https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whoid76nn3k
While everyone is sitting and wondering whether Marshawn Lynch is actually going to come back to the NFL, the Seahawks’ former star running back is doing fun stuff like going out into the wilderness with Bear Grylls. That doesn’t sound too terribly fun for Lynch, but for the people who watched his episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls, it was a blast.
You may remember this show as the hour of television in which Grylls covered Shaquille O’Neal in a gigantic pile of leaves. Basically, Grylls and a celebrity (in this episode, this role was played by Lynch) go and face the elements, then hijinks ensue. One such moment came when the two were setting up camp and Lynch was shocked to learn that there was no tent, so he had to sleep outside. Grylls offered to snuggle up with him under a nice, warm shelter that he made, but Lynch shot that down immediately and decided that he was going to sleep outside with his backpack as his pillow.
Another came when the dudes needed something to start a fire, so Grylls asked Lynch cut off one of his dreads. This strategy ended up working out really well, even though Lynch seemed pretty skeptical about whether this would be effective.
There were also some pretty serious moments during the episode, like Lynch summarizing his decision to retire from the NFL by saying “when it’s time, it’s time.” Lynch also talked about how he thinks it’s important for everyone who wants to try and make it in the NFL to have a backup plan, and told Grylls a little bit about what his plan was in the event that football didn’t work out. Transcript via SB Nation:
G: “What was the backup plan?”
M: “My degree. Social welfare — basically what I’m doing right now with my foundation.”
G: “What does that do?”
M: “We’re about empowering underprivileged youth in the inner city. Our biggest thing is we got babies killing babies from where I’m from right now. We get through to that one kid, who knows where he end up? We do a lot for them — financial, literacy — we give scholarships.”
We all know that when Lynch gets profound, he says some things that are really moving, and this is no exception. If you’d like to watch the entire episode, you can do so right here.
(Via SB Nation)