15 New Pros Who Had #RookieProblems
An MLB rookie gets the silent treatment after his first big league hit. An NHL rookie takes warm-up laps by himself. Some things just come with that newbie territory.
Luckily for fans, many of these #RookieProblems involve hilarious results. The following is a collection of those mostly lighthearted, funny issues new professionals might have to deal with.
Let's agree that rookie hazing can get out of hand and leave that out, except for mostly innocent fruit-snack-related instances and the like, eh?
On with the show, and Eli Apple's mom driving him to practice.
Hyun Soo Kim
1 of 15
#RookieProblem: Silent treatment
A ballplayer's first major league home run is a big deal—something to be celebrated. And yet, veterans often like to razz a guy by ignoring his achievement.
Baltimore Orioles outfielder Hyun Soo Kim hit a solo shot off Cleveland Indians reliever Jeff Manship in May, the first MLB homer for the 28-year-old rookie from South Korea.
Per Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun, "When Kim returned to the dugout, he received the silent treatment from his teammates before players suddenly mobbed him with high fives and sunflower seeds."
The scene was reminiscent of Richie Shaffer's memorable first big league hit in 2015. Shaffer's Tampa Bay Rays teammates snubbed him in the dugout, so he hilariously high-fived the air instead.
Ezekiel Elliott
2 of 15
#RookieProblem: Mo' money, mo' problems
Things appear to be going mostly well for Dallas Cowboys rookie Ezekiel Elliott. The running back did have one problem, though.
Right after Elliott signed a four-year, $24.9 million contract, his old Ohio State teammate Cardale Jones got in touch.
Jones tweeted, "About time, I've been waiting on that five dollars too long, pay up lol congrats."
Apparently the two had an unsettled bet. All in good fun.
Breanna Stewart
3 of 15#RookieProblem: Ruthless "welcome"
Seattle Storm rookie Breanna Stewart is averaging 16.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game in late June. She won Rookie of the Month honors in May and will compete for Team USA in Rio.
And yet, she's still a rookie in the WNBA. New York center—and Stewart's former UConn teammate—Kiah Stokes not-so-nicely reminded her of that fact with a vicious block in a June game.
Naturally, this block could have victimized anyone, but in Stewart's case, it also drew more attention to her "still a rookie" status. As For the Win put it, "Breanna Stewart is welcomed to the WNBA with brutal block."
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Larry Nance Jr.
4 of 15
#RookieProblem: No room on the bench
Not all NBA rookies have the right to a seat on the bench, especially not when they have to share real estate with a legend.
In January, Los Angeles Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. was bumped from his seat on the bench to make room for Kobe Bryant. Bryant, in the midst of his final NBA season, wasn't even playing in the game due to a shoulder injury.
According to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, Nance later said, "It's out of respect. You earned that."
Osagie Odiase
5 of 15#RookieProblem: Jersey oops
Rookies aren't always the most well-known athletes—unless they're Ben Simmons, of course. CFL defensive back Osagie Odiase's own team didn't even get his name right.
The Calgary Stampeders issued the 25-year-old rookie a jersey with his first name on the back—not the norm. Odiase didn't seem to mind, however.
He told Scott Mitchell of the Calgary Herald, "It's Nigerian, actually, and it means, 'Gift from God.' My dad's from Nigeria, so it's a cool name to have on your back, I guess."
Tyler White
6 of 15
#RookieProblem: Dude, where's my car?
Pranking rookies is definitely still a thing in sports. It certainly is on the Houston Astros, anyway.
Astros rookie first baseman Tyler White was the victim of a little joke at the hands of his teammates in early June.
They parked his Range Rover on the warning track in center field at Minute Maid Park and waited for White to discover the trickery during batting practice.
Pitcher Dallas Keuchel said, "Just a nice joke. Rookies get the brunt of a lot of jokes, myself included when I was a rookie. It's just all fun and games," per Alyson Footer of MLB.com.
Hunter Shinkaruk
7 of 15#RookieProblem: Flying solo
Apparently the solo skate is a bit of a thing for NHL rookies. The Arizona Coyotes did it to forward Max Domi in October, and the Vancouver Canucks did it to center Hunter Shinkaruk in November.
Shinkaruk led his teammates out on the ice for warm-ups during his NHL debut, only his teammates didn't follow.
Shinkaruk was later traded to the Calgary Flames.
