There are lies, damn lies and draft tales.
It may be difficult to tell one from another today when the National Football League begins its annual two-day college draft because rumors are coin of the realm, haggling is a way of life and the truth is purely optional.
Jimmy Johnson, the wheeler-dealer coach of the Dallas Cowboys, kicked things off Thursday when he said "everything is off" in the trade talks for Raghib "Rocket" Ismail.
The next day, the Cowboys traded for the first pick in the draft to take Ismail.
In this draft, you believe half of what you see and even less of what you hear.
That's why all the scouts are reading tea leaves and wondering who's sending out the right signals or just trying to mislead their rivals.
Al Davis, managing general partner of the Los Angeles Raiders, made a rare personal scouting mission to check out troubled Southern Cal quarterback Todd Marinovich. Does that mean the Raiders will take him despite his drug and attitude problems?
Phoenix Cardinals coach Joe Bugel was in Lynn, Mass., last week visiting Eric Swann, a defensive lineman who never went to college. Would the Cardinals gamble the sixth pick in the draft on such an unproven player?
Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said he hopes to get a defensive player when the team picks on the first round for the first time since 1983. Yet that didn't stop rumors from sweeping the league that he really wants a running back.
The Cleveland Browns, with the second pick, are expected to take Notre Dame cornerback Todd Lyght, unless they trade the pick to the Atlanta Falcons, who also covet Lyght. But the Browns need a safety, and there's a blue-chipper on the board, UCLA's Eric Turner. Would they be tempted to take him over Lyght?
Will the Miami Dolphins make the much-rumored trade of cornerback Tim McKyer to the Falcons?
These and many other questions will be answered starting at noon today, when commissioner Paul Tagliabue steps in front of the ESPN cameras and begins the draft with the expected announcement that Ismail is the first pick.
As the teams try to outguess each other, there's always the chance that there's less here than meets the eye.
New York Giants general manager George Young said, "A lot of times we sound secretive when we're really confused."
Confusing is about the right word to describe this draft. Another description might be to call it the handkerchief draft.
The scouts can barely discuss it without weeping because it's missing the eight juniors who were drafted on the first round last year, and this year's crop of underclassmen doesn't match last year's.
When the Houston Oilers dropped from the 17th to the 28th spot Friday by trading their first-round pick to New England for second- and fourth-round picks, they justified it by arguing that the 28th player taken will be as good as the 17th player. The players are generally rated very closely.
"It's a sparse draft," said Bill Kuharich, player personnel director of the New Orleans Saints.
"It's very thin," said general manager Carl Peterson of the Kansas City Chiefs.
"It doesn't have a lot of glitter other than the Rocket," said Ernie Accorsi, who runs football operations for the Cleveland Browns. "It's not a glamour draft."
There are even questions about how effective Ismail is going to be in pro football. He was injury-prone at Notre Dame, and he'll be pounded more in the NFL.
When Young was asked last week whether he agreed with the assessment that this draft featured Ismail and then 10 players who were rated about even, he said, "Maybe it's 10 guys and then the Rocket."
Unless Ismail can play wide receiver, he wouldn't rate being a first-round pick simply as a kick returner.
Noting the $3 million a year Ismail supposedly was offered to play in Canada, Peterson said, "If he's being offered $3 million, he should jump at it."
Sam Jankovich, the New England Patriots president who traded the top pick, said he'll get "every bit as good a player" with the 11th pick as he would have gotten with the first pick.
Despite the doubts about Ismail, it still was astounding that he commanded such a low price on the trading market. The Cowboys simply gave a second-round draft choice and future considerations and then flopped first-round picks with the Patriots to get the top pick.
Some skeptics even suggested that Jankovich did a favor for his old friend, Johnson. Jankovich hired Johnson as the University of Miami's head coach when he was the Miami athletic director.
If Ismail turns out to be a star, it would look as if Johnson pulled a fast one on his old friend.
Despite the lack of glamour players, the draft still is one of the biggest events of the year in pro football, and the ESPN coverage and all the speculating by the draftniks has made it bigger than ever before.
As Bobby Beathard, general manager of the San Diego Chargers, said: "Everybody describes it as a weak draft, but it's as exciting as any draft. It's a big deal to all of us. Each year, some teams help themselves no matter what kind of draft it is."
It apparently doesn't bother him that there aren't a lot of obvious picks.
"It makes for more excitement on draft day because there are more surprises," Beathard said.
You might have to enjoy the draft while you can. It's under attack on two major fronts. The colleges are talking about letting juniors declare for the draft and then go back to school if they don't like their offers. That would mean the teams couldn't be sure they could get a player if they drafted him.
Meanwhile, the NFL Players Association is expected to mount a new legal challenge to the draft after next year. In the 1982 bargaining agreement, the draft was extended for 10 years. The two sides haven't reached an agreement since, and the players will argue that it won't be legal after 1992.
The stories in this draft go beyond intrigue.
There's Marinovich, who was raised by his father, Marv, to play football from the days when he was a toddler. His father even discouraged him from eating junk food. Yet Todd Marinovich managed to get in trouble with drugs, and now he's trying to fight back.
There's Swann, who didn't go to college, but is trying to make it as a 20-year-old with one year of minor-league football under his belt. His agent, Dick Bell, offered to bet a reporter a year's salary that Swann will go on the first round despite his meager football background. He'll find out today whether any team will take that gamble.
There's Mike Croel, the Nebraska linebacker who's black and was adopted by white parents as an infant. Growing up in white, middle-class suburban neighborhoods in Detroit, Chicago, Boston and Los Altos, Calif., he and his parents weren't always welcome. There were threats and slurs, but Croel overcame it to become one of the top-rated players in the draft.
Then there's Nebraska defensive lineman Kenny Walker, who's attempting to become the second deaf player to make it in the NFL. Bonnie Sloan made it for a season in 1973 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
At his last home game, the 73,000 Nebraska fans saluted him with the "deaf clap." They raised their hands above their heads and rotated their wrists back and forth to simulate a standing ovation.
Walker stopped at midfield, turned to each corner of the stadium and signed back, "I love you."
It'd make a great movie if he can make it in the NFL, but he's a bit light at 235 pounds and will be a gamble if he's taken.
Redskins general manager Charley Casserly said, "He's a great story and great kid and was a heck of a college player, but that's tough making that decision because you love him as a person."
The scouts will make a lot of tough decisions the next two days as they draft 334 players on 12 rounds.
Draft at a glance
What: The 55th NFL college draft.
Where: New York.
When: It starts at noon today. No round will begin after 9 p.m. The remaining rounds will be completed starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
Rounds: 12.
Players to be selected: 334.
TV: ESPN, noon to 6:30 p.m. today.
Time limits: Each team has 15 minutes to make a decision on the first round, 10 minutes on the second round and five minutes on the final 10 rounds.
Most picks: Atlanta and New England, 16.
Fewest picks: New Orleans, 8.
Expansion next
After the NFL completes its annual draft tomorrow, the league will focus on expansion.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has scheduled a meeting of the expansion and realignment committee on May 15 in New York. The committee will then make a report at the owners' spring meeting May 22-23 in Minneapolis.
The owners may decide at that meeting whether to go ahead with expansion. Tagliabue said last year that the league would expand "certainly by 1993," but there's some sentiment to delay expansion to 1994 or beyond.