The No. 1 draftnik

Buchsbaum became an outsider's insider, and a friend

J. Bassett of St. Louis is one of many of us who are saddened by the death of Joel Buchsbaum, the leading chronicler of the draft. "I know you've got at least a couple of good Joel stories," he writes. "How about sharing them with us?"

Joel was the best of the draftniks, but he wasn't the first. That honor went to Carl and Pete Marasco, amateurs whose encyclopedic knowledge was so great that they eventually got jobs with pro football clubs, and then faded into oblivion as mere computer mechanics. Joel was different. He always took a position on talent. He had real opinions on people. That was what impressed me about Joel when I first ran into him in the early 1970s. I was writing for the New York Post then, and I did a column on Joel and the Marascos, and a guy named Palmer Hughes and possibly Mel Kiper ... I don't remember if he had emerged yet. I called them Draftniks in the column, and the term stuck.

I often wondered how a skinny little kid from Brooklyn like Joel could know so much about evaluating football talent, but I never challenged him. I just accepted his knowledge and his opinions, even though we didn't always agree on a player, and we'd be on the phone a lot, especially around draft time. The relationship continued through the years.

Another reason why he was a good guy to talk to was that he had the ear of a lot of general managers and personnel people. I often wondered what kind of a struggle he must have gone through, in the beginning, just to get them to even talk to him. The football community is notoriously suspicious of outsiders, but this little guy from Brooklyn with the squeaky voice had broached the inner sanctum. I guess even the hard-noses in the game could recognize passion and dedication.

I'm getting pounded by a Dawg from Cleveland named Mike, who is upset because 1) I picked the Browns to lose again, this time to Pittsburgh, and 2) he felt that most of the time during the season I didn't even pick them at all in my magazine column, and on the few occasions I did, it was always to lose. Mike, I want to sincerely explain to you that I have nothing against Cleveland. When I was 14, I visited the town as a member of a youth outing, and we stayed in the Hollenden Hotel, and after curfew another bad boy and I snuck out and somehow got into the Gaiety Burlesque, where we saw a stripper named Beverly Lane, who has remained in my memory ever since. I picked the Browns to lose to the Steelers because I felt Pittsburgh would score more points, which was the primary reason I picked Cleveland to lose at other selected times during the season. You don't handicap with your heart.

Some pleasant feedback from a few folks who enjoyed my listing of my preseason projection of the teams' records alongside the current ones in the final Power Rankings. This barbershop quartet includes Zach of Pasadena, Calif.; Mike of Calgary; David of Oshkosh, Wisc.; and Michael of Indianapolis. Thank you, gentlemen, and I'll take your questions now. Dave wants to know how the Parcells-Jones thing will play out in Dallas. I can only repeat what I've said before: I want to know who has the final word on personnel decisions, and don't believe any blah-blah you might hear about how it'll be a mutual decision. Michael of Indy just gave me another 15 minutes of work when he added up my total preseason won-lost and it came out 257-255. So I started figuring to see where I went off. And I figured and I figured and I couldn't pin it down, so then I went back into the drawer and I got out the Sports Illustrated NFL preview issue, in which I'd predicted the records for all the teams, and hello there, Jacksonville, which I'd listed in my recent rankings column as 7-9 preseason, had originally been forecast by yours truly as 6-10, which gave me another noser, wow, and made the whole project worthwhile.

Tom of Olean, N.Y., after some rather furious smoke-blowing to set me up, would like to know who my unnamed arch-stiff is on the Bills' O-line. It's right guard Marques Sullivan. I know the Niagara wineries, incidentally. My favorite wines are the ice wines made from hybrid grapes such as Vidal Blanc.

A pair of crystal ball questions from Joshua of Huntsville, Ala., and thanks for the nice words: Will the Gannon-Rice-Brown old-age show hold up for another year, or will it come to a creaking halt? I'm the guy who felt it would be history by now, so who am I to say? The emergence of Jerry Porter and Doug Jolley certainly takes some heat off. Is Kurt Warner finished? I don't know because I don't know what's really wrong with him. If it's only a minor injury that has managed to throw the whole balancing act out of whack, then the problem might be psychological as well. If it's purely physical, and everything gets healed up, then why can't he come back?

Hawkthoughts from Charles of Seattle. Hasselbeck now seems to be the QB to usher in the bright new era. It'll be the same old dark one, though, if they don't figure out how to stop the run. For God's sake, get rid of John Randle already.

