When Miami Dolphin's QB Daunte Culpepper was told in a morning workout session that the team would be going in "another direction" without him, he responded to coach Cam Cameron with the following remark.
"No," said Daunte Culpepper.
Cam Cameron was confused by Culpepper's reaction, unsure of what to say next as Daunte stood in front of him and stared into his eyes.
"I've never had a player tell me no. Just like that, 'no'. I mean, he really has no choice, but obviously he's unaware of that, so how do you respond? I guess he still thinks he's a Fin, even though we've already cleared out his locker and thrown away anything with his name on it."
As pre-season workouts progressed at the Dolphin's complex, coaches and teammates were instructed to ignore Culpepper, pretending that he wasn't even there. Backup QB John Beck, who was a second round draft pick out of BYU, acted as QB while Culpepper hounded coach Cameron, repeating the phrases, "Put me in coach, come on," "I won't let you down" and "just give me a chance." When he continued to be ignored, he ran out onto the field, started crawling on the ground like a soldier, then pulled a yellow weighted referee flag out of his back pocket, miming a granade pin pull and throw as coaches and teammates looked on in disbelief.
Running back Ronnie Brown just stood there shaking his head, finally saying, "This is just sad. I've seen guys break bones, throw up and pass out, get hit so hard they forget their own name, but nothing this ugly."
Culpepper, who is his own agent, then started talking about himself in the third person, saying things like "My client is a great QB, he doesn't have to prove himself to anybody," and "My client is not interested in a trade. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt." Culpepper would then run up to different coaches and say, "Don't listen to him, he's crazy. I know I'm not very good, but I've got heart, let me at least compete for the job, and if Trent wins, I'll be the Gatorade guy. Anything to stay in Miami, please. You don't even have to pay me, I'll do it for free."
When the coaches and players continued to ignore him, Daunte went into the locker room and duct taped himself to his old locker (now Trent Green's locker), a feat he accomplished with help from a team janitor. Unfortunately, the employee was an older man with poor eyesight, so by the time the team came in from practice, Culpepper had fallen to the ground in a heap of duct tape, sobbing silently and stopping long enough to say, "A little help? Please?"
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