Kam Register was about to put a fork full of pasta salad into his mouth when he peeked down the pathway leading to his backyard. The 18-year-old couldn't believe what he was seeing. A day earlier he had sent a Twitter direct message to Detroit Lions cornerback Darius Slay, asking if he wanted to come to his graduation party.
Slay responded, asking for details. Register, of course, never actually believed Slay would show up. The two had never met. Their only prior contact came when the Howell (Michigan) High School graduate asked Slay if he was going to go to the Howell-Brighton basketball game earlier this school year.