Fandom - ESPN Playbook: Mr. Irrelevant

Paul Salata, the creator of the NFL Draft's Mr. Irrelevant and Irrelevant WeekAP Photo/Craig RuttleWith Mr. Irrelevant, Paul Salata is still "doing something nice for someone for no reason."

Each goes by the name Mr. Irrelevant, but no two are alike.

So when Irrelevant Week is held annually in Newport Beach, Calif., to honor the last player taken in the NFL draft, many of the activities are tailored to fit the guest of honor.

While all participate in the Arrival Party and Lowsman Banquet -- where each receives the opposite-of-the-Heisman Lowsman Trophy (depicting a player in mid-fumble) -- players can decide what else they want to do.

One asked to go clubbing in Los Angeles with Paris Hilton. Another chose to spend time with his family and sleep extra hours in his soft hotel bed. Others, who’d never been to California, wanted to go Jet Skiing or sailing, play golf on a course overlooking the Pacific or meet their sports heroes.

In 2008, David Vobora, a linebacker from Idaho chosen by the Rams, wanted to see the Playboy Mansion and meet the women from “The Girls Next Door” reality TV series. After an evening that included dinner with Hugh Hefner, hanging with “The Girls,” getting a tour of the mansion and sharing Hef’s movie night, Vobora told one reporter it was “a slice of heaven.”

And that’s pretty much been the goal of Irrelevant Week since it began in 1976: to treat the last as if he were first.

Each April, when Mr. Irrelevant is drafted in New York, Irrelevant Week CEO Melanie Salata Fitch is right there to get his requests for Irrelevant Week (usually is held in June).

“I say, ‘Hey, congratulations’ and 'What do you like?' and 'What do you eat?' and 'What have you always dreamed about?' and I start designing events,” she says.

After 37 Irrelevant Weeks, she’s confident the players have had a great time. How could they not? Her mission is to treat each “like a king.”

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Mr. Irrelevant won't let spotlight define him

April, 30, 2012
4/30/12
2:15
PM ET
Chandler HarnishAP Photo/The Canadian Press/Chris YoungChandler Harnish plans to stay humble despite the overwhelming fame of being Mr. Irrelevant.
Sure, Andrew Luck is poised to draw a bigger paycheck and a better spot on the Indianapolis Colts’ depth chart than the newly minted Mr. Irrelevant, Chandler Harnish.

But even though Luck was selected No. 1 overall out of Stanford in this year's NFL draft, and Harnish, out of Northern Illinois, was identified with the 253rd and final pick, Harnish has something Luck doesn’t – an iPhone.

Luck still uses a flip phone to handle the many calls and text messages he receives every day, something Harnish says he’s determined to change.

“I think I'm definitely gonna push for him to get an iPhone,” Harnish said with a laugh. “I think it'll definitely help him to get more organized and up-to-date for sure."

Just like Luck, Harnish played quarterback in college and wore No 12.

When Luck took the stage Thursday night at Radio City Music Hall, he was handed a Colts jersey with his name and Harnish’s number on the back. On Saturday, when Harnish’s pick was announced, a Colts jersey bearing No. 253 was held aloft by the founder of Irrelevant Week, former NFL player Paul Salata.

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