Rick of Rancho Santa Margarita, which is right off the Belt Parkway leading from Brooklyn to Queens ... no, just kidding, which is in Cal -- ee-for-nye-aye, (and thank you for what you wrote about my Winborn piece), wants to know how the Raiders defense picked up so spiffily toward the end of the season. Well, the front seven did, but the secondary, minus the two starting corners, still looked shaky, especially against Miami. Sometimes when the rushers know that they have to protect their corners, they turn up the intensity level a notch or two, and I think that's what happened here.

Gregg of NYC is simply nuts about the Raiders' draft, especially the top two rounds that provided Phillip Buchanon, Langston Walker, Jolley and Napoleon Harris. He wants to know if any other team did as well. How about the Cowboys' top four picks -- Roy Williams, Andre Gurode, Antonio Bryant and Derek Ross?

Paul of Williston, Fla., wants to know who votes for MVP. Oh, I don't know. The wire services, I think, send out ballots to national selectors they hand pick. You could check with Peter King. He is, I believe, a selector.

Bob of San Antonio, looking ahead to my announcers column, would like a comment on Pam Ward doing the college games. I must be hopelessly out of it but I haven't seen her, or if I did, it didn't register. My column will only cover the NFL. It's enough already.

Jason of Saint John, New Brunswick, wants to know why I'm so high on Dave McGinnis, whom he feels is kind of a dud. Because he's a decent person and a nice guy and I want him to keep his job. Oh, so you're only tough on the coaches you don't like personally, eh? Something like that. Well, what kind of an objective reporter are you? A bad one. What kind of an answer is that? An honest one. Say, are you trying to make fun of me? Yes. Well, you just wait till you come up here to Saint John. We know how to deal with guys like you. I'm sure.

Postscript -- I apologize. I know you're a loyal fan and the frustration level must be intolerable. McGinnis is not a genius but he's good enough to win, given real help from the personnel dept. I think that's where the major problem lies.

Joakim of Reykjavik, Iceland, wants to know if Thorfin Karlsefne wasn't actually the first Viking to discover the New World (see Kipling's story, The Finest Story in the World). Now that's the kind of question I can sink my teeth into. Wait a minute, I'm reading from the wrong page. Joakim wants to know who's responsible for the Saints' collapse. Well, it ain't Thorfin. He didn't land that far south. Big problem with the QB, whose fundamentals have gone haywire. No team leadership. Tank job two years in a row has to reflect on the coach, although I've always liked Jim Haslett.

Tim of St. Paul would like to know if I graded Matt Birk for my all-pro team. Yeah, last year. This year I didn't see him as active or as effective.

Craig of Toronto comes up with a fascinating fact: The teams with the top six runners in football are all out of the playoffs. I don't know how to deal with this. It's like a minister all of a sudden realizing that God doesn't exist. First of all, I think you have to throw San Francisco into that mix, because the Niners are a top running team, only they do it with two guys, not one. But even so ... I guess Ron Jaworski is right; you set people up with the run but it's the pass that gets you into the end zone, and gets you the W's. Still, it doesn't seem right. Winning teams close out their games by running more, so their rushing stats should be greater. I can think of only one answer for you, and you're not going to like it. Teams are so close now and so many flaky things are happening that many of the cherished axioms must be re-evaluated. The problem is that we don't yet have any new ones to take their place. It's something to work on.

Brad of Denver thinks the Bucs are better than the Packers because when the Pack had a chance to secure home field it tanked against the Jets. So, what's the difference? Tampa Bay did it a week earlier against Pittsburgh. Glad we agree that Brian Griese is not the ogre he's being portrayed as.

Mike of Worcester, Mass., and thanks for you-know-what, wonders what the future holds for A.J. Feeley. The way I've heard it, the ideal situation on a team is to have an established quarterback as your starter, then to have a solid veteran behind him, a Steve Beuerlein-type, an old hand who's been around and won't get all flustered by the sight of the naked ladies in the bazaar. And then as your No. 3 you have the young guy on the rise, the potential star. The only thing that can mess that up is if the young guy rises high enough to challenge your starter, then you have a controversy. Not a serious one, but a situation that needs a decision as to who goes and who stays. Right now I think the Eagles have hit that correct formula. Feeley seems to be a talented young guy on the rise, just what you want at No. 3. I wouldn't trade him right now.

