Well, Johnny Manziel didn’t make the top ten. Or even the top twenty. In what was probably the biggest coup for ESPN ’s ratings of the 2014 NFL Draft, the audience waited for the undersized, dynamic Texas A&M quarterback to drop all the way to No. 22. He completed almost 70% of the passes, and won Heisman Trophy - the only college quarter back to win this.
So, what went wrong? Despite being the top College Football quarterback from Texas A&M, the first team to draft did not need a quarterback or a back-up quarterback. The rest of the teams assumed that Johnny will be picked up by the first team, they came with their own draft picks and stuck to their plans. So, when the first team did not pick him, no one else wanted him, even as a back-up quarterback. Their needs were different. Poor Johnny was not. He lost several millions in signing up fees.
This is life. You can be the best in what you do, but, if you are not at the right place at the right time, you can't be successful. I think Gandhi would have been a failure if he is around now in India. See what's happening to Anna Hazare?
What is this got to do with me? First, a farewell speaker compared me to Johnny Football only a month ago. May be because he played for Texas A&M, where I did my studies in the eighties. Or, may be I was as good as Johnny in what I was doing - wistful thinking, may be.
Recently I met an Californian, with whom I spent three weeks in early 1990's as a visiting scientist. We met again after 20 years in Dec 2013, and he complimented that I have had an illustrious career. My response was, 'I was at the right place at the right time'.
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