Irrelevant week: WHO’S IT GONNA BE????

NEWPORT BEACH - When Irrelevant Week founder and former San

Francisco 49er Paul Salata takes the stage at Madison Square Garden in

New York City on Sunday, it will mark an important milestone in the

festival of football frivolity dedicated to the National Football

League’s last man.

The idea of “doing something nice for someone for no particular reason”

has lasted 25 years.

Mr. Irrelevant XXV will be selected 253rd and last by the Detroit Lions

in the seventh round of the 2000 draft and round out the first

quarter-century of irrelevance.

He will be flown to Newport Beach to be roasted, boasted and toasted at a

huge arrival party, a day at Disneyland, a gala banquet packed with

sports celebrities, television appearances, a golf tournament and a

tailgate party and an Anaheim Angels baseball game between June 19-23.

Plans are underway to make the 25th anniversary of Irrelevant Week an

event which peers into the newest honoree’s future in the NFL and looks

back at Irrelevant Week’s history. Former Mr. Irrelevant honorees

spanning the event’s first quarter-century have been invited to take

place in the week-long party and share their experiences with the newest

member of the club.

This list of underdogs includes Mr. Irrelevant XXIV, Jim Finn, who was

selected 253 and last in the 1999 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears. Finn

was cut by the team near the end of training camp, but was picked back up

shortly afterward and spent the season with the professional squad. After

the 1999 season, Finn was again released by the Bears, but in a positive

turn of events, he was signed by the Indianapolis Colts where he will

attend training camp this year.

Who will the Lions select with the 253rd pick this year? Will they

address the situation of Barry Sanders’ departure further? Will they

improve their line or their defensive backfield to combat the strong

playmaking of the tough NFC Central? Will they fill another skill player

hole with talent to be developed for future success? Whatever they

decide, there is a college player out there somewhere whose life will

never be the same after Sunday’s announcement.