| | | Kids! Thank to sports, it's a small world after all. Look how sports can connect two remotely different people.
Six Degrees of Separation
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Jack Kerouac was considered the voice of the beat generation, writing his
influential book, "On the Road" on one unbroken roll of manuscript paper without pausing to edit his work. It took seven years before he found someone to publish his unconventional book. |
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This week, Jim Irsay bid $2.2 million to purchase the original manuscript to
"On the Road" at an auction. Irsay is the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, the team his weasel father sneaked out of Baltimore in the middle of the night. |
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The Colts drafted John Elway with the No. 1 pick in 1983 but wound up trading
him to the Denver Broncos when Elway refused to sign. "He'll never be any good," Robert Irsay said of the man who would win two Super Bowls and become one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. |
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Elway did sign with the baseball team that drafted him, playing a summer for
the New York Yankees' Class A farm team. The Yankees are owned by George
Steinbrenner, a real pain in the butt who twice has been banned by his fellow
owners for illegal campaign contributions and for hiring a thug to spy on his own player.
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George Costanza, played by actor Jason Alexander, worked briefly for
Steinbrenner on the popular sitcom, "Seinfeld." During the job interview,
Steinbrenner said, "Nice to meet you." To which George replied, "Well, I
wish I could say the same, but I must say, with all due respect, I find it
very hard to see the logic behind some of the moves you have made with this
fine organization. In the past 20 years, you have caused myself, and the
city of New York, a good deal of distress, as we have watched you take our
beloved Yankees and reduced them to a laughingstock, all for the
glorification of your massive ego." |
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Alexander co-starred in "Rocky and Bullwinkle," the terrible 1999 movie
that took the two cartoon characters "on the road." (Bullwinkle, by the way, went to Wossamotta U. on a football scholarship, but he did not sign with Irsay's Colts, either.) |
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Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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