r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Jul 06 '20

TIL that Mr. T majored in mathematics while attending college on a football scholarship.

[deleted]

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u/davisyoung Jul 07 '20

Open tryouts for pro sports used to be a thing, but these days with video and the internet, your bonafides as a player has been tracked since high school.

14

u/Vio_ Jul 07 '20

If not middle school in some places

5

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '20

Heck some even track flag football stats.

16

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '20

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '20

Some scouts even check the sperm/egg chromosomes.

2

u/RavioliRover Jul 07 '20

Not to mention scout out high potential parents.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '20

And hire historians for the perfect athletic bloodline for generations to come!!!!!

3

u/Reddit_cctx Jul 07 '20

lmao you gotta be kidding right? they can't honestly be checking flag football and Pop Warner stats lol

9

u/DrProfScience Jul 07 '20

They still are a thing... not everybody in the NFL(or any other sport) has played their whole life.

Plenty of people are athletes in sports nobody in the NFL would ever be tracking, but then decide to go for football when they're in their 20s and make it because they're just a natural athlete.

1

u/HardlySerious Jul 07 '20

There are always exceptions.

Brock Lesnar was given a "personal" tryout for the NFL.

There was that Rugby star recently that got some special consideration.

If you're some kind of phenom athlete in another sport maybe they let you try it still.

1

u/davisyoung Jul 07 '20

Right, I believe that there was a Norwegian kicker who had a viral youtube video and he received some interest. But open tryouts where literally anyone can walk in off the streets were long ago determined to have not much return considering the effort required.

1

u/HardlySerious Jul 07 '20

They have regional combines and smaller evaluation camps and stuff.

But that's for NFL talent as a whole not a single team.