XFL’s ‘He Hate Me’ explains nickname in hilarious fashion once again

The XFL was known for many brilliant ideas, including — as Yahoo Sports Radio’s Talk of Fame Network pointed out in a recent interview with former Las Vegas Outlaws star Rod Smart — the human coin toss.

You may not recognize Smart’s name, but it was the moniker on the back of his jersey — “He Hate Me” — that remains the lasting memory from World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon’s shortlived extreme football league in 2001. Despite Smart’s many attempts to explain the nickname, it’s still cause for confusion, and he didn’t exactly clear it up when asked why he changed his nickname from “The Rocket,” which had followed him from his days as a speedy Lakeland (Fla.) High tailback.

“I’m not sure (how that happened),” he said on the latest Talk of Fame broadcast, “but I can kinda get an idea. If you have a rocket in front of you, and it’s steady going past you, soon enough you’re going to hate that rocket.”

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Well, then, that makes about as much sense as his explanation to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2004.

“Basically, my brother’s my opponent,” he said. “After I win, he’s gonna hate me. It is what it is. It’s a saying I was saying when I’d feel something wasn’t going my way. For example, (when) I was on the squad in Vegas and coach was putting other guys in.

“If I felt I’m better than them, you know, hey, he hate me. See what I’m saying? Give me a chance. That’s all I ask. It came from the heart. Within. The way I felt.”

Except, there wasn’t much hate for Smart, whose No. 30 jersey sold like wildfire. The attention earned him a couple of NFL special teams stints in Philadelphia and Carolina, the latter of which lasted four seasons, including a 100-yard kickoff return and a Super Bowl XXXVIII appearance. He wore Smart on the back of his jersey then, if only because he didn’t think to legally change his name a la Chad Ochocinco.

Smart is purportedly working as a high school counselor in the Charlotte, N.C., area now, although his LinkedIn profile describes his current professional status as “entrepeneur, philanthropist, actor/model.”

The last Shutdown Corner heard from Smart, he was indeed starring in an independent film entitled, “Don’t Blame the Lettuce,” for which — let’s be honest — he deserved an Oscar nomination in 2010.