Blue Jays Pitcher Lives In a Van by the River

People assume professional athletes make tons of money and can afford to buy everything and live anywhere. With most, that's true.

However, if I have learned anything from VH1, it's from its fine reality-inspired shows about NBA stars and their girlfriends.

However, some sports stars are not stars yetb-- or they are cut from a different cloth.

Daniel Norris, a pitcher in the Toronto Blue Jays organization, is cut from a cloth way outside the lines.

You see, Daniel lives in a van. Down by the river. Or maybe it's the ocean. I wish I was kidding.

"The beautiful thing about professional baseball players is that no two of them are wired the same way. Though they all obviously share the same goal, which is to reach the major leagues and stay there for as long as possible, each has a distinct personality and a different approach to physically and mentally prepare for baseball's grind.

Often times, those differences are subtle. However, there are a few extreme cases. As we learned on Wednesday, among those on the extreme side is top Toronto Blue Jays prospect Daniel Norris, who's offseason preparation consists of spending several weeks living in a van down by the ocean.

According to MiLB.com's Josh Jackson, the 21-year-old left-hander makes the trek from his home in Johnson City, Tennessee, to Dunedin, Fla., but goes out of his way to make frequent stops to surf or go on other adventures that appeal to his outdoorsy nature.

He's equipped to cook his own meals and make his own morning coffee, so the Blue Jays don't have to worry about frequent trips to nearby fast food restaurants. With that said though, the team is fully aware of his adventures and aren't keen on them.

"(The Blue Jays) have expressed concern as far as living in the van. For them, it's just, 'Why?' They've kind of said, 'Well, we don't think that's a very good idea.' I said, 'You've got to understand, I've been doing stuff like this my whole life,'" explained Norris.

"They've kind of said, 'Well, OK, but we don't get it,' and I'm kind of like, 'I don't expect you to get it -- that's OK.'"

Unique, yes. Asking for trouble, probably. Maybe back in 1978 this wouldn't have seemed as risky, but now? Hey if he wins 20 games for them next year, they will buy the whole team vans. And Chris Farley "Best of SNL" tapes.