Rendell knows: Be careful what you wish for in the draft

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell writes a weekly sports column for the Daily News from a fan's perspective. His column appears Wednesdays.

I REMEMBER IT as if it happened yesterday. I was home watching the NFL draft and the commissioner said, "With the second pick of the 1999 draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select Donovan McNabb of Syracuse," thereby dashing my hopes that the Birds would draft Ricky Williams, the great running back from Texas.

But even worse, I heard thunderous booing cascading toward the stage from a group of Eagles fans who had come to New York on a trip organized by the voice of the Philadelphia sports fan - WIP's Angelo Cataldi. The booing was incredibly loud and continued while Donovan posed for pictures with the commissioner.

I was aghast. I realized that the fans weren't booing Donovan - the booing would have been just as loud had the Eagles picked Tim Couch or Akili Smith - they were booing the Eagles for not choosing Ricky. I knew, however, that the media would not construe it that way. Secondly, I was aghast because, truth be told, I was almost as responsible for the pro-Ricky sentiment as Angelo was and I knew I would be blamed for it. I was, and I have been living that down for more than a decade.

I had been making appearances at least once a week, if not more, on Angelo's show to urge the Eagles to select Ricky.

Even before that, I was speaking at the Maxwell Club awards banquet, where Ricky was receiving a player of the year award. I told the crowd that I was glad he was a visitor to the area but wanted him to become a permanent resident right after the draft. I was interviewed by virtually every television station, pushing for the Eagles to pick Ricky.

Draft selections are best left to the experts, but we fans have our opinions and are not afraid to voice them. I was for selecting Williams because I thought he was a once-in-a-lifetime running back a la Gale Sayers or Jim Brown, and because I didn't believe that any of the top four quarterbacks that year (McNabb, Couch, Smith and Cade McNown) were certain NFL stars. I was three-fourths right. Couch, Smith and McNown were out of the NFL in less than 4 years.

Well, you know what happened. Donovan went on to have a great career here and became one of the truly elite QBs of his time. He led the Eagles to an unprecedented level of success. Ricky, on the other hand, did not turn out to be a great NFL running back, though he certainly hasn't been a complete bust. Despite numerous injuries and personal problems, he has been a solid running back who has rushed for more than 9,000 yards and scored 74 TDs overall.

Donovan never forgot his welcome to the NFL and my role in it. In 2000, when I was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the New York Times did a feature article about me and they interviewed Donovan and asked him about me. He said that I was a very good mayor. Then they asked him how good of a football analyst I was on Comcast SportsNet's postgame show and he replied, "He's a very good mayor."

Over the years, I became a big Donovan supporter (for which I've received a ton of grief). At a dinner in 2009, Donovan was in the audience and I was speaking and I asked him if I had sufficiently atoned for my 1999 sin. He smiled and nodded yes. *

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