NFL: Irrelevant Week All-Star Banquet a smash

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner, who was presented with

an honorary Lowsman Trophy, and Mike White, the former Cal football coach

who helped launch super agent Leigh Steinberg’s career, honored Mr.

Irrelevant XXV from the head table Wednesday night as representatives of

the Rams.

And, of course, Steinberg was part of the program, giving a contract

worth the price of the paper it was printed on to Mike Green, selected

254th by the Chicago Bears, earning Green the title as the ultimate

underdog and the lucky last pick in the 2000 NFL draft.

That meant he sat at the king’s throne at the Newport Beach Marriott as

Irrelevant Week founder Paul Salata and a host of celebrity-guest

well-wishers roasted and toasted the former Northwestern State (La.) free

safety at the annual All-Star Sports Banquet and Lowsman Trophy

presentation.

With several former Mr. Irrelevant honorees in attendance to help

celebrate the silver anniversary edition, White and Steinberg reminisced

about the good ol’ days at Cal.

“(Steinberg) was my dorm counselor (in 1971),” White said privately

before the banquet. “I was nothing and he was nothing.”

White become a two-time NCAA Coach of the Year, and, last season, was the

assistant head coach for the Rams in the their Super Bowl title campaign.

Steinberg, a longtime IW supporter, has negotiated the NFL’s biggest

contracts.

Warner, meanwhile, provided the full-house crowd with a videotaped

message to Mr. Irrelevant.

Former NFL referee Jim Tunney was among the celebrity guests at the head

table:

“I don’t really know why you’re here,” Tunney quipped, turning to look at

Green seated beside the podium. “I don’t know why any of these people are

here, but they’ve all been coming for 25 years ... they need help.”

Since Warner stocked shelves at a supermarket before returning to the NFL

and getting a chance to play, a Vons/Pavilions official made Green an

honorary box boy.

As Salata and Daily Pilot Publisher Tom Johnson walked together to enter

the grand ballroom at the Marriott for the All-Star Sports Banquet, a Los

Alamitos High cheerleader, who was directing traffic for confused

visitors in the hallway, asked: “Are you guys here for Irrelevant Week?”

The informal crowd following them were in stitches.

Costa Mesa resident Jack Faulkner, scouting director for the Rams who has

been with the organization for 38 years, is also a longtime IW supporter.

“I’m still trying to figure out what you do in LA,” White said to

Faulkner, the only staff member who remained here when the team moved to

St. Louis.

Marty Moore, the only former Mr. Irrelevant still playing in the NFL,

recently signed a two-year deal with Cleveland. Moore is perhaps the most

famous Mr. Irrelevant, having played in Super Bowl for the New England

Patriots, who picked him 222nd and absolutely dead last in the ’94 draft.

Green, who has never been sailing, will take part in the IW Regatta at

the Balboa Yacht Club tonight.

A writer from Sports Illustrated was in attendance covering the banquet.