Want to get out of a final exam? Ask NFL All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers or former NBA great Kobe Bryant for some help.
That's what students in Iowa and Indiana did.
"@AaronRodgers12 our teacher agreed to not give us a final in sports lit if you retweet this! PLEASE RETWEET SHE IS YOUR BIGGEST FAN! (with three emojis of praying hands)," Peyton Meyer of Janesville, Iowa, tweeted.
"I'm sure a sports lit final is very important, but here you go....#PayItForwardFriday," Rodgers replied.
The class made a deal with its teacher, Laura Roberts, who is a Rodgers fan, that a retweet from the quarterback would cancel the final in a sports literature class made up of high school juniors and seniors.
"We were talking about the news in sports like we do every day, and she mentioned that a student at another school tweeted at Kobe [Bryant]," Meyer told ESPN. "We asked if we could do the same, and we know she loves Aaron, so that's why we picked him."
Meyer and his class got the idea from Indianapolis Ben Davis High School senior William Pate.
"@kobebryant PLEASE IF YOU RETWEET THIS WE DONT HAVE TO TAKE THE FINAL PLEASE RT @kobebryant," Pate pleaded on Twitter with a picture of himself and his teacher shaking on the deal.
It took nearly seven hours for Bryant to respond, but he came through in the clutch.
"Hope you have an A in this class," Bryant replied.
Golfer turned diver
Jacksonville University golfer David Wicks had a choice to make Wednesday at the NCAA regional in Baton Rouge. Either he could strip down to his underwear and jump into a pond to find his ball or he could take a two-stroke penalty.
An NCAA championship berth was on the line, so Wicks chose the first option.
"On the fourth hole at LSU's University Club, his 13th of the day, senior David Wicks marked his 3-footer for par and waited for the other two players in his group to finish out," Ryan Lavner of the Golf Channel said. "He crouched on a steep bank to read his putt, but as he stood up and reached for the ball in his right front pocket, he dropped it.
"Of course, it didn't just fall straight down. No, it kicked off the back of his shoe, rolled off the green, around a bulkhead, and after a brief chase he watched it tumble into the water on the left side of the green."
Golf's rules state Wicks needed to find his original ball or be assessed a two-stroke penalty, so into the pond he went.
"It was warm," Wicks told Lavner. "Nice temperature. If I had a nice inflatable and a Diet Coke, it would have been a lovely afternoon."
Wicks found about 30 balls but none were his, and he ended up eating the penalty for a double-bogey 6. However, he recovered with five consecutive pars to end his round, helping the Dolphins force a sudden-death playoff with Northwestern.
Wicks made two pars on the extra holes and helped Jacksonville qualify for its first NCAA final after starting the day six strokes back.
"I was determined to redeem myself," Wicks said. "I was worried that everyone would remember my college career as the guy who lost us a spot at nationals. That wasn't the way I was going to go out."
Sports on 05/20/2017