Yours truly attended the Dapper Dan Dinner & Auction last night. It was pretty nice. A lowly blogger like myself tends to feel out of place surrounded by people in sportcoats and whatnot, but it was neat and I took away a few things I figured I might as well share, because I have a website so I can do stuff like this.
1. Dan Bylsma bolted early
Disco Dan was introduced to a near-standing ovation on the red carpet. He didn't have any speaking obligations, so it took a little while to notice, but his seat was empty almost the whole night. Maybe he was doing something in the wake of Kris Letang having a stroke (!), or maybe he was spending time with his family before leaving for Russia for three weeks.
2. Franco Harris and Joe Greene were whatev
Harris, being honored for a lifetime achievement award, was introduced by the greatest Steeler of all time, and neither of them had great speeches. Oddly, Mean Joe came closer to the "Franco Harris is a crazy person when it comes to Joe Paterno" thing than Harris did.
3. I would run through a wall for Clint Hurdle
Maybe Greene and Harris only felt lackluster because their speeches followed Hurdle's. Hurdle was funny, he was genuine, and he made all of us proud to be Pirate fans. Tears were shed in the crowd, goosebumps were raised, and I came away from Hurdle's speech with the overwhelming desire to buy Pirate tickets. Hard to ask for much more in a speech from the Sportsman of the Year.
