Are people really this stupid?

First, let me introduce you to my favorite player in this year’s NFL Draft:  Myron Rolle, a safety from Florida State.  Myron (yes, we’re on a first name basis) graduated from Florida State in 2 1/2 years with a degree in Excercise Science, and passed all the preliminary pre-med courses, as he is an aspiring neurosurgeon.  In 2008, he was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, meaning he’d have the ability to attend the extremely prestigious Oxford University in England to advance his studies.  Myron was eventually selected for a scholarship, and is currently finishing up his M.A. in Medical Anthropology.  Myron was no slouch on the football field, either, garnering 1st Team Freshman All American in 2006, and was 2nd Team All ACC and 3rd Team All American as a junior in 2008.

Rolle actually skipped his senior season at Florida State and has spent the last year in Oxford, England furthering himself in the world of academia.  He also started the Myron L. Rolle Foundation, which aims at helping families in need all over the world.

The reason I’m writing this post is not to simply praise Myron (but I really, really want the Seahawks to draft him), but it is to respond to some claims made by NFL talent evaluators and NFL executives:

According to this story and corroborated by ESPN, Yahoo, and others, some people think that Myron Rolle is in fact too smart to be a high pick in this April’s draft.  Apparently, since his outside interests include studying stem cell research, reading papers on neurosurgery and attempting to help advance medicine, he is seen as someone who doesn’t focus enough on football.

Wait wait wait…what?  In a league that embraces guys who cheat on their wives, go to jail for possession of marijuana, kill people in drunk driving accidents (Leonard Little, Donte Stallworth), and so on and so forth, we are shying away from one of the greatest human beings in recent memory because he has other interests outside of football?

This is a sad, sad day for the human race.  Apparently coaches want players who are unintelligent and have nothing to fall back on if football fails, so they’ll work harder than a kid who says he wants to play 10 years and then go become a doctor.  Are you fucking kidding me?  I seriously don’t even begin to understand the logic behind this.  First of all, if he’s that smart, don’t you think he’ll destroy that playbook in half the time it takes some dumb kid who never went to class?  Secondly, he has always been a really good player.  It’s not as if I’m saying draft him on his philanthropy alone.  This guy will instantly become a fan favorite and the community will embrace him 110%.  It’s an absolute mystery as to why anyone would think otherwise.

Sometimes in life, you have to wonder aloud if you’re the only person on this planet who isn’t a complete fucking moron.  Stories like this make me lose faith in the intelligence of people in this country.  Myron Rolle is an outstanding athlete, but more importantly — yes, more importantly — he is an outstanding human being.  With all the talk of drafting ‘high character guys’, why would you not want this guy on your team?