By Mary Paoletti
CSNNE.com
A couple thoughts on the recent Danny Woodhead buzz:
There has been coverage overkill of New England's newest running back's diminutive size, it's true. Nobody is actually going to set a drink down on the guy's head because she's accidentally mistaken him for an end table. Not unless she has been shooting Mind Erasers at Daisy Buchanan's, but even in that case she will probably have tried to set her drink down on not just Woodhead but a barstool, toilet tank, or... air.
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So I will acknowledge that there have been too many size similes thrown excitedly around. And then I'm going to add to the whole steaming pile. It's one thing to read articles about Woodhead and choke your Style Booklet in disgust, scoffing at the overwritten lines.... But come meet him sometime.
During the September 22 Patriots media scrum, one reporter grabbed another by a sleeve, "You've gotta' see this,'' the scribe said. The two of them tiptoed over to where Woodhead was being interviewed. The first reporter pointed, "Look,'' he whispered to his colleague, the way children point and whisper at sleeping kittens.
"Oooh,'' was the cooed response.
Such is the Woodhead effect. Among the Mike Wrights, the Gerard Warrens, and other enormous New England professional football players, Danny Woodhead looks like the kid who should be running around collecting jock straps in the locker room, not ducking NFL tackles on the gridiron.
The sight sincerely catches you off-guard.
And you won't find a plethora of tiny footballers on Boston's list of folk heroes, however long it appears to be. So have a little patience with the people whose job it is to cover this team. You can't really blame them when they pick Woodhead up by his little feet and bludgeon you to death with the pithy headlines and HOW AMAZING IT IS THAT SUCH A TINY PERSON MAKE SUCH GREAT BIG PLAYS.
I mean, the movie Rudy grossed almost 23M bucks. So, yeah. Give it time. The novelty will wear off eventually.
(Hilarious Photo via Sports Pickle)
Mary Paoletti can be reached at mpaoletti@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Mary on Twitter at http:twitter.comMary_Paoletti