Note: This was written before Andre Smith actually started playing in games. Of course, with all the false starts it’s still pretty damn relevant.
In the pre-draft buildup, we heard all about Michael Oher – a talented, motivated, player with an amazing tale of perseverance. A walking cliché – in a good way, of course – who overcame the odds through hard hard hard work. Some more clichés: a self-built man who pulled himself up by the bootstraps. A man who built a life for himself off his own sweat.
Then there’s Andre Smith.
A once-heralded prospect whose stock was dropping due to a lack of many of the same things that made Oher’s story so inspirational. Andre – a supposed cornerstone player – was kicked off the team for the final game of his college career. He flip-flopped agents repeatedly before the draft. And he walked out on the combine. Then, when he had his chance to prove that, despite appearing to be a colossal turd, he still possessed colossal talent – he showed up out of shape to his own private workout. It’s not like O-lineman are ever considered fun to look at sans shirt – but Andre’s jiggly man breasts were the talk of the workout. Even worse? His numbers weren’t even good.
Recap: Bad work ethic. Bad attitude. Poor decision-maker. Man breasts.
Guess who the Bengals drafted?
It still amazes me today how epically bad a decision that was. How these two men residing on such opposite ends of the spectrum could even be compared. And how the Bengals could go with Smith. It’s comical really. It’s like choosing between a Ruth’s Chris filet and a half-eaten Whopper scooped from the men’s room floor. “Well, with the right seasoning, that Whopper might be pretty good.”
Andre Smith could end up pretty good – of course, he’s not showing it right now – but it’s no surprise Michael Oher is good. Hard workers usually are.
The moral of the story is – In this case at least – you really can judge a book by its cover. Especially when one book is ugly and unmotivated, and the other is pretty much the walking talking version of everything you tell your kids to grow up to be.
