| MOBILE, Ala. — The Adam’s Mark hotel
was bustling with activity the night before the Senior Bowl — agents, players,
families, coaches, scouts, media members and your assorted autograph hounds were
everywhere. A group of about 20 people had been waiting for some time, perhaps 15
minutes, for an elevator, of which there were four available, or unavailable, depending on
how you look at it. I was close to starting the 24-flight trek to my room when the lovely
bell chimed and one set of doors finally opened to the delight of the tired travelers left
leaning against walls or the luggage or a nearby lineman.
The elevator was quickly filling to near capacity when a hotel worker came charging up
and announced that no more people could step in. While holding the elevator door open with
his foot, he said that there was a couple who needed to get up to their room pronto. A
collective sigh of impatience came from the elevator, and the time ticked by. After about
four minutes or so, a woman charged out of the elevator, sputtering words like
"joke" and "ridiculous," among others that would best be saved for an
adult comedy club. I was close to following suit but had decided to stick this one out. I
was better than that, I thought. This is, after all, just an elevator ride at what was
currently the busiest hotel on the Gulf of Mexico. Moments after that outburst, the hotel
employee who was holding the elevator said with a sense of relief, "Ah, here they
come."
At that point, I didn’t really care who it was. I was past the point of knowing
what the couple next to me had for dinner and nearing the time of spontaneous human
claustrophobia, but I held firm in my belief that I was going to get the best of this
elevator. An elderly African-American couple entered the elevator, the doors shut and we
were on our way — albeit slowly. A few seconds passed before the man sitting next to
me asked the gentleman, whose face I had yet to see from my crunched position near the
back, for his autograph. The man pulled a plastic football with at least a dozen other
signatures on it out of a bag and handed it to — who else? — the legendary
former Grambling coach Eddie Robinson.
"My handwriting isn’t so good anymore," Robinson said with a genuine
smile that revealed the wrinkles brought on from decades of turning boys into men by way
of discipline and hard work on the gridiron and in life.
Robinson handed the ball back to the man, who poked his young son on the shoulder and
said, "Hey, kid, Coach Robinson is the winningest football coach ever."
"How many wins do you have, Coach?" he asked.
"Four-oh-eight," Robinson answered almost reluctantly in a near whisper.
"I hate saying that because it makes me sound like a big mouth in front of the
kids."
Suddenly I realized that just being in that elevator was well worth the wait.
One thing that surprised me a bit was the departure of most scouts, personnel directors
and coaches by the end of the week. They arrive for the weigh-ins on Sunday and stay
through Wednesday or Thursday, or until the practices no longer involve pads and contact.
Then they take off faster than Randy Moss on a "go" route and probably tune in
to ESPN to catch the game on Saturday. They interview the players they are interested in;
they see how they practice in a pro scheme, see how they respond in a pressure-filled
setting and then leave. The game is more for the fans and the families, because the
teams’ work is done by then.
A fun part of the Senior Bowl experience was seeing players who were bitter rivals in
college hanging out together and pursuing a common goal on the same team. The Senior Bowl
proved that all bridges aren’t necessarily burned by an intense college rivalry.
"I talked to a couple of guys back at school, and with me being here by myself,
they asked me who I was hanging with," said former Miami Hurricanes star Reggie
Wayne. "I told them I was pretty close with the Seminole guys. They kind of
second-guessed my answer. I told them you all got me here by myself, so I’ve got no
choice. But it’s not a bad choice. I’ve played against some of those guys for
four years. They treat me like I’m one of theirs, and I’ve opened myself up to
them. We’re out here together as a team and to have fun."
"It’s been fun to put faces and names together that you’ve played
against and read about the last couple of years, just to get to see who they are and get
to know them a little bit better," Minnesota C Ben Hamilton said. "The Big
Ten’s got a lot of North pride, and it’s fun to come together and play on the
same team."
To Senior Bowl main page |
