NFL players aren’t simply men who play football for mercenary wages and who satisfy the lust of those who hunger to watch modern-day gladiators beat each other into oblivion for the purposes of determining a winner and a loser. No! They’re real-live people as well. They run restaurants, they own record labels, they play the guitar. In this occasional series of “Other Hobbies,” we’ll show you a slice of life of the man inside the helmet who smashes said helmet into somebody else’s helmet, who also probably has other hobbies you might not know about and would find fascinating if only they shared their gift with the world or at least made a YouTube video about it.
Today’s subject: Rosey Grier and his love of needlepoint
With the sad news that Deacon Jones died last month, Rosey Grier became the last surviving member of the LA Rams’ Fearsome Foursome defensive line. But forget for a second about those hard-nosed defenders who struck fear into the hearts of offensive linemen. Check out what Grier could do with his hands away from the football field (via Dangerous Minds).
As in, needlepoint!
This is not a joke. Rosey Grier really, truly enjoyed needlepoint -- reportedly it calmed his fear of flying -- and you can get your hands on a new copy of what I assume to be the out-of-print book for the low, low price of $250 (or, if you're too cheap to understand how much a copy of this book in mint condition could improve your life, there are apparently gently-used copies you can procure for $50).
Dangerous Minds has a number of pictures of Grier and his handiwork. So if you want to see more, click on this link. Instead, I’ll leave you with this Public Service Announcement that he filmed for the Job Corps (complete with all the 1970s stereotypes that you could possibly fit into a 30-second span).
Fun fact: Rosey Grier, the man who wrestled the gun away from Sirhan Sirhan and the tough guy who became a needle-and-thread wizard, is awesome.
