People change their minds, I get it. But does this sound like a guy that changed his mind or someone so super sad that he wasn't picked in dodgeball that he went to mommy and daddy and told them he wasn't going to go to gym class because the kids in class are doody heads?
This is all from Peter King and CNNSI:
RENTON, Wash. -- My favorite draft weekend story: The Man Who Said No to the NFL.
If there was a pool for whether Scott Sicko was going to hold this "no" stance I would have bet every dollar I own, all $447.82, on him reversing his decision.
I caught him as he pulled his car back onto his bucolic campus Sunday and prepared to buckle down for a long night of Italian homework. It's the kind of story we all need to hear...
Oh please tell it so I can tell my kids who will tell their kids and one day the world will know about the hero that is Scott Sicko, the man who said no to the NFL.
Scott Sicko is a senior at the University of New Hampshire, a Football Championship Subdivision (nee Division I-AA) first-team all-America tight end and an interesting NFL prospect.
Peter King never really defines why he is considered interesting. I'm assuming interesting means nobody really knows what kind of a prospect he is.
On Saturday, he sat at home in Stillwater, N.Y., about a half-hour north of Albany, with his parents, girlfriend and some other relatives. They waited for hours, pick after pick after pick. His name wasn't called.
I would be a little embarrassed. So embarrassed I might act like the NFL was no big deal and I was going to give it up to go into Education or History or some shit.
A few picks before the final choice of the seventh round, he started discussing with his family what was in his heart.
So if Scott was picked, football would be in his heart. If he wasn't picked, it would be something else. My my, what a fickle heart you have there, Scott.
Sicko got a scholarship to play football at New Hampshire. But he always thought he was at college to get an education, then to play football.
He wouldn't have thought that if he got a scholarship from Florida or Texas. Most I-AA players don't think they'll be playing on Sundays.
He majored in History with a minor in Political Science. He's set to graduate on time May 22, and he's considering returning to school to finish a double-major (taking more poli-sci courses), or going for a Master's in History, and then, if all goes well, maybe a Ph.D. in History.
This is great. Good for him. I do hope he gets his edumacation on.
So with the final few picks winding down, Sicko told his family the truth: If he didn't get drafted, he wanted to go back to college full-time and see what direction the road took him. "I love football,'' he said. "I've been playing since I was seven years old, and playing in the NFL was always a dream of mine. I can't say if I would have made it if I'd have signed with somebody and tried to make it as a free-agent. I don't know. But this ... this just felt right.''
Ok this is where Scott and I disagree. Anyone with half a brain and clearly realizes that the window to play in the National Football League is fairly small. If the NFL is your dream and you have the talent to potentially be on a roster, why not give it your best effort? This sounds like sour grapes because he wasn't picked. Why don't you wait a week and really think this through instead of creating a big hub bub for nothing when you end up signing with a team in a few days and looking like a flaky dufus.
He said he had no bitterness, no anger at teams for not picking him.
There's gotta be some bitterness. He gave up on his dream within a day. That cries out bitter.
"I always lived my life for family first, education second and happiness third,'' he said Sunday afternoon as he drove from his home in upstate New York back to New Hampshire.
I loved reading this and thinking "oh he'll sign with a team any day now."
"You always hear players say, 'I'm going to go back and finish my education.' How many of them really do? Not many."
Holy potatoes, fucking Shaquille O'Neal had the drive and dedication to go back to school and graduate. If Shaq can do it, so can you.
But first there was a problem.
Was the problem that he was going to sign with a team after making a huge stink that he wasn't going to sign with a team?
Thirty-two NFL teams had his phone number. When the draft ends, teams start calling undrafted prospects to try to sign them to come to training camp. The Chargers called. Dallas called. The Jets, Jacksonville and Kansas City called.
Only someone suffering from postpartum depression would be so low in the dumps that they would say no to each of them. Even worse would be if that person said no in a big defiant act of the altruism to pursue a career in education only to end up signing with an NFL team anyway.
"I told them, basically, 'I'm honored you called me, but I'm not going to play football anymore. I'm going to further my education,'"
Which you COULD theoretically do in the NFL as you live out your dream
He knows people will think he's nuts.
I don't think he's nuts, but I can't get this song out of my head.
There aren't many athletes, given a choice, who would want to go work in the real world before giving their sport a major effort. To Sicko, it doesn't feel like quitting. It feels like just choosing to do something else he loves. There wasn't a sentence in a 25-minute conversation that had regret in it.
Probably because he knew he was going to eventually sign with an NFL team.
It's nice, in the midst of a weekend when football seems more important than breathing to some, that we have a different kind of role model for our kids. I hope they read everything Scott Sicko just said here.
I hope every also read when he signed with Dallas. Oh...you don't believe me?
One day later, April 27th we have this:
Hello. I'm Scott Sicko and I really want to play in the NFL
Scott Sicko, the University of New Hampshire tight end who gained Internet fame and infamy for turning down five free-agent NFL contract offers Saturday to pursue post-graduate education, has had a change of heart. He signed a contract Tuesday with the Dallas Cowboys.
Oh.
"What can I say?" Sicko told me today from the UNH campus. "I changed my mind. I got very comfortable with the Cowboys over the last couple of days. And I made a compromise with myself."
Seriously Scott, don't you feel really really stupid right now? I feel stupid for you.
"Over the last couple of days I had a few conversations with the Cowboys and I talked to my agent a couple of times," Sicko said. "They made me feel good about giving football a chance and that it would not ruin my plans for the rest of my life. Basically, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I realize I can probably do both and still accomplish my career goals."
How did you not realize this before? You had to have recognized you can do both. You are a fool. I'm gonna root against you in the NFL. I now hold Sebastian Janikowski, Vince Young and Darren Davis in a higher intellectual regard than you.
I asked Sicko if the deluge of public response on the Internet and from friends inside and outside of football had much to do with his decision
"I really didn't read about it very much, but friends of mine told me what was out there," Sicko said.
I believe him. He was too busy giving interviews to Peter King, newspapers and appearing on radio programs. Who has time to read the internet when you're telling everyone how your passion is school and you're going to pass on the NFL, all the while talking to NFL teams about playing in the NFL.
Seriously Scott, don't you feel really really stupid right now? I feel stupid for you.
"Over the last couple of days I had a few conversations with the Cowboys and I talked to my agent a couple of times," Sicko said. "They made me feel good about giving football a chance and that it would not ruin my plans for the rest of my life. Basically, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I realize I can probably do both and still accomplish my career goals."
How did you not realize this before? You had to have recognized you can do both. You are a fool. I'm gonna root against you in the NFL. I now hold Sebastian Janikowski, Vince Young and Darren Davis in a higher intellectual regard than you.
I asked Sicko if the deluge of public response on the Internet and from friends inside and outside of football had much to do with his decision
"I really didn't read about it very much, but friends of mine told me what was out there," Sicko said.
I believe him. He was too busy giving interviews to Peter King, newspapers and appearing on radio programs. Who has time to read the internet when you're telling everyone how your passion is school and you're going to pass on the NFL, all the while talking to NFL teams about playing in the NFL.
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