In a first-round Bulls-Celtics NBA playoff series already marked by surprises, chief among them the Bulls' 2-0 lead over the Eastern Conference's top seed, ESPN has a doozy of its own set for its Friday Game 3 telecast.
Working the United Center sidelines while Mark Jones and Hubie Brown call the action will be Adam Schefter, ESPN NFL reporter.
"This, to me, is like a professional vacation," Schefter said during a phone interview this week interrupted only once by an NFL source's call on another phone. "I'm going to put my draft work down for the night and swoop in, do the sidelines for the night."
It took him 27 years to get to a Bulls game, by his own estimation. But he's finally made it. In almost every way, it seems.
That's because the story behind Schefter's NBA assignment, the third game he's been assigned to work this year, doesn't begin with the ESPN contract extension he signed late last year giving him occasional opportunities to dabble in his nonfootball interests.
It dates back to 1989 and '90. Schefter was attending graduate school at Northwestern and freelancing sports stories for the Chicago Tribune to get his career off the ground.
"Back then," Schefter said, "the Bulls were such a huge thing. That was Michael's heyday. I couldn't get a ticket or afford to get a ticket to go. I always wanted to go to a Bulls game, and then the way I had to do it is come back 27 years later as a sideline reporter moonlighting from the NFL draft."
