That's actually a really good point. As is the case with most athletes I like, no one will ever confuse Vince as a thinker. Good at sports, not the brightest dude.
There are some athletes who are borderline idiot-savants. They usually end up making lots of money, which other people are happy to take off them, leaving them penniless and pathetic (literally), within a few years after the end of their playing careers.
One of the most gifted soccer players I ever saw (being too young to have seen Pele or George Best in their primes) was
Paul Gascoigne. His incredible skill, speed of thought and vision on the field was matched only by his numbskullery off it. He was barely able to verbalise his thoughts under normal circumstances and, on occasion would behave in a manner not unlike Rain Man being confronted with a plane ride.
In the 1990 World Cup, in the
semi-final verses the hated Germans, he picked up his 2nd yellow card of the knockout phase (a harsh decision by the referee, by most accounts) which meant that he was automatically suspended for the final should England progress. He spent the next 5 minutes ambling about the field with
tears streaming down his face, and was
this close to being hauled off by the manager. In the end, he got his shit back together, and put on a glorious display in a thrilling match that - predictably - ended up with the Germans beating England on penalties.
The following year, his club reached the final of the FA Cup. The teams took the field as the Band of the Coldstream Guards (the dudes with the big beehive hats) were marching off. Unable to control or express his excitement, "Gazza" ran through the band's ranks, and knocked one of their hats off. Shortly after the start of the match, he kicked an opponent in the solar plexus - for which he was yellow carded - and, moments later, hacked another down as if he were a Cobra Kai sweeping the leg. He avoided ejection* purely for sympathetic reasons, as he was stretchered off the field. He'd ruptured his cruciate ligaments. He would later re-rupture them, days before having the cast removed, falling down the stairs during a brawl in a night club.
After recovering as best as was medically possible at that time, he made a big-money move to Italian club Lazio. His response to the first question posed to him during his introductory press conference...was to belch into the microphone.
* His club, who remained at full strength despite a clear dismissible offense by Gascoigne, went on to win the match after extra time.
