In it, Judge argues that Myron Rolle, the former Florida State safety and Rhodes Scholar, should give up on football and go on to medical school because he has a better chance of making an impact in the medical profession than he ever will on the football field:
Myron Rolle is an extraordinary student. He is not an extraordinary safety. So use that head, Myron, and connect the dots.
[S]tep up. Go to medical school, do your residency and get on with your life. The mind shouldn't be wasted and I hate to think what repeated blows to the head of a strong safety can do.
In Rolle's case, I don't want to know. I'd rather see him use that head to save someone's life rather than saving a spot on a 53-man roster. The guy took a year off from football because he not only valued his education but because he wanted to further it.
So now he's putting it on hold by trying to make professional football a career? Sorry, but I must have missed something.
Excuse me, say what?
So let's see. Myron Rolle may not have been a ball hawking, big playmaking safety at Florida State, so he has no chance of ever being an NFL starter and therefore, he should just give up this silly charade and get on with the rest of his life.
I just think it would be better if Myron Rolle went where he was appreciated and valued most.
And that's not the NFL.
"Any guy who can do what he did shows his dedication and determination," said NFL Network analyst Michael Lombardi. "But safeties that don't play a lot of man-to-man in our league right now are going to struggle. Like I said on the air the other day, when the guys asking the question aren't as smart as the guy answering them you've got a problem."
And that quote, from Mike Lombardi, is the crux of the problem.
I've heard that tired line floated out there before, and as an educator, it makes me want to vomit.
Education isn't valued, and apparently being an academically high performing athlete is a net negative.
I wonder how much his decision to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity to study at Oxford is being seriously held against him because of either ignorance or jealousy on the part of NFL men.
Seems to me Lombardi says as much—that the kid is just too damn smart and, for most teams, would be the smartest person in the organization as soon as he was drafted.
Hell, considering the highly inappropriate and rude question he was asked by the Tampa Bay coaching staff at the Senior Bowl (How did you feel deserting your team last year?), I am astounded that he even got invited to the combine at all.
All of us who write about, follow, work in or care about sports lament the lack of the true scholar athlete in the 21st century.
And then that once in a generation guy comes along, and he gets crap for caring about his education.
I know Myron Rolle is smart enough to know if he can cut it at the next level or not. If he didn't think he had a chance to make the NFL and contribute, I highly doubt that he would be putting himself through all of this.
If he wasn't committed to playing football, he wouldn't have flown to Maryland for a game after participating in the Rhodes Scholar interviews on the same day.
Besides, this young man (so far) appears to be someone that could be held up as an ideal member of any team or community he became a part of. Hell, football would be a vehicle that he could use to get the word out that it's possible to balance high level academics and high level football play. That it is possible to chase your dreams, set high goals and achieve them.
And considering the spate of arrests for DUI and weapons issues and drugs, doesn't the NFL need more Myron Rolles?
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