The significance of Mr. Irrelevant

Being picked last is almost always a bad thing. But not so for the

48th pick of the seventh round, the 262nd pick overall in the

National Football League annual draft. That last pick is celebrated

as the Irrelevant Week honoree. Mr. Irrelevant 2003, Ryan Hoag, who

was the last pick in this year’s NFL Draft, sat down for a chat with

columnist Lolita Harper during his week-long stay in Newport-Mesa to

celebrate his posterior. The Newport-Mesa community -- led by Paul

Salata -- rolled out the red carpet for the future Oakland Raider for

a week of parties. In this case the nice guy did finish last.

What was your first impression of Newport Beach?

“I was taken back by how beautiful it was. How beautiful the

people were. How upscale and classy the people were.”

Different from home?

“I mean, I have nothing but good things to say about Minneapolis,

but California is California.”

And you’re coming to California, right? To Oakland.

“Yeah. Oakland is not Newport Beach but the Bay Area is nice.”

Besides football, what are some of your other talents?

“I like writing poetry. I run track. I am a teacher, studied

elementary education. I enjoy public speaking. I got the gift of gab

from my mother. Talking with women. I like talking with women. It is

one of my special talents. Making people smile.”

What was going through your mind when it was the last pick of the

draft?

“I had given up. At that point there were teams that had called me

left and right, saying you’re not going to be drafted but when the

draft is over we want to sign you. I had pretty much decided on

Houston and I was fine, I had come to piece with that. The last pick

was coming, they go to commercial break and I get a phone call and my

coach is like, ‘That’s it, that’s it. It’s going to be you.’ But then

the phone had been ringing all day. Then a woman from the Oakland

Raiders called and I thought great, it’s just another free agent

offer, right? Just another one to mull over. Then she said, ‘I am

going to transfer you down to Coach Callahan’s office.’ I was like,

this is going to be it. And then when it happened it just incredible.

I hung up on the coach. Because we had like 200 people watching.”

Yeah, I was going to ask if you were all gathered around the TV.

“Yeah, at my school in the cafeteria. We had friends, family,

teammates, coaches and I got so excited I just erupted. I just hung

up. And then I was like, ‘Oh, whoops. I just hung up on the head

coach. Nice first impression.’”

Are you doing any special training or workouts to get ready for

camp?

“I have been in Oakland for about the past month with the team

doing mini-camps and training. Those were good learning material. It

was good to put myself in a place where I can visualize where I need

to get to. So in that aspect it was very promising.”

Did you get any tips from Jerry Rice?

“Well, I picked his brain. Him and Tim Brown. I asked them

questions all the time. And Rich Gannon is from Minnesota, so he took

me aside and really was like, if you need anything just let me know,

or here’s the way you are going to make it.”

Who did you root for in the Super Bowl?

“Raiders. I cannot stand the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I cannot stand

them.”

So are you going to come back to Newport Beach to visit?

“I would like to. Well, I have all these gift certificates now for

dinners and stuff. I am going to have to find friends and dates and

go on these dinner for four and golfing for two and all that. But I

have met some cool people, so yeah, I plan on it. Obviously, football

is going to have to come first right now, but I would love to come

back.”