2005 NFL Draft - The Worker: Jay Glazer

The Worker: Jay Glazer

Not far away from Sugar and Firestone, was Fox Sports Radio Personality Jay Glazer, shown with me in the third picture above. I'm really proud to say I met Jay at my first NFL Owners Meeting, the Fall 1999 gathering in Chicago at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare, where I was to meet with the Super Bowl Policy Committee. We met at Knuckles Sports Bar, where Jay gave me a candid view of the NFL, the Oakland Raiders, NFL politics, and the uphill battle I faced in working to bring a Super Bowl to Oakland. At that time, Jay was a little known sports reporter for CBS, but a very hard worker. Glazer was at every NFL meeting, and seemed to have his cell phone on and either at his ear or at the ready. In fact, if you look at his right ear, you'll noticed Jay's plugged in.

Now, with Fox Sports, Jay's hard work has really paid off. He's not only doing a radio show for Fox, but has been an occasional guest on the TV show "The Best Damn Sports Show, Period." Jay's a living example of the view that relationships and hard work do pay off.

Not far from Jay, as they were just conversing at the time, was another legend, Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman. Placed prominently in the front row of Press Row A, "Dr. Z" as he's called is a walking NFL Draft History Encyclopedia, and so well-repected that other journalists, like San Francisco Chronicle NFL Writer Ira Miller had their notepads at the ready, crowded around his seat like Jedi Knights taking lessons from Master Yoda.

At that point, my objective was to be in the right position to take pictures of the first round pick -- I thought it was going to be Cal's Aaron Rodgers -- as he approached the podium. So, I walked through the team table areas to position myself next to the other photographers near the podium and stage and wait.

A few moments later, the top six draftees invited to the NFL Draft were introduced. I took a photo of Auburn's Ronnie Brown and Cedric Bentson of Texas, and then waited for the quarterbacks to step forward.

I maintained what I later realized was a very luxurious place for some time before Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers emerged from the behind-the-curtain Green Room (where the draftees sit before they're called to the stage), taking pictures until an CSC events representative -- who remembered me from my trip to the 2000 Super Bowl in Atlanta -- very politely informed me that my badge didn't allow me to stand in the "TV Photo" zone of the room, which was right next to the stage (remember I was still a little confused with respect to where I should be). So, I moved back to a comfortable place next to the Fox Sports Radio table, took more photos, then returned to my seat in an effort to avoid the growing crowd near the main stage. I figured the Niners were going to draft Rodgers anyway, and it occurred to me that if I really wanted a good picture of him, I could get it in the Interview Room...