Gunzlingr
04-29-2003, 05:00 PM
April 29, 2003 Print it
Resplendent in a tailored suit, Ricky Wright stands out amid the Halloween-in-April crowd that is the NFL Draft Live. He also stands at the head of the line waiting to enter the draft's opening day, first among a 2,500-plus gathering of masked creatures and birdmen with capes and normal-looking guys with stuffed lion cubs resting atop their caps, a wisp of culture within a cauldron of tackiness, lunacy and average Joes wanting a football fix.
A fashion designer by trade, Wright hopes to parlay his presence into . . . who knows -- maybe a chance contact with one of the soon-to-be millionaires who later will saunter across the stage of the Theater at Madison Square Garden as the first-round Scrabble board starts to make sense.
It is a fantasy, of course; the contact will never happen. But it is enough to entice him to fly last Thursday from Jacksonville and spend Friday afternoon walking around the outside of the Garden, searching for a ticket to the draft. He is a bit stunned to become the first to obtain one, free for the asking, at the ticket window.
MORE (http://www.sportingnews.com/voices/paul_attner/20030429.html)
Resplendent in a tailored suit, Ricky Wright stands out amid the Halloween-in-April crowd that is the NFL Draft Live. He also stands at the head of the line waiting to enter the draft's opening day, first among a 2,500-plus gathering of masked creatures and birdmen with capes and normal-looking guys with stuffed lion cubs resting atop their caps, a wisp of culture within a cauldron of tackiness, lunacy and average Joes wanting a football fix.
A fashion designer by trade, Wright hopes to parlay his presence into . . . who knows -- maybe a chance contact with one of the soon-to-be millionaires who later will saunter across the stage of the Theater at Madison Square Garden as the first-round Scrabble board starts to make sense.
It is a fantasy, of course; the contact will never happen. But it is enough to entice him to fly last Thursday from Jacksonville and spend Friday afternoon walking around the outside of the Garden, searching for a ticket to the draft. He is a bit stunned to become the first to obtain one, free for the asking, at the ticket window.
MORE (http://www.sportingnews.com/voices/paul_attner/20030429.html)