fan, but it's sickeningly sweet. Cut the white chocolate in half, folks. b. There is a not a single movie I want to see right now, other than Panic Room. c. Pop Music Note of the Week: Last week, bored by the news and sportstalk radio, I began to explore the four non-U2 CDs daughter Mary Beth has put in my car. And I discovered an excellent song: I'm a Hazard to Myself by Pink. I don't know this Pink, but this is one great tune. d. Automotive Note of the Week: One of Mary Beth's friends got her driver's license last week. Her parents got her a Range Rover. New. Jet black. Another friend is getting a gently used '98 Mercedes. Mary Beth, who is such a good driver I'm teaching her to drive a stick, wants to know what kind of car she'll get in December when she gets her New Jersey license. "Same as your sister," I said. "The old hand-me-down, six-year-old Explorer." Poor kid. e. Montclair (N.J.) High Softball Note of the Week: Another frigid day in north Jersey last Thursday, 43 and breezy, for the Mounties' second game of the year at Wayne Valley High. The Canadian geese, flying overhead three times during the afternoon, have their body clocks all wrong. What are they doing up here so early? Sophomore southpaw Mary Beth King toes the slab, in shorts and shirtsleeves, and the bundled crowd shivers just watching. (Crowd? Fifty-three people, to be exact, and that included the Montclair bus driver.) We go meekly in the top of the first. The Tribe's leadoff batter hits a humpback-liner single up the middle, and when she steals on the first pitch, we throw errantly to catch her, the ball bounding deep into the outfield. Run scores. Wayne Valley, 1-0. Mary Beth retires 13 of the next 14, and after four, we're still down 1-0. We get two unearned runs in the fifth, and Mary Beth strikes out her sixth and seventh batter in the bottom of the fifth. We can't score with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the sixth. We enter the bottom of the sixth up 2-1. Their leadoff hitter nubs one 11 feet in front of the plate. Infield single. She's forced out at second, and our catcher, cannon-like Jess Sarfati, throws out her second of three base-stealers on the day on the next pitch. Two out, no one on. Third hitter in the order steps up. Mary Beth throws an inside fastball. Swing and miss. She throws a fastball over the middle. Home run to left. A BB. We're tied. Bottom seven: Double into the gap. Strikeout, grounder to second. Two out. And up steps Brianne Cortese, one of the nicest kids in northern New Jersey. When Mary Beth was in sixth grade, I coached her summer team, and we needed a pitcher for some doubleheaders and tournaments. We had played Wayne, and the coach, Warren Cortese, was a swell guy whose daughter, Brianne, was his ace pitcher. I asked if she wanted to join us, and here she came. She bailed Mary Beth out of a jam in Secaucus against the Clifton Charmers one night, and they became friends. Not real close, but friends. Mary Beth had faced Brianne twice last year when we met Wayne Valley, getting her to ground out twice, and this time around had gotten her on a fly to center and a strikeout in her first two at-bats. But now, Mary Beth gets behind her 2-0, and she has to groove a fastball. Brianne lines a clean single the other way. Ballgame. Wayne Valley wins, 3-2. I hugged Brianne, telling her: "What a clutch hit. You're a good ballplayer." She was so sorry that the hit had to come off Mary Beth. Cute kid. Mary Beth took it well. Always does. That's what I like about her as a player. Tries her hardest, and at the end of the game says, "What's for dinner?" After our 12-4 win at Millburn Friday, we're 2-1 entering today's game at one of the toughest teams we face annually, Belleville. 4. I think there's a mystery team in the running for Bledsoe, but I can't quite figure it all out. Washington, maybe, though that really is a questionable fit. 5. I think Jeremiah Trotter overplayed his hand, pure and simple. The Eagles' middle linebacker kept thinking there was another deal to make, more money to negotiate for or something to gain by not signing the one-year, $5.515 million franchise-player tender Philadelphia had on the table for two months. Last week he asked that the Eagles guarantee that they wouldn't name him their franchise player again next year, which meant to the team that Trotter would continue to press his demand for a contract that exceeded Ray Lewis' deal (I am serious) and give the Eagles no choice but to release him after this season. And so, fearing another season of weekly stories about how unhappy Trotter was, and knowing they couldn't sign him long-term and feeling that the distraction wasn't worth it, Philadelphia waived goodbye Friday. Yes, the timing screws Trotter because most teams that needed MLBs (Cleveland and Pittsburgh reached deals with new ones hours before the Trotter whacking) don't need them now. But Trotter screwed himself with his unceasing high demands. 6. I think these are my baseball notes of the week: a. I might have created a monster. No. 1 daughter, Laura, skipped an afternoon class last Monday at Tufts to watch the Red Sox opener with some college pals. I was in Texas. We talked three times by cell phone, the final heart-wrenching time when her hero, Shea Hillenbrand, made the last out in a 12-11 loss. "Dad, I think I'm like you," she said. Is there a drug that can cure Redsoxness? b. Watched five innings of Pedro Sunday on MLB Extra Innings, which is one of the greatest inventions in history. (Wife Ann walked in on me, slouched on the couch, clicker in hand, the classic modern-day Dagwood Bumstead, shook her head and said, "This is a very bad thing.") He threw a bunch of classic sweeping curves in six innings, allowing one unearned run. Don't want to jinx him, but he looked swell to me. c. Is Ken Griffey disintegrating before our very eyes? d. Art Howe is a good manager, and I don't mean to tell him how to do his job, but the strangest thing of the first week of the baseball season is Howe sticking Scott Hatteberg in the three hole. I don't care if he batted 1.000 in spring training, but with Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada and David Justice on the roster, Hatteberg bats third? Some history: Hatteberg had 588 at-bats in the last three seasons with the Red Sox, hitting .258 with 12 homers and 72 RBI. That is a nine hitter, not three. e. Art Howe, atop the AL West this morning, really needs my advice. f. Birds take naps on Jamie Moyer fastballs. g. Rotisserienerdness: Thome and Alfonseca and Cirillo and Biggio, you're slaying me. Mulder and Daryle Ward and Nomar, thank you. 7. I think this is the upshot in Pittsburgh's linebacker deal, letting Earl Holmes get away and signing James Farrior away from the Jets: Holmes is a significantly better first- and second-down player, but not a good guy to drop into coverage. Farrior can cover backs and tight ends but won't be nearly as good stuffing the run. The Steelers save cap room, but now Kendrell Bell, who will play inside alongside Farrior, has to become more of a force against the run. 8. I think Cris Carter is going to TV and Shannon Sharpe to Denver or Seattle. 9. I think Cardinals refugee Tom Knight is the right corner at the right price for New England. Let's look at the guaranteed money for the three recently signed second-to-third-quality corners: Jeff Burris, Cincinnati, $1 million signing bonus in a three-year, $4.5 million contract; DeShea Townsend, Pittsburgh, $925,000 in a four-year, $4.2 million contract; Knight, New England, $300,000 in a two-year, $1.6 million deal. If Knight stays healthy, he beats out Otis Smith or is an excellent nickel guy. 10. I think Kerry Collins' $8.78 million cap figure accounts for one-eighth of the Giants' salary cap this year. CNNSI.com has learned exclusively that this is absurd. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the
magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Monday Morning
Quarterback appears in this space -- no kidding -- on Monday mornings.
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