Michael Irvin experienced tons of success while he starred at the University of Miami. Because of his success, the Dallas Cowboys, who were really bad at the time, selected Irvin in the first round of the 1988 draft.
The sudden change from winning almost every game to losing almost every game hurt Irvin so badly that he spent the majority of his early career crying.
"Dog, I was crying for real," Irvin told DallasNews.com. "I'm not talking about pouting, I'm talking about tears falling out of my eyes crying because I wasn't used to it."
During his rookie season, the Cowboys went 3-13, and it didn't get any better the following year.
"And then we drafted Troy Aikman, and I just thought, 'OK now I got who I need. I got it, I got a quarterback.' And I cried 15 games the next year. We were 1-15 that year. I was like, 'wow this is incredible.' I went from losing maybe two games my whole college career to losing every game I played in the pros. So it was a hard, hard turn."
Ultimately, the Cowboys did turn. Irvin and the Cowboys won three Super Bowls and he was named a hall of famer shortly after his career had ended. I'm sure those tears early in his career turned into tears of joy.
