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Which NFLer would you be most surprised to learn was a nutter? (1 Viewer)

ignatiusjreilly

Footballguy
[Note to moderators: I don't envision this as a political thread, but if you think it belongs in the PSF, feel free to move it.]

Was just discussing this with a buddy: Hearing Aaron Rodgers' interview on the Pat MacAfee show, we were both genuinely shocked to hear him spouting all sorts of bizarre pseudoscience. That's just really 180 degrees from what our impression of him had been before this week. Maybe he's always been like this and we never realized it, maybe he changed because of his Hollywood fiancee, who knows?

Anyway, that got me thinking: Which NFL player (current or former) would it most surprise you to learn had some really out-there views? Wouldn't have to be about the vaccine or anything relating to contemporary US politics. Think flat-earther, or "moon landing was faked", or some other crazy conspiracy theory, from a guy you had previously regarded as smart, thoughtful and sensible.

For some reason, I found it much easier to think of former players than current ones. My first thought was Peyton. Some of that is probably because the guy has been in the spotlight since he was in middle school, so he's always been very careful about how he comes across. Still, even though I'm pretty sure I don't agree with his politics, I really have a hard time imagining him spouting off about something crazy.

The other former player that came to mind is Larry Fitzgerald. If I ever heard that guy saying something really stupid, it would probably cause me to question everything I've ever believed.

But among current players? My friend suggested Russel Wilson, but I reminded him that, like Rodgers, he has a celebrity wife, so you can't discount that she may have introduced him to some homeopathic woo-woo types. Plus he's super-religious; nothing against that, but it wouldn't totally shock me if, say, he got cancer and announced he was going to try to pray it away.

Who else? Maybe Ryan Fitzpatrick? Don't know much about his personality, but he went to Harvard and got like 1580 on his SATs. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who has an actual medical degree?

There are probably some really obvious names that I'm missing.

 
I think intelligence has little correlation to nuttiness... wisdom is a diff story.
Certainly true. But I was mostly talking about perception. The fact that Fitz went to Harvard certainly doesn't preclude him being a nutter. But it does mean that he's viewed as being super smart, which makes it harder to envision him being a conspiracy theorist.

 
And I am never surprised when anyone turns out to be certifiably bughouse loco.
It's funny, I have the same rule when it comes to athletes/celebrities who cheat on their spouses. Like, I'm sure there are plenty who don't, but there are none where it would surprise me to learn that they do

 
Certainly true. But I was mostly talking about perception. The fact that Fitz went to Harvard certainly doesn't preclude him being a nutter. But it does mean that he's viewed as being super smart, which makes it harder to envision him being a conspiracy theorist.
When I think of "mad scientists", I'm not really picturing someone that's not intelligent... quite the contrary I think most nuts believe themselves to be (and probably are) rather intelligent.

 
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/03/russell-wilson-clint-frazier-concussion 

#NanoBubbles

If I had to pick one, I'd say JuJu Smith-Schuster. He's the first likeable Steeler in my memory and seems to be happy-go-lucky enough to go too far down any one rabbit hole. 
This isn't really based on anything specific, but I could totally see Juju believing in something that's a little unusual but basically harmless. Like he probably has a story about spending a night in a house that turned out to have a ghost, or seeing a UFO.

 
I think I missed the pseudoscience...
Not getting into Rodgers in this thread, other than to say the way he came across in the interview was not at all how I viewed him prior to all this. But mostly, it was just the jumping off point for a separate discussion. 

 
[Note to moderators: I don't envision this as a political thread, but if you think it belongs in the PSF, feel free to move it.]

Was just discussing this with a buddy: Hearing Aaron Rodgers' interview on the Pat MacAfee show, we were both genuinely shocked to hear him spouting all sorts of bizarre pseudoscience. That's just really 180 degrees from what our impression of him had been before this week. Maybe he's always been like this and we never realized it, maybe he changed because of his Hollywood fiancee, who knows?

Anyway, that got me thinking: Which NFL player (current or former) would it most surprise you to learn had some really out-there views? Wouldn't have to be about the vaccine or anything relating to contemporary US politics. Think flat-earther, or "moon landing was faked", or some other crazy conspiracy theory, from a guy you had previously regarded as smart, thoughtful and sensible.

For some reason, I found it much easier to think of former players than current ones. My first thought was Peyton. Some of that is probably because the guy has been in the spotlight since he was in middle school, so he's always been very careful about how he comes across. Still, even though I'm pretty sure I don't agree with his politics, I really have a hard time imagining him spouting off about something crazy.

The other former player that came to mind is Larry Fitzgerald. If I ever heard that guy saying something really stupid, it would probably cause me to question everything I've ever believed.

But among current players? My friend suggested Russel Wilson, but I reminded him that, like Rodgers, he has a celebrity wife, so you can't discount that she may have introduced him to some homeopathic woo-woo types. Plus he's super-religious; nothing against that, but it wouldn't totally shock me if, say, he got cancer and announced he was going to try to pray it away.

Who else? Maybe Ryan Fitzpatrick? Don't know much about his personality, but he went to Harvard and got like 1580 on his SATs. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who has an actual medical degree?

