Week 14 Story: Hick Town

A local athlete is a superstar, with offers to many of the best schools across the entire country. However, each time one of the coaches from these schools comes around to visit, the player immediately decides that the school and coach are not good enough for them, and proceeds to mock the coaches and their program for whatever trivial reason he can decide. When most have come and gone, one of the top programs comes along, and even though he loves the coach and the school, he's convinced that the school is in the middle of nowhere, and casts them out for not being perfect, calling the city a "hick town" for being in a more rural state.

After this, the kid's coach gets word that all of these schools have moved on from him, and that they will no longer accept his commitment. When one of the worst schools comes calling, interested in the young athlete, he has no choice but to choose this school, with only weeks remaining until the signing period opens. One of their coaches arrives, and even though he hates the idea of attending such a school, he has no choice and agrees to play for the coach. Distraught, he and his coach decide to make a visit to this school so that he may see where he will be attending. While they are heading to the school, they pass through the town of another university that had come calling.

"Who do these statues along the road belong to?" questions the kid.

"Those belong to the last school you turned down," replied his coach.

"Whose trophies are those? They're impressive."

"Those belong to the last school you turned down."

Heisman Park in Norman

Source: VisitNorman

Distraught, the kid breaks down, aware of the mistake that he made. Not only is the school amazing, but the area around the school is much different than he imagined. Instead of being in the middle of nowhere, it's surrounded by a large city, with many things to do and much fun to be had, both on and off campus. He begs his coach to let him visit the school and check out the area, and after a few calls, they are able to meet up with them and begin a tour.

After a short while, when the tour is wrapping up, they are offered to meet the man who would have been his position coach had he attended the school. When he arrives, he finds that it is none other than the coach who claimed to be with the school he was so distraught to be forced to go to!

"I wanted to humble you some before you walked into our facilities. You still have a spot available if you're willing to take it, but it won't be an easy road," coach stated. Immediately, the kid says yes, and signs at the school he knew he really wanted to be at all along.

Author's Note: In the story King Thrushbeard, the young woman in the story is courted by many suitors, who she immediately declined to go with based on a variety of factors. One man shows up who she likes quite a bit, but she can't get over his beard and mocks him for it, nicknaming him King Thrushbeard mockingly, which angers her father to the point where he gives her to a seemingly poor beggar outside her window. After living with him and being humbled, she finds out that it was King Thrushbeard himself, and finally marries the king she realized had all that she wanted. I wanted to adapt this to a college athlete who waits so long to choose a school, writing off some of them very early, that they have no options towards the end except for choices that are not nearly as good as they once had. At the end, he realizes that one of them hadn't given up on him, and he still had his best option available, but they had to humble him into realizing how fortunate he was.

Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886).