Geting Misty Eyed over Joey

There is an interesting piece in a recent New Yorker magazine about the difficulty in assessing what star college quarterbacks will be successful in the NFL. (It actually was about how it is hard to find and evaluate good teachers but that is similar to the hunt for that elusive NFL quarterback.)

It includes an interview with a hardened pro scout who after decades of evaluating college quarterbacks still can't determine to any degree of certainty who will make a great NFL quarterback or who will, more likely, turn into a huge bust.

And he had his kindest words for Joey Harrington.

"I tell you I saw Joey live," he (pro scout Dan Shonka) said. "This guy threw lasers, he could under tight spots, he had the arm strength, he had the size, he had the intelligence." Shonka got misty as a two-hundred-and-eighty-pound ex-linebacker in a black track suit can get. "He's a concert pianist, you know? I really -- I mean really -- liked Joey."

Of course, Joey did have the misfortune of being drafted by the Detroit Lions.