A Chicago Draft – by the Fine Mr. R Michal
Our
story takes place during one of the last drafts in Chicago,
maybe 3 or 4 years ago. We were all to meet in downtown Chicago
for lunch at the trendy ESPN Zone restaurant. It was Thursday or Friday, the
NCAA tournament was going on, and the place was packed. I had to work that
morning, so Jon and Bob Michal had met the out-of-towners at the hotel near the
airport and driven them downtown, where I would meet them. When I entered the
restaurant, I saw Bob Michal standing there and he said our group was waiting
to be seated. In the meantime, he said, everyone had gone to the game room to
pass time.
So I
went to the game room and started meandering through, and soon I spotted Steve
playing pinball over here and Jed by the laser rifles over there. Then I found
Bob Beardsley and Bob Courter and we started
talking, and then Elly came by to join the group. It was then I noticed this
young guy in his early 20s standing nearby staring at me. I didn't think
anything of it, but then our group moved to another area and here was this kid
staring at me again. So I thought "Cripe, this
young guy wants me to pick him up!" By this time everyone had arrived and
we greeted each other and then Elly turned toward the young guy and said,
"Everybody, this is my son Daniel!" So that was it, the young guy was
Daniel Kaufman, who no one in Chicago
had met before.
The
reason he'd been staring was probably because he'd been awed to be in the
presence of so much BCBL greatness.....me,
Beardsley, Courter, Miles, Elly, Bob Michal....events like this don't happen
everyday.