High school kicks Greg Olsen off field

Being locked out by the NFL is one thing, but Chicago Bears tight end Greg Olsen had to deal with another rejection recently when he was kicked off a high school field while trying to work out.

"The other day I got kicked off a high school field trying to go out and do some field work, so it's not easy," Olsen said Thursday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "You have to find your spots and find someone that will let you use their field.

"[Players] already have done some research on some different places, and maybe as it gets a little closer [to training camp] if it looks like that's what we're going to have to do not being able to go over to Halas, then we'll have to continue to look at different opportunities."

One of those places is not likely to be Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill.

"I live right down the street from Stevenson," Olsen said. "The other day I went out there, done it a bunch of times, and all of a sudden they kicked me off. I tried calling everyone over there to see if I could, and no one would call me back."

Stevenson public information coordinator Jim Conrey said it's school policy not to allow the general public on the facilities during school hours.
"Here's my understanding -- I believe he showed up unannounced during the school day and tried to go out on the field while we were trying to have phys ed classes," Conrey said. "One of the phys ed teachers asked him not to go out on the field."

Conrey said Olsen "challenged" the decision.

"If he wants to give us a call and work something out, we'll see if we can accommodate him," Conrey said. "We understand he's in a tough situation with the lockout. We can't have the general public showing up and disrupting classes. Mr. Olsen said he was a resident of our district, and I'll have him on his word."

Conrey also said there are liability issues.

"Another issue is if we have the general public showing up unannounced and they get injured, we're responsible for that," he said. "If Mr. Olsen started to run sprints and blew out his knee, we're responsible. With his situation as a pro athlete, that could be a huge cost. You can't just show up announced. We'd be happy to work something out. We'd try to accommodate him."

Olsen said Bears players will monitor progress with the lockout in the next few weeks before deciding where to work out on their own.

"We're going to see how this last-ditch effort goes [to resolve the lockout]," Olsen said. "If the lockout seems like it's going to go much longer, we'll organize something up here and get everybody back together. We're going to let these next couple weeks play out and get a feel for how long things are going to go. If it doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel then we'll just take it upon ourselves to do it.

"We've had to do our research [on where to work out]. Preferably, we'd like to do it outside, especially as the weather starts turning. That's ideal."

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(espn.com)