How much do you love surfing? Maybe you
get up at stupid o’clock every morning in the hope of hitting upon the
perfect dawn breaks. Maybe you’ve given up a lucrative job in the city
to be nearer the beach, and therefore nearer the surf.
But would you turn down $23million (almost £15million) so you can
surf? Just let that sink in a second… Twenty. Three. Million .Dollars.
It sounds crazy, but that’s exactly what future NFL star Marcus
Mariota has just done. The 22 year old, who’s of Polynesian descent and
grew up in Honolulu is an absolute surfing nut, having virtually gown up
on a board.
But, as he grew older, his talent for American Football was obvious.
And now, after graduating from the University of Oregon where he played
for the hilariously named Oregon Ducks football team, he was chosen as
the 2nd player in the NFL draft.
Mariota (far right) with his family – Photo: Marcus-Mariota-shaka
This basically means that, out of all the new players that can be
selected by all of the teams in the NML, he was the 2nd most desirable.
Mariota was also awarded the coveted Heisman Award – an honour given
to the the single most outstanding college football player in the entire
US every year. In short, he’s kind of a big deal.
However, talks between the Mariota and his would be employers, the
Tennessee Titans, have broken down over the 6’4″ Quaterback’s love of
surfing. There’s a clause in his contract banning him from taking to the
waves on a board, so he’s reportedly refusing to sign on the dotted
line.
The amount of money he’s turning down because of his desire to surf
is unknown, but the 1st draft pick Jameis Winston, picked up a cool
$23.35 million with a $16.7 signing bonus.
And 3rd choice Dante Fowler was contracted for $23 with an
additional $15.3 million for putting pen to paper. All of this means
that’s it’s reasonable to assume Mariota was turning down somewhere in
the region of $40million.
Photo: cbssports.com
It’s worth noting that, while his pro-surfing stance is undoubtedly
admirable, Marcus Mariota will almost certainly still sign on the dotted
line when the contract has been renegotiated, either allowing him to
surf, or stuffing his pockets with enough green bills to forget about
boards and barrels for a few years.
