As the story goes, JJ McCarthy was signing autographs for fans after a tough loss during his high school playing days. Yes, even back then JJ McCarthy was popular enough to be signing autographs.
JJ was approached by a young girl who asked him to sign a newspaper when she asked him why he looked so upset, almost like he wasn’t having fun out there.
JJ told the young fan that he didn’t play well and that he was unhappy with losing the game.
The young girl explained to JJ that he should be having fun while he was playing football. After all, football is a game, and games are supposed to be fun…right?
She then took the Sharpie marker that JJ was using to sign autographs and drew a smiley face on his hand as a reminder to always have fun.
From that moment on, JJ has drawn the smiley face on his hand before every single football game he’s played, including every game at the University of Michigan.