Dan Daly: Common calamities not much of a shock

Washington Times ^ | 10-2-08 | Dan Daly

[JZelle]

If ever there was a player meant to be an Oakland Raider, it was Tony Mandarich. He was 315 pounds of pectorals and trouble, a wild and crazy offensive tackle who lived life not just large but extra large, maybe even triple-X. Before he had pancaked his first NFL defensive end, Sports Illustrated anointed him "the best offensive line prospect ever." Scouts gushed that he was better than Anthony Munoz, the tackle against whom all were measured.

You had Mandarich, the second player picked in the 1989 draft, reportedly admitting on Showtime's "Inside the NFL" that he was a steroid creation. And you had Al Davis, the Raiders' aging patriarch, coming across like Captain Queeg in his rambling dismissal of Lane Kiffin, his 33-year-old coach.

Suspicion always followed Mandarich around; his measurables, after all - his size (6-foot-6), speed (4.65 for the 40), strength (545-pound bench press) and general nastiness ("I told [the opposing] nose guard, 'You're going to freaking die today!'") - were so off the charts. The week of the '89 draft, SI put his hulking figure on its cover ... and ran another picture of him inside that sticks with me still. In it, he's standing triumphantly in a bubbling hot tub, flexing his left biceps and carrying his girlfriend, who's making muscles herself, on his right shoulder. He looks like an overgrown pirate - and she his parrot.

In the accompanying article, writer Rick Telander dealt with the steroid issue head-on. An unidentified Big Ten assistant coach was quoted saying, "We all know what's going on. Pro scouts come in and ask me about Mandarich. I tell them, but they don't care. It's really sad he's getting so much publicity."

[GOP_Raider]

If ever there was a player meant to be an Oakland Raider, it was Tony Mandarich.

Oddly enough, the first Raider game I ever saw in person was back in 1990 at the LA Coliseum, when Jay Schroeder threw 3 INTs against...Tony Mandarich and the Green Bay Packers.

[Loyolas Mattman]

This is a very timely article. The need to keep up with draft busts from 20 years ago is very great indeed.

As an aside, Mandarich had a reasonably successful second act to his career with the Jim Harbaugh Colts teams of the mid-90’s. He was a respectable journeyman, and I think he was a guard instead of a tackle. Disappeared from football for a few years and then came back.

It's funny how naive we were back then. I actually believed that he had a sucky rookie season because he lost a ton of weight when he “got sick from a parasite on a hunting trip.” Now that excuse wouldn't pass the laugh test...

[stefanbatory]

top three picks in that draft:

1. Troy Aikman
2. Tony Mandarich
3. Barry Sanders

What were the Packers thinking???