This Laurinaitis suited for gridiron, not squared circle

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. -- There's an opening for Jim Laurinaitis in WWE. World Wrestling Entertainment. Face paint. Feather boas. Body oil. The whole folding chair, er, enchilada.

Vince McMahon has extended an offer from him to join the wrestling circuit if the Ohio State sophomore linebacker ever gets tired of chasing quarterbacks.

Joe Laurinaitis makes an effort to avoid the pitfalls many professional wrestlers encounter.

What a great life it would be. Following in his father's footsteps. Money, fame ... death.

"There's got to be 100 guys under the age of 45 who have died in my business the last 10 years," says Joe Laurinaitis.

Jim's dad has seen a lot of death. One half of arguably the greatest tag team in history -- The Road Warriors -- Joe made it through the sometimes tragic world of big-time wrestling. Half athletic, half theater, always living on the edge.

"I was a family man," said Joe, whose last WWE match was last June. "No coke, no pot. All these other guys, you're like a rock star. You're yo-yoing up and down putting your bodies out there ... taking something to get you up, taking something to get you down."

Three years ago, the other half of the Road Warriors, Michael Hegstrand, died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack. While fatal heart attacks at age 46 aren't unheard of, they do seem uncommonly common among wrestlers.

Along with other excesses. Joe Laurinaitis trained with Curt Hennig, who also died in 2003 of a cocaine overdose.

On one celebrity website, more than a third of the 59 wrestlers listed who have died since 1995 had heart, drug or alcohol-related problems. Most were in the prime of their lives.

So, no, Jim Laurinaitis won't be changing careers anytime soon. Not when in his first year as a Buckeyes starter he won the Nagurski Award as the nation's best defensive player.

That fact passed almost as quietly as Jim himself as he prepares for Monday's BCS title game. Sophomore linebackers, as a rule, do not become consensus All-Americans. Or tie for second in the Big Ten in interceptions. Or attempt to replace A.J. Hawk as perhaps the best linebacker in school history.

Or inspire a T-shirt that reads: "I Have Laurinaitis"

Media get better copy out of Joe -- "Animal," who used to dress up in tights and spiked shoulder pads. At 46, there is still the hint of a Mohawk.