
In all 35 of my years in the newspaper business, going on 36, I can’t even count the number of times I have heard the following: “Hey John, wait to you see this kid so and so. He is in the sixth grade, but he is going to be the next so and so.” “Mr. Haley, remember the name so and so. This kid is going to be best of all time. His skills are off the charts.” No matter what the sport, I have heard the hype so many times over the years and still do on a regular basis. I used to get excited when I was told about the next phenom, but as the years moved on, I took it with a grain of salt and politely said, “Okay, I’ll keep an eye on him, sounds like he’ll be a great one.” Or something like that.