The 2005 NFL Draft - Part 2
"How do I find my seat?" I asked. She was only too helpful and showed me a map of the room, where areas were blocked out by name. "Come with me, I'll show you." And so she walked me over to my row, which was the next to last one near the rear of the Press Row. The way the room is designed, it was a great place to be. I'll explain why, later.
My table afforded a great view of the proceedings, but being so early I felt a little lonely. All that changed as a seat one abreast away from me was occupied by a writer for a local New York sports magazine, and the seat immediately next to me was filled by a man with an English accent who kept an ear piece connected to a kind of cell phone in his left ear the entire first day of the draft. He was so silent, and I was such the busy social media butterfly, that I never bothered to ask him what he was doing. Bill Chachkes (foreground) and The Draft Experts.
The Back of the Pack Club
The number of silent neighbors rapidly dropped to a minority level with the arrival of Bill Chachkes and John Murphy of NLScounting.com, and`Mike Adkins, Luke Irwin, DJ Boyer, and Jesse Ballard of www.Draft.com and www.Draftstudio.com, all in the first photo on this page. Of all, Chachkes -- in the foreground above -- was the most talkative. Bill's a 29-year NFL Draft veteran, or what some people refer to as a "Draftnik." (To read my interview with Chachkes, click here.)
Bill quickly introduced himself and we hit it off. What started the series of conversations was his comment to me that I "can't be all bad, you're using a Mac. I've got the one that came before yours." So, Bill briefly told me about NL Scouting and what they do in the area of player talent evaluation. But our conversation quickly turned to observations about members of the growing crowd of people. Among them was a guy sporting a Fedora, a rather loud hounds tooth jacket, a very large cigar, and a very expressive personality.
"Say," I asked Bill, "Isn't that (HBO Boxing Analyst) Bert Sugar over there with the cig?" "Yeah," cracked Bill, "He owes me two cigars from a dinner I took him to." Chachkes, ever the cigar aficionado, then promised to bring me one of his favorite cigars from his humidor. "I should go over and get my two cigars from Bert," he said. I wondered aloud if Sugar would give me one -- not that I'm a regular smoker -- far from it. "Go over and ask him," directed Chachkes. Bert Sugar, Me, and Roy Firestone
Fun With Bert and Roy
So, I walked over to a place next to the left side of the team table area, and managed to smoothly insert myself into a conversation with Sugar and HBO, ESPN, and -- that's right, as he was in the sports business picture Jerry McQuire -- movie star Roy Firestone (we're all in the first picture on this page; I'm the guy in the middle). Bert was just about to tell a joke I can't repeat for this article. After he told it, we all got a good laugh and I asked Sugar for a cigar. "For you, of course!" He said. A reward for listening to a joke well-told. It was all in fun.
Firestone was in good sprits. He was at the Draft working on behalf of America Online, hosting an online program. Roy has a new show called "Face to Face with Roy Firestone," with sports guests like NBA Coach Hubie Brown and Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Ray Lewis. But Roy says that they'll have musicians and artists on the show, too. As we talked about the program, Roy agreed with my description of the show as kind of like "Terri Gross' Fresh Air, but for television." He has a website at www.royfirestone.com
The ballroom is stuffed with media legends. In addition to Firestone, the ESPN Draft Day Team of Chris Berman, Chris Mortensen, and Mel Kiper are doing their show from a podium stage just 50 feet to the right of me.
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