Gordon in Gotham: Soaking up the Heisman experience
December 12, 2014 | Football
Dec. 12, 2014
BY JERRY BARCA
For UWBadgers.com
? Photos: Gordon in Gotham
 |  Gordon Wins Doak Walker 
NEW YORK -- After a crazy week, and with one game left in a remarkable season, the nation's best college running back was stopped . . . by traffic.
Melvin Gordon, a Heisman Trophy finalist, arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport Friday morning. Then he, fellow finalist Amari Cooper of Alabama, and their travel parties crawled their way for an hour and half on the 19 miles of roads from the airport to their Times Square hotel.
"It's exactly what I thought it would be like from the movies," Gordon said. "Those are my only pictures of New York, they're from the movies."
Last night, the Wisconsin junior was at The Home Depot College Football Awards at Walt Disney World picking up the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back. Tomorrow evening's Heisman Trophy presentation completes the awards circuit for Gordon, whose 2,336 rushing yards this season ranks as the fourth-highest total in NCAA history. It also caps a wild week of momentous occasions and surprising losses for him and Wisconsin football.
Last Saturday, Ohio State defeated the Badgers 59-0 in the Big Ten Championship Game. A couple days later, Gordon was named as one of three finalists for the Heisman, college football's most prestigious individual prize. The next day, Gordon, prompted by a question from the media and chuckling through his infectious smile while he answered, revealed his intention to enter April's NFL draft. It was the sort of secret everybody knew. A few hours later, he received word that head coach Gary Andersen would leave Wisconsin to take the same role at Oregon State.
"Ups and downs, man. Emotions. Feelings. Ups and downs," Gordon said of the past week. "The (Big Ten Championship) game kind of had me down for most of the time. But coming here, having this experience has lifted me up. This came at the right time and I'm glad I'm a part of it."
Once Gordon made it through his first taste of New York City traffic there was little time to stop. Gordon, Cooper, their family members, and a contingent of Heisman and university officials sat down for a family-style Italian meal at Tony's Di Napoli on 43rd Street in Manhattan's theater district.
Gordon ate spaghetti and meatballs, some of the Caesar salad, and he thought he tried the venison, but it was actually veal. A joking cousin had him convinced it was deer meat.
As he walked back to Times Square, he used his Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to snap photos of the bright, busy scenery lined with skyscrapers, dotted with Sesame Street characters and highlighted by the famous ball that drops on New Year's Eve. A few bystanders even shouted "Go Badgers" as Gordon passed them on the sidewalk.
Gordon boarded the ESPN DirecTV Mobile Studio for a live interview on SportsCenter with Linda Cohn. Then he re-entered the hotel for an interview with a writer for the Heisman website. After that, he and Cooper played musical media chairs. (The third finalist, Marcus Mariota, is in Baltimore to receive the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award).
Gordon and Cooper sat at separate cloth-covered circular tables on the eighth floor of the Marriott Marquis. In front of seven cameras and a half dozen digital recorders, Gordon took questions for a little more than 10 minutes. Then he swapped spots with Cooper, and the finalists repeated the drill before each posed for photos with the coveted bronze trophy.
There was no respite for Gordon as he joined Heisman winners Eddie George and Tim Brown for a radio spot on SiriusXM's College Sports Nation. Gordon laughed and joked with the hosts while he talked about his short-lived single-game record of 408 rushing yards versus Nebraska.
After the radio interview, Gordon sat in a hospitality suite. It is the same room where past Heisman winners Billy Simms, Mike Rozier, Tony Dorsett and others are expected to gather later in the evening. It is here, taking a breath from the busyness of the week and the day, where Gordon offered his perspective on the New York City Heisman experience.
"I'm trying to live this up regardless if I win or not," Gordon said. "I'll never get a chance to experience this again. And there are some guys that never will."
You can follow Jerry Barca on Twitter @JBarca
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