Speaking of players addressing the media in the most uncomfortable of predicaments, my I re-introduce one Leon Lett.
Everyone remembers the former Dallas Cowboy's all-time gaffes - at Super Bowl XXVII and in the snow against the Miami Dolphins in 1993. But afterward - unlike Dirk Nowitzki - Lett went into hiding. For days. For weeks. For months. Forever.
At Super Bowl XXVIII Media Day in the Georgia Dome, Lett tried to face the music. But the music freaked him right out. Started sweating profusely. Mumbling. Wound up running - literally - off the field. Never to be heard from again. At least not in front of a microphone or camera.
Until - lookie here - today!
To my knowledge Lett still hasn't granted a detailed interview about his play against the Dolphins or the Super Bowl stupidity of showboating before the end zone and getting ran down by Buffalo's Don Beebe. But tomorrow Lett will do something much more impressive than talking to the media when he graduates from UNLV.
Lett, a 7th-round draft choice from Kansas' tiny Emporia State in 1991, played in two Pro Bowls and won three Super Bowl rings with the Cowboys. He'll get his degree in university studies with an emphasis in sociology and history.
"I was the only child in my family to not have a college degree so this is something I've promised my mom I would do," Lett says.
Lett's '90s era-teammate Troy Aikman also earned his degree (from UCLA) recently.
Super Bowls before studies. Jimmy Johnson must be so proud.
