[Elvis]

http://www.si.com/college-football/2016 ... -trump-hat

Mora warns Rosen of becoming Manziel after wearing anti-Trump hat

by SI Wire

Mon May 23, 2016

UCLA coach Jim Mora fears that his starting quarterback could be heading down a bad path.

Appearing on The Rich Eisen Show Monday, Mora said that he had a conversation with Josh Rosen about heading down the path of Johnny Manziel following his round of golf at Trump National in which he wore a “F--- Trump” hat.

“I’ve asked him this — I’ve said, ‘Who do you want to be? Do you want to be Johnny Manziel or do you want to be Tom Brady?” Mora said. “And you need to make that decision right now and you need to start working in the direction that you want to work in. So, if you’re going to go out on Donald Trump’s golf course and wear a hat that says ‘F-- Trump,’ I said, ‘You’re heading towards Johnny Manziel.’ So, let’s head toward Peyton Manning. Let’s head towards Tom Brady. Let’s head towards Troy Aikman.’”

The rising sophomore is no stranger to mimi-dramas like this one; he was forced to remove a hot tub from his dorm room back in October.

– Kenny Ducey

[Neil039]

We do a disservice to so many of our young people by not teaching and demonstrating social etiquette to them. You don't have to wear hate on your sleeve to be noticed. Do the right things daily and support your valves with solid heartfelt choices instead of brandishing anger and hate. Rant over. I have an 11 year old and I'm constantly talking with him about what his friends do compared to what I allow.

[Elvis]

[Elvis]

http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/a-beau ... rash-mind/

A Beautiful, Brash Mind

Josh Rosen isn't holding back—even if the NFL thinks he should

By Matt Hayes
August 29, 2016


STEPHEN DUNN / GETTY IMAGES

Josh Rosen shouldn't be doing this. He should be measured and restrained, and at all costs, should avoid controversy. But he just can't help himself.

"I am not going to be fake," Rosen says. "I will not be a robot."

His family doesn't want the spotlight shining on him for any of his many controversial opinions. His coaches at UCLA don't want it, either. The last thing they want is the sophomore quarterback projected to go at the top of the NFL draft in a few years doing a 45-minute interview with Bleacher Report where nothing—concussions, politics, social activism—is off the table.

So when you meet this 19-year-old walking, talking paradox who was protected by UCLA for the first year-and-a-half of his college career, you don't know what to expect. Then he speaks his mind like he never has, and there's only one thing left to do.

Tell the story of The Beautiful, Brash Mind of Josh Rosen.

Rosen won't be stuffed into some prepackaged, sterilized template. He won't be who society says he should be. Who you say he should be. Who NFL teams say he should be.

Not even to be the first pick of the NFL draft.

"He's a different bird," says Jason Negro, Rosen's high school coach. "I've never met anyone like him."

This is a boy who was raised in affluence and speaks and acts for social justice of the less fortunate. A young man who doesn't need money and raises it for those who do.

A sophomore quarterback at UCLA who has been told over and over by his coach that every single thing he says and does will be analyzed and scrutinized by the NFL—the place where his football dreams can come true—and can't hold back on any controversial subject that comes up.

"His personality absolutely could be a problem for some teams," an NFC scout warns. "Some want franchise-type players, quarterbacks specifically, who don't rock the boat. Better to be seen than heard."

And yet...What do you think about concussions, Josh?

"The whole CTE thing is completely overblown," he answers.

Before you label him a punk kid popping off about the dangers of concussions in football, understand this: Rosen says nothing without calculation. He's a thinker and a problem-solver yet is rarely happy with the answer he finds. He's a mathematic equation gone haywire, ignoring the constant but drilling deep into the variable while tirelessly searching for why.

So when he says concussions in football are overblown, the next step—answering why—is as much a release as it is an argument that eventually becomes a debate. And heaven help the poor slob who gets into a debate with Josh Rosen.

"The NFL should be more worried about pensions than CTE," Rosen says. "In the NFL, when you have guys run into each other head-on, full speed, s--t is going to happen. But at least they're getting paid millions of dollars. In college, they've been running head-to-head into each other for what, an education? You see the irony? That's what you're supposed to be using your head for, an education.

"If you have CTE by the time you're 60, but you're a millionaire up to that point, awesome. But if you're medically retired from football because of concussions in college and never saw a cent of anything, and all you got was a scholarship, and you're supposed to be academically sound but you have headaches the rest of your life that affect your work, that's f--ked up."

Welcome to the inside of Josh Rosen's head. You're going to hear things here, and some may offend you. But he's not changing for anyone.

From this distance, Rosen is more than any quip or anecdote or tweet. More than a freshman who got caught with a hot tub in his dorm room. More than a kid who wore a "F--k Trump" bandana over his hat while golfing on a Donald Trump golf course.

He's a straight-talking, brutally honest young man who, if you want to throw down on any subject, will go to the mats mentally to prove his point faster than you can Eight Clap.

If football is his dream, debating others to figure out life is his daily obsession.

"Oh yeah, I enjoy it," Rosen says. "You have an issue? Feel free to sit down, and we'll get after it."

So we already covered concussions. What do you think about:

• College players getting paid? "I'm very fortunate, I don't need [money] now. But there are many others selling out every play for what? I know some people don't like to have the debate, but it's not going away, and schools keep making more money. At what point do we finally address it?"

• The speed of the game compared to high school football? "The game isn't that much faster, and the schemes are similar. The only difference is when you make mistakes, you feel it. Physically, I got the s--t kicked out of me last year. It's different in the NFL because you're getting paid to get hit. In college, you're taking hits for someone else to make money."

• The presidential race? "I hate politics. Absolutely hate them. Without going into detail, I strongly dislike certain political preferences and a certain guy's policies. Abolish the EPA? Come on. Cut patient spending? That's just crazy."

• Becoming an agent for social change? "What have I done to earn that? I haven't done anything. We were 8-5 last season, and I had a pretty good freshman year and posted a few social media photos. I don't have a platform to actually make significant change. That's why I'm holding back a little bit."

Imagine that. This is Rosen holding back.

This is him measuring his words during an interview he isn't even supposed to be doing—his family specifically asked UCLA to limit his availability during the period in which it took place.

Like others in the past at UCLA—social activists Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, to name a couple—the strong voice eventually overwhelms the cacophony of those who don't understand.

"Everything Josh says, everything he does, serves a purpose," says Matt Katnik, Rosen's high school friend and a track star at USC. "There is nothing he says or does that hasn't been thought through."

[Elvis]