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Claim: Super Bowl quarterback was formerly a foreign soldier who could toss grenades well.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2004]
Origins: This howler gets dusted off periodically, with the names of different NFL cities slotted into the leg-pull as the teller sees fit. (So far we've seen the maligned city presented as Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Miami, Cleveland, New York, and New Orleans.) The joke has been with us since at least 1999, when the talented thrower was said to hail from
[Collected on the Internet, 1999]
As conditions shifted on the international scene, so did the joke. The talented thrower became a Bosnian in the late 1990s, but versions from 2001 and on presented him as a native of Afghanistan.
The Detroit Lions' football coach goes on a search for a new passing quarterback. He scours the 
passing by at Bam — the coach is on the next plane to Serbia. He tracks down the TV news crews, and eventually finds this man, takes him back to Detroit, and next season the dear Sloba is the biggest star in the NFL. One night, after a game in Chicago, his mom calls him on the phone: "Sloba! How could you DO this to us?" "What's wrong ma?" "Last week, your sister Ariana was raped in the middle of the street in broad daylight, and it's all your fault!" "Mama!" "Shut up! I'm not done yet! The next night, your little brother died in the middle of a firefight when the whole neighborhood got shot "Mama!" "Shut up! I'm still not done yet! And "Mama! How can you say this is my fault!" "Sloba, I will NEVER forgive you for making us move to Detroit!" The type of "misdirected expectations" punchline that fuels the foreign quarterback joke also powers any number of other japes, such as this culture-rivalry example:
A NZ'er moves to Australia and is embarassed by his nationality. He is particularly aware of his unmistakable accent. One day he walks into a shop and asks for "five dollars worth of FUSH and CHUPS".
Barbara "so he grabs some nuts and bolts" Mikkelson
The shopkeeper immediately replies "You're from New Zealand aren't you?" and the NZ'er runs out in embarassment. He goes home, determined to rid himself of his accent. He practices: "FISH and CHIPS, not FUSH and CHUPS," over and over again. Each day he passes the shop, but does not go in, just says to himself over and over again, "FISH and CHIPS," "FISH and CHIPS." Days, weeks, months roll by until eventually he has perfected a normal (Aussie) accent. So he decides it is time to face the test. Into the shop he goes, and in a perfect voice says "Five dollars worth of FISH and CHIPS." Imagine his shock as the shopkeeper replies, "You must be from New Zealand." "OH NO" he cries. "This accent always betrays my nationality. I just cannot hide it." "It's got nothing to do with accents, mate," replies the shopkeeper. "This is a hardware store". Last updated: 29 March 2007 Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2009 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson. This material may not be reproduced without permission. snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.  Sources:
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