ESPN's Wright Thompson prepared a taped package on NFL draft prospect Myron Rolle, who accepted a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford and dropped his final year of college football at Florida State. Black pundits have made Rolle a cause celebre, that brains are somehow a detriment to success in pro sports. Rolle touted how Cornel West and Jesse Jackson think he's the future of black America:
Dr. Cornel West thinks of me as the future of black America, and that's lofty praise. That's a wonderful title to have, but it's a lot of pressure. Rev. Jesse Jackson told me Martin Luther King would be proud of me if he was alive today. So these statements really took my breath away for a second.
West himself spoke to Thompson about how prestigious the Rhodes scholarship is (West touted "my brother Bill Bradley") and how much he admired Rolle, who aspires to be a neurosurgeon after an NFL career:
He's a superb scholar. I think he's going to be an exemplary citizen, and I think he's going to be a great athlete, and I think he's going to be a marvelous human being.
Rolle said the election of Barack Obama caused people to be inspired: "As soon as he won, there were people saying 'You can be president someday, Myron.'"
Shortly after the taped package, Rolle was drafted at the end of the sixth round by the Tennessee Titans.