Tennessee Titans
8 of 15
#RookieProblem: Spelling bee
Rookies doing hilarious and potentially embarrassing things seems par for the course. Remember Chicago Cubs slugger Kris Bryant in an Elsa costume in October?
The Vancouver Canucks hosted a rookie lip-sync battle as part of a charity event in February, and the Tennessee Titans one-upped them all with a rookie spelling bee in June. Bring back elementary school nightmares for anyone else?
Veteran linebacker Brian Orakpo said, "It was so fun to watch. It was very funny," per Jason Wolf of the Tennessean.
Carson Wentz
9 of 15
#RookieProblem: Airport boos
By all accounts, Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz is doing OK so far. He was the No. 2 pick in the 2016 NFL draft and signed a four-year deal worth over $26 million.
And yet, there was one fan who booed Wentz for refusing him an autograph at the Philadelphia airport. (Kristaps Porzingis can relate to those rookie boo problems.)
Later, Wentz somehow found himself in a situation no one wants to be in—locked in a gas station bathroom. He was rescued thanks to a few savvy attendants and a pair of garden shears, according to the QB's own account of events on Twitter.
Salah Mejri
10 of 15
#RookieProblem: Laughing at, not with
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich can be a cold guy. Then again, even he had to laugh when Dallas Mavericks center Salah Mejri used poor judgement to yell something in his direction during a losing effort in February.
It certainly looked like the then-rookie was trash-talking the legendary coach. Pop laughed to himself and later shared a hearty chuckle with Tim Duncan, too.
The laughter was a #rookieproblem Mejri brought upon himself.
Myles Jack
11 of 15
#RookieProblem: Unfamiliar conditions
There is a lot of newness in the life of a rookie—new team, new coach and for many, a new location.
Jacksonville Jaguars rookie linebacker Myles Jack, for instance, played his high school football in Washington and his college ball at UCLA.
Despite a college career in Southern California, Jack was apparently still not prepared for the hot conditions of a Florida summer. He showed up to the first practice of a three-day minicamp in June wearing long sleeves.
Per Mike DiRocco of ESPN.com, Jack said, "This is something different. [California] is hot, but this humidity is something else."
Jared Goff
12 of 15
#RookieProblem: Old tweets
One thing all young athletes—particularly those about to be drafted— should do is take a look back through old tweets.
The Dallas Cowboys selected quarterback Dak Prescott in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL draft. Unfortunately for Prescott, he tweeted some unflattering things about longtime Cowboys QB Tony Romo in a 2012.
But that wasn't as bad as the situation with Los Angeles Rams QB Jared Goff. The No. 1 overall pick tweeted, "I really hope Yasiel Puig gets a fastball in his ribs tomorrow," in 2013. Yikes.
Puig, a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, pointed out the nasty sentiment with a brilliant tweet welcoming Goff to L.A. (The two later made up.)
Laquon Treadwell
13 of 15#RookieProblem: All the fruit snacks
If having a whole mess of fruit snacks is wrong, then it's possible Laquon Treadwell doesn't want to be right.
The Minnesota Vikings rookie wide receiver discovered 60,000 Welch's fruit snack packs in his new Range Rover in June, put there by teammates Kyle Rudolph and Teddy Bridgewater.
Treadwell told Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press, "That definitely was a good one. I didn't see that one coming at all."
Remember when Phoenix Suns forward Mirza Teletovic filled rookie teammate Devin Booker's car with Styrofoam packing peanuts? Fruit snacks are better than that, at least.
Eli Apple
14 of 15
#RookieProblem: Ride from mom
On the one hand, it's awesome to have a supportive mother. On the other hand, it might not be ideal for a professional football player have his mom drop him off at practice.
And yet, this happened to New York Giants rookie cornerback Eli Apple.
Sean Wagner-McGough of CBS Sports wrote, "Annie Apple's reason for dropping off her son makes sense, even if Eli Apple didn't appear to be pleased. As she wrote in a series of tweets, 'We enjoy these important life moments as a family. You only get one first day of OTAs. Plus we're close by. So yay.'"
It's kind of cute, right?
D'Angelo Russell
15 of 15#RookieProblem: That bro code
Unlike some other examples on this list, D'Angelo Russell’s #rookieproblems blew up, way up.
In February, the Los Angeles Lakers guard filmed a video of his teammate, Nick Young, apparently admitting to infidelity. When the video somehow got leaked, Russell took all kinds of heat for breaking the "bro code."
Months later, Russell joked about the incident in a new Foot Locker commercial, but Young still wasn't laughing.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
