Collingwood star Mason Cox has opened up on his journey from the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, to heaving, roaring Australian crowds of 90,000.
The former faculty basketballer was interviewed by sports activities journalist Jon Wertheim on American present affairs present 60 Minutes on Monday morning (AEDT) about his uncommon journey to the AFL and the way he got here to be taught the actual expertise that Australians have grown up studying.
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Wertheim, a senior tennis commentator who has made common journeys to Australia, struggled to elucidate the intricacies and quirks of the sport to Americans.
“It’s a game of almost cartoonishly violent collisions – without the benefit of pads … it features non-stop trash talk and is played on a field practically the size of a speedway,” the interview begins.
“Footy entails players running about 10 miles a game … juking, tackling, passing by punching the ball, and scoring by kicking the ball through goalposts.”
Cox described it as fully distinctive.
“It’s unlike anything else you’ve ever seen,” he mentioned.
“It’s probably the roughest sport in the world I’d say.
“It’s a mix of basketball, football. It’s a mix of soccer, cricket, even.
“There’s really no rules.”
Wertheim in contrast the speccy to getting dunked on, with Cox describing it as “insanity”.
For all the varied American-isms within the interview, Wertheim obtained one factor appropriate – Cox is likely one of the most “unlikely player(s) in the history of the sport”.
“At 6’11 (211cm), he’s the tallest player ever to suit up,” he mentioned.
“He lived the first 23 years of his life without even knowing that the sport of footy even existed.”
Cox was first launched to the game after being invited to the 2014 US International Combine after graduating from Oklahoma State University, the place, like his future captain Scott Pendlebury, he had a basketball background.
He stays the one male American within the league, solely the third born-and-raised American to play aggressive video games at VFL/AFL degree.
He is joined within the girls’s ranks by Danielle Marshall at Essendon, who’s the primary participant recruited to play skilled from the few AFL golf equipment that exist exterior Australia, hailing from the USAFL competitors (the place Cox’s two brothers now play).
Cox’s heritage means he brings a harsh Southern twang to a sport performed with a broad, usually Victorian drawl, and that is picked up in an interview with Collingwood captain Darcy Moore.
“He’s kinda this weird fusion between southern drawl and Aussie accent,” Moore says.
“He definitely loves putting it on for us.”
Asked what he thought Cox’s probabilities of success had been within the league, Moore is unequivocal.
“Oh, you could comfortably say one in a million,” he says.
“Because there’s so many talented players all around the country that just never make it. And the odds of succeeding are just so — it’s so difficult.
“Like any professional sport, there are so many things seen and unseen that make it really hard to succeed.
“No knowledge … Living, you know, thousands of miles from home by himself. It’s an extraordinary thing.”
The distinction between Cox’s earlier house and his adopted house is made starkly clear when Wertheim interviews considered one of Cox’s highschool classmates (and faculty teammate), Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart.
“There’s no way that he’s not on the basketball team at 7 foot,” Smart mentioned.
“What else could you possibly do at 7 feet tall other than play basketball, right? And Mason is a prime example of that there’s a whole possibility of things you can do at 7 foot.”
Cox performed soccer in his youth, successful a state championship in highschool in 2008.
“The old saying (is) … all his height is wasted on this tall dude for nothing,” Smart mentioned.
“But as we’ve seen, it’s not wasted at all.”
Cox walked onto the basketball workforce at Oklahoma State, finally enjoying three seasons at energy ahead and as soon as shutting down now six-time NBA All-Star and two-time scoring champion Joel Embiid in a Big 12 convention sport.
After faculty, Cox was provided a six-figure engineering job at ExxonMobil when the decision concerning the AFL worldwide mix got here from skilled scout Jonathan Givony.
When he arrived in Australia and signed with Collingwood, it was now-head coach Craig McRae that was tasked together with his growth.
“We get the initial taste of what he’s capable of,” McRae mentioned.
“Can’t kick, can’t handball, but 7-foot tall.
“We grew up, you know, sleeping with little footballs. We slept and breathed it and idolised the game. Mason had none of that.”
Asked about what gave McRae perception that Cox had what it took to reach the league, McRae spoke to Cox’s tenacity.
“He’s got that chip, that ‘Hey, I’m gonna prove a lot of people wrong’.”
Cox, now an Australian citizen, speaks concerning the adversity he confronted on the journey to being a stalwart of Collingwood’s finest 22.
In 2019, Cox tore two retinas, quickly blinding him, leaving him with mild sensitivity that required six surgical procedures, and finally for him to put on prescription protecting goggles.
“I’d lost one of my senses, all within 48 hours. And had to figure out if I was ever gonna see again.”
Despite the challenges and quirks of his story, Cox says he has no regrets, and would need to see extra Americans within the league.
“I would love an American to break every single record I’ve done because it means I’ve left a mark,” he mentioned.
“I’m gonna look back and think, you had the most ridiculous life you could possibly think of that makes no sense.
“And I took it by the horns, and I made the most of it.”
Cox now has a YouTube channel the place he promotes the sport internationally, taking to Twitter to say he “couldn’t be more excited to share this sport to so many that do not know it exists.”
Source: www.news.com.au