There are probably some really obvious names that I'm missing.
Russel Wilson is fairly nuts if you take a step back, his demands of Seattle like an actual deadline to get him his money. 

-He was I believe cheated on by his 1st wife and so he went on this big social media blitz that he wasn't having sex until he got married again, or he and his current wife when they were dating were not engaging in sex, that's a pretty extreme POV for many. 

All these athletes have wild beliefs behind closed doors...OK not all of them but when I was running nightclubs I got some wild people that passed thru my doors, one of them was Marilyn Manson rolling thru Tampa in I think '96, touring with Danzig and the funny thing was they weren't that weird when they wanted to get inside, it's lie the whole thing is a big farce with their show and band. and I would just say that the folks who look normal tend to be crazy behind closed doors and those that make a spectacle of themselves in public be it their clothes, hair, style, tend to be pretty mild behind closed doors I've found over the years. 

Great thread topic, I was interested in something like this today. It's been a stressful week for the NFL and the fans IMO. 

 
Yeah Russell Wilson is probably the guy I'd be LEAST surprised by.  It's probably 50/50 that guy believes the Earth is 6000 years old.

 
It's funny, I have the same rule when it comes to athletes/celebrities who cheat on their spouses. Like, I'm sure there are plenty who don't, but there are none where it would surprise me to learn that they do
What makes you say that? Because it's not based on any facts HOWEVER....I think if you are not monogamous than you likely believe most other guys do too. 

 
I'd go with Robert Smith, former Minnesota running back. Studied medicine and astronomy, and I'll always respect him for walking away from the game when he still had his health intact. 

 
As an Eagles fan - probably Brandon Graham.  The dude seems as down to earth, real as it gets, nice community guy as I've ever seen. 

 
Although as an ex-Evangelical Christian - the Ravi Zacharias news has pretty much confirmed for me that ANYONE in public spotlight can be a completely different person behind the scenes.

 
Tom Brady 🤔

 honestly, JJ Watt and Alejandro Villanueva seen like dudes I’d be happy to have a beer with even if I didn’t know who they were. 

 
Tom Brady 🤔

 honestly, JJ Watt and Alejandro Villanueva seen like dudes I’d be happy to have a beer with even if I didn’t know who they were. 
If I were to learn that Tom Brady wore goat leggings and sacrificed goats and chickens to some heretofore unknown pagan deity in secret blood rituals; & that these sacrifices were the source of everything from Bledsoe getting hurt to Giselle to the “tuck rule” to his crazy longevity & success as a player at the price of his very eternal soul, I….would not be surprised in the slightest. 
:lol:

 
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Peyton would be the type of 'nutter' that could convince you on his idea. His high charisma during SNL and Manning MNF is all I needed to see assess that.

Larry Fitz, can do no wrong. I feel an easy group to find nutters would be the ex NFL players on the football talk shows. They have got to be pretty odd by now, but I think Strahan and Nate Burleson seem the most normal.

As far as this thread being 'nutter' - I tend to agree, I got to imagine the scenario that I'm in is definitely 'nutter'. In the past 8 weeks I have had a 50/50 chance of looking at my phone and seeing a score of fake football, that either makes my day a 'good day' or a 'bad day'.  I'm too invested in fake football. 

 
Antonio Cromartie, Willis McGahee, Travis Henry, and Philip Rivers are the most accomplished nutters.
Well we know they don’t believe in the conspiracy theory that condoms prevent unwanted pregnancies. (I suppose in Rivers’ case they weren’t unwanted).

 
If I were to learn that Tom Brady wore goat leggings and sacrificed goats and chickens to some heretofore unknown pagan deity in secret blood rituals; & that these sacrifices were the source of everything from Bledsoe getting hurt to Giselle to the “tuck rule” to his crazy longevity & success as a player at the price of his very eternal soul, I….would not be surprised in the slightest. 
:lol:


TB12 & Gronk ?

 
What's really surprising about how dumb NFL players are is they all get top-tier elite college educations for free. 

You'd think they never went to a single class.

 
What makes you say that? Because it's not based on any facts HOWEVER....I think if you are not monogamous than you likely believe most other guys do too. 
Nice try. I've been married 14 years, have never even considered cheating.

What makes me say that famous people are more likely to sleep around? Um, the fact that I'm a sentient human being?

 
I'd go with Robert Smith, former Minnesota running back. Studied medicine and astronomy, and I'll always respect him for walking away from the game when he still had his health intact. 
All of the guys who walked away from football while they were still young come across as really smart dudes: Andrew Luck, Chris Borland, Luke Keuchly. There's an obvious connection there. I'm reminded of my favorite lines from Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues:

You've heard of people calling in sick. You may have called in sick a few times yourself. But have you ever thought about calling in well?

It'd go like this: You'd get the boss on the line and say, "Listen, I've been sick ever since I started working here, but today I'm well and I won't be in anymore." Call in well.”



 
I’ll pick from my base of knowledge and say Matthew Stafford - a super professional, down to earth, unassuming family man that doesn’t even bother with any form of social media and, for him, dressing up for a press conference extends to a fresh t shirt and a backwards baseball cap. Yeah, I’d have a beer with that dude, he just seems totally normal and completely and utterly uninterested in the trappings of being a ‘star’ 

 

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