Bathroom chat
Alabama defensive back and Jim Thorpe Award winner Minkah Fitzpatrick found a quiet, but unusual place Sunday for an ESPN interview.
Standing in the foyer of the biggest bathroom he’d ever seen, Minkah Fitzpatrick couldn’t help but laugh.
In the midst of a trip filled with firsts, this was one the Thorpe Award winner didn’t see coming.
He’d already experienced his first NBA game earlier in day, sitting courtside at the Chesapeake Energy Arena as the Los Angeles Lakers took down the Thunder. He was also gearing up to get fitted for his first cowboy hat and pair of cowboy boots, two Thorpe Award traditions.
But at no time during his first trip to Oklahoma for the Thorpe Award banquet honoring college football’s top defensive back did the former Alabama safety think he’d be standing in a cavernous bathroom, talking with an ESPN camera crew during halftime of the Super Bowl.
“We’re in the bathroom that’s probably the size of my house at home,” he said to the camera, grinning in disbelief. “It’s really nice. They’ve got an automatic toilet that flips up. This is wild.”
With the music from Justin Timberlake’s halftime performance pulsing through the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame Super Bowl party hosted by Tim and Liz McLaughlin, conditions were less than ideal for a quick on-camera interview.
So after watching Timberlake’s opening sequence, Fitzpatrick got up from his spot on the floor where he had been lounging against an oversized leopard-print ottoman, watching a television mounted above a roaring fireplace.
He joined the twoman camera crew next to an ice sculpture of the Super Bowl logo in the kitchen, and together, they searched for a quieter place to talk.
With partygoers spread throughout the house and surround-sound speakers piping the music into every room, finding a secluded space wasn’t an easy task.
With the help of Fitzpatrick’s older sister, Destiny, the group found a quiet oasis when they stepped through the doorway of Tim’s palatial bathroom and closet suite.
While the film crew stepped up beside a vanity in bathroom foyer, Fitzpatrick and his sister marveled at the Jacuzzi and chandelier hanging from the ceiling of an adjoining room.
When he finished exploring, Fitzpatrick took his spot in front of the camera to chronicle his first day in the Sooner state for an ESPN feature.
Fitzpatrick took the unconventional circumstances in stride, much like he had all evening.
When he returned from the 10-minute interview, he took a seat on the sofa right beside his dad, who was sitting in a chair eating a plate of pasta.
Fitzpatrick sat hunched forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his hand propping up his chin as he intently watched the game.
When the Patriots scored a touchdown late in the third quarter, Fitzpatrick showed his dad, a lifelong Eagles fan, what went wrong, demonstrating the play with his hands.
“I’m just breaking it down,” he said. “It’s like I’m watching my next opponent just because that’s how my mind works when I watch football.
“I’m looking at it in the sense of, I’m going to be playing those guys or I might be playing with these guys. It doesn’t feel real at times, like, I’m really going to be playing against these guys in some months? It just doesn’t feel real right now.”
As he studied the game, people periodically stopped by to take a picture, get an autograph or ask the projected top10 NFL Draft pick about Nick Saban and Alabama’s recent national championship.
It was a far cry from his solo film room studies, but Fitzpatrick didn’t mind.
It was all a part of the celebration of his Thorpe Award, an honor he worked toward throughout his three-year career with the Crimson Tide.
“One of the coaches knew that this was one of my goals, so he put a picture of the Thorpe in my locker,” Fitzpatrick said. “Every day I would see it, and every day I was just working for that. This is truly really cool being able to fulfill one of my longtime goals.”