To Kyle of Syracuse, N.Y.: Mungro can be a factor against the Jets in the late going, since Edgerrin James seems to get the tired leg. If they don't give Jason Fabini help with Dwight Freeney, the Jets could have problems because Fabini isn't really that athletic; he has trouble with speed rushers.

Daniel of Virginia Beach wants to dwell on the Cowboys and Bears. Right, the Boys' O-line stunk. I know it, you know it, Bill Parcells knows it, Jerry Jones knows it, now let's see 'em fix it. The Bears' O-line was hit by injuries, and Anthony Thomas turned into an ordinary back. Is he through, you ask? Well, I've never heard of a broken index finger being career threatening.

Jesus of Mexico City asks a question I haven't heard for a while ... I mean for at least five minutes: Why do the Niners die in the fourth quarter? Well, teams seem to catch on to their bag of tricks after a while. They get defensed. Time to open a new bag. Part 2: Do they need a better defense? Yeah, a defense without Mike Rumpf on it.

Jorge of Mexico City, and permit me to paraphrase your question por favor, wonders if home field advantage is really that big a deal in itself. In some places, such as Lambeau Field, yes. Warm-weather teams going to cold weather means something, too. Also, dome teams that play on synthetic turf going outdoors on grass. It's also tough on no-huddle teams, such as Indy, going to a noisy facility where the fans won't let them run their stuff.

A.J. of Malvern, Pa., wants to know which New York team could go further in the playoffs. I see them both winning this weekend, but the Giants having a better chance of making it two in a row.

To John of Tampa: Sorry, but I'm just not going to rehash all that Green Bay-Minnesota stuff right now, the penalties and fines and all that. Let's just say it doesn't bother me as much as the hit your guy laid on Chad Clifton. Call me a hypocrite if you like, but for heaven's sake, try to get it spelled right. Hypicrit won't do it. Does Clinton Portis' year take away from Terrell Davis' Hall of Fame chances? Maybe indirectly, if a few selectors start thinking that anyone can crank out the big numbers in that system. But the stage was already set for that with Olandis Gary and Mike Anderson.

To Paul of Longmont, Colo., who feels that a number of good teams, namely his Broncos, couldn't get into the playoffs, therefore the NFL might consider increasing the number of teams permitted in: Well, I hope not. Twelve is around the right number. Unless you want a system like the NBA's, where they say, "Everybody who doesn't want to be in the playoffs, raise your hand."

Michael of Spencerport, N.Y., and I think I detect a coach in here somewhere, thinks that Eric Moulds' blocking, among other things, makes him a more legitimate All-Pro than Terrell Owens. Yeah, I do, too. I'm willing to think anything good about Moulds and bad about Owens, and as I mentioned, I don't like my pick at all, but in Owens I just see more of an overall contribution to the well-being of the team. Part 2: Which coaches function best at game time? You know, it's a lot easier to pick out the ones who choke on their decisions or butcher the clock or whatever. I mean, there are some guys in the NFL you know will never outcoach anyone on Sunday. But the good decisions, the good alignments, all that ... it's tough because you don't know what came down from the booth and was vetoed or passed on through and what came from the head guy himself. I like Mike Shanahan on game day but I think he has gone a little wacky with his personnel handling this year. I like Mike Martz's play-calling a lot, but there's a guy who totally butchered his personnel, namely the offensive line, or maybe he listened to Jim Hanifan too much. I like the way Jim Fassell has come out swinging, but occasionally he seems to miss a beat in there. The Jets are riding high but I get the feeling that disaster could be right around the corner, thinking back to the way they got the icy fingers on the throat in the second half against Cleveland. Gameday defenses are easier to figure, since the head coach doesn't usually involve himself in them. Yes, I want to sit down and have a talk with Bill Callahan, probably around playoff time, to see how much of the operation is Marc Trestman's and how much is his. It's complicated.

George formerly of Charlotte, now from NYC (admit it ... it's better ... say it ... it's better, right?) wants to know who the Panthers will go for in the draft. I wrote it in my Rankings column. Put a package together and trade up for the highest-rated QB on the board.

A long, and I mean long, complicated document from Jeff of San Diego, charting streaking teams' success or lack of same, going into the playoffs. Very interesting but, I'm afraid, indecisive. Here's the problem: Say you have a team ending the regular season at 2-2. A cold team, right? But it could be a hot team that clinched early and just mailed it in and got people healthy for the postseason. The two losses get equal weight as the serious ones. Still, it's an interesting chart, and you know how I love charts. Thanks for the work.

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