I know Munchausen specifically refers to feigning illness to get attention, not feigning a career as a pro athlete, but a 5 minute perusal of Wikipedia failed to find anything better than Pseudologia fantastica (which fits I guess).
Anyhoo, I was training this person yesterday, and at the end he announced that he was a player for an NFL team, briefly, back in the late 60’s/early 70’s. Since one of my other coworkers is a huge fan of said team (but her shift hadn’t started yet), I wrote down his name for the express purpose of telling her. Well turns out she was a little kid at the time (natch) and wasn’t into the team just yet, and hence didn’t recognize the name; later when my shift ended, on a whim I went to NFL Reference and decided to look him up.
Long story short there was no record of a man with his name playing for that team at that time, nor was there any record of him playing for any team (given the two plausible spellings in question). Now, all I really care is that he can do his job adequately, and at this point I am inclined to give him the benefit of a doubt. But I’ll throw this on here and see what the cognoscenti thinks; it is quite possible that if he is lying about this then he could be lying about other things, and my boss might need to know. If this needs to go to IMHO that’s fine.
Or, it may also be that he went to training camp, but did not make a final roster.
An example of this is the actor Dean Cain. He was a safety on the Princeton football team, and signed with the Buffalo Bills. He blew out his knee in training camp, and never was on the final active roster. If you look on sites like Pro Football Reference, which are pretty complete in listing players, Cain doesn’t show up.
(On the other hand, yes, this guy may just be a liar. But, it is possible that he’s not.)
I know a guy who says he was in the NFL, yet his name shows nowhere and he isn’t a liar.
He played high-school football, flunked out of college, then signed with Baltimore as a walk-on. He blew an ACL during his first practice, and never played.
Whether this guy is lying or not, I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring it up to the boss just yet unless it’s affecting his work. Give him the chance to do a good job before you do anything that might get him fired. Lots of people tell tall tales and greatly embellish stories about themselves, but as long as it’s harmless it’s not worth losing a job over.
Like I said guys, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, for the moment (yes I did consider the training camp possibility). I doubt I will pry any further unless changing circumstances warrant. Thanks tho.
NFL in the 60s or 70s? Dude’s gotta be pretty old. Even if he is lying just let him. Once people get past a certain age it’s not worth going at them. Nothing to be gained and would probably just make the guy feel like a piece of shit in the process.
It’s not impossible. One of our local sportscasters was signed by the Cowboys, cut during training camp, signed again late in the season, but injured before he was activated. He was never officially on the roster but his biography mentions a “brief career” in pro football. When he talks about it (not often) he points out that he never actually played in the NFL.
At next large meeting: “Hey, by the way everyone, Fred here used to play for the NFL, awesome…what position did you play? Did you know XYZ player? Which game was your favorite?”
Another interesting one: Ed O’Neill (Al Bundy) was originally signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers but was cut in training camp.
Ask him if he ever scored four touchdowns in one game.
I wanted to run this by you guys and see what you thought, and you have done so (and, again, I’ll be dropping the issue unless circumstances change). Telling my boss was indeed an option, one which I had to mention in the OP to get responses, but not one I would have taken lightly and casually. If you wish to read anything more into that, go right ahead.
