You may now strike the Heisman pose. No vote needed, and please no overly dramatic, mundane gathering of Downtown Athletic Club brass. Ladies and gentlemen, I know it's only 1999, but I present to you Drew Brees, the winner of the 2000 Heisman Trophy. It's the very same media-manufactured system that crowned Karl Malone the NBA's MVP award over a more deserving Tim Duncan last year, the same convoluted conspiracy that decides 1993 is Bobby Bowden's year to finally capture that elusive national championship, while1994 belongs to Tom Osborne. Maybe 1999 is the year of the Hokie after all, or at least Frank Beamer's year, if you believe everything the media tells us.
Awards apply specifically to the year in question.
That year is 1999, and if reason ultimately prevails, TJ can finally strike his well-deserved pose in the Big Apple. At least Mackovic isn't Jim Gray. Gray, NBC's muckraker extraordinaire who occasionally doubles as a sideline reporter, made it personal in his widely chronicled, scathing interview of Pete Rose, banned for life by Major League Baseball for betting on the game. In an effort to make himself look like the journalist never afraid to ask the tough question, Gray not only asked the toughest questions, but also the most inappropriate ones considering the surroundings. Ted Williams was there.