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Side-to-side Owens
ready to go forward

HIS gift was that he took everyone along with him.

"Mr. Chad Owens!" a man said yesterday at the Honolulu Quarterback Club. "Throughout your collegiate career ... I had never seen so many excitement when you ran. I'm 75 years old -- when you ran, I was jumping all over the place! Believe me, that's really hard for me, but your career, nobody could catch you. For example, I remember once two guys had a hand on you, and they were much bigger than you! You flew around them, I don't know how you did it, but you did it. And that's just my example of the thrills that you gave us. I hope you go on to success. Because you can do it! I know you can!"

Later, Owens would try to describe what goes through him in those moments, and of course, he couldn't sum it up in words.

"It's an amazing feeling," he finally said. "You'd have to be me to know what it's like."

Our 75-year-old friend has already established that, no, that isn't quite true.

Owens' gift wasn't just that he seized the moment, but that somehow, he made it big enough to share.

Today, with the NFL Draft on the horizon, Owens isn't the only one hoping the ride isn't over yet.

OWENS IS CONFIDENT. How could he not be, with the NFL Draft coming up? Why wouldn't the former Hawaii touchdown machine think he could play with the pros?

Why would he have any reason at all to think that anything is impossible?

"Everything that I envisioned up to this point," he said, "has happened."

It's true. He came out of Roosevelt when no one thought he was good enough to be given a scholarship. He says one of the best memories of his college career was running out onto the Aloha Stadium tunnel for the first time, as a redshirt. Because, well, it meant he'd made it. That was an accomplishment, at the time.

And even then, he was Too Small and Too Slow and -- oh my goodness, stop him before something goes horribly wrong -- Out of Control.

But now here he is -- how many touchdowns? How many thrills? -- having seen dreams, literally, come true.

Who wouldn't be confident?

He does have his advantages. One, he's the kind of guy who can call the NFL combine -- where the slightest slip means you're selling insurance -- a "relaxed atmosphere."

Two, well, imagine this: Owens makes a side-to-side gesture with his hand. This is the secret. "The game is like this," he said. And Owens, as much as any athlete we've seen in a while, has that side-to-side "this."

THE SUIT STORY. You can see this, can't you? Anyone who's been around Owens just knew he nailed it, when they heard he'd interviewed in a suit.

You can just see him pulling that off.

It started in Arizona, in one of those pre-draft training facilities. "We worked on our 40, we worked on our shuttles, we worked on everything," Owens said. "We prepared for all the mental tests we were going to have to take. We really prepared. I enjoyed myself out there. It was all business."

There are a bunch of those places. One of them, the Jerry Maguires send their guys to. One of them, all the biggest names hit. One of them, all the top prospects show up. Perks. Everything.

Owens was not at that place.

"I was there at a place called Make Plays," he said. "And it wasn't a high-class, high-maintenance place, you know. You go there and you train.

"It was there that it was suggested to us to wear a suit for your interviews."

A lot of times a guy in a suit might look like an idiot among a field of casual dressers.

But when you heard it was Owens who did it, you just knew this was not one of those times.

"I guess I was the only one who took the advice," Owens said.

YEAH, HE'S CONFIDENT. Who wouldn't be, with his history? Why not?

"I'm envisioning greater things happening," he said. "And I believe that's going to happen as well."

He seems serene, somehow. At peace. The draft awaits, but he breathes easily.

"It's not satisfying, but it's ... it's a sort of a relief," he said. "You know, your whole life you've been waiting for this." Feeling ready when it comes is the best part. "I'm looking forward to it," Owens said.

He's not the only one.