Most Miami Dolphin fans would say that Ted Ginn Jr. was the biggest draft day joke ever played on the fan base.
But let us introduce you to the "blind" pick of the 1993 draft by Don Shula, arguably the best football coach in NFL history. He may also be the funniest. - or at least funny things seem to happen to him.
In 1993, the former Dolphins head coach nearly passed out after a reporter asked why the team drafted a blind player, reports ESPN blogger Tim Graham.
The player in question was Terry Kirby, who turned out to be a pretty decent pass catching running back for quarterback Dan Marino. The Dolphins took the University of Virginia running back in the third round with the 78th pick.
After he entered the post draft news conference, a reporter questioned Shula about Kirby and asked why the team would draft a player with bad vision. Someone had reported earlier that Kirby was blind in his right eye and had trouble catching balls thrown to that side of his body.
"Shula's knees nearly buckled as he asked director of player personnel Tom Heckert what they'd just done," Graham wrote about the incident. "'Did we just draft a blind guy?'"
Turns out Kirby had 20/40 vision in the reported blind eye, which was more than enough to catch zingers from Marino. Ironically, he only had to receive balls from Marino for five games that season because the Great One ruptured his Achilles' tendon and the Dolphins missed the playoffs.
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That wasn't so funny. Shula's reaction to the blind guy report was.
