They found "He Hate Me" on Tuesday, toward the end of a very strange day in which a former Carolina Panthers player who few people had thought much about for a dozen years suddenly became a lead news story nationwide.
But even after he was located, safe and alive, questions remained as to where Rod "He Hate Me" Smart had been. And why his family couldn't reach him for six days. And who exactly had found him. And how lost he really was.
It started when the Lancaster (S.C.) County Sheriff's Office issued a missing persons advisory Tuesday morning for a 42-year-old man named Torrold Smart, which turned out to be the real first name of Rod Smart.
Smart had last been seen on June 12, at approximately 10:30 a.m. in Indian Land, S.C. That's just south of Charlotte's Ballantyne area.
"Mr. Smart is driving his silver 2016 Nissan Maxima with NC tag PJR1759," the release read. "It is unusual for him to be out of touch for this long. Mr. Smart's family is worried about his safety and well-being."
The Herald of Rock Hill broke the story first, at about noon, and then came the media blitz. Smart's name and speculation about his situation was bandied about on just about all the national sports and news outlets, from ESPN to Sports Illustrated to TMZ.
Everyone used the nickname when describing Smart, of course. "He Hate Me" was Smart's greatest gift to football _ a moniker so memorable it was nearly impossible to forget once you heard it. While playing in the short-lived XFL in 2001, Smart had the words "He Hate Me" plastered on the back of his jersey instead of his surname. The XFL encouraged such things. He was that league's second-leading rusher that year, so he became one of the XFL's stars.
Once that league folded, the Panthers picked Smart up in 2002. He was a popular figure for the team, especially during the 2003 season that led to the team's first Super Bowl appearance.
