I was listening to The Doug Gottlieb Show on my way home from work yesterday, and Marcellus Wiley was on to discuss a number of topics, ranging from Mark Ingram to Matt Leinart and even a little Dancing With the Stars. Marcellus, always well-spoken as any Ivy League alumnus would be, also offered up some tales about Ryan Leaf and a great little tidbit about his interactions with guns as an NFL player.
I've searched all over for the audio for this, but ESPN surprisingly chose not to include this in their snipets of the day's show, and no one else seems to have it either. But in case you missed it, I'll paraphrase because they're too good not to share. First, the Ryan Leaf story.
We all know the well documented struggles of the QB bust out of Wazzu. Upon getting to the Chargers though, Marcellus learned that the legend of Ryan Leaf has more to it. Apparently, at one point during a poor stretch of his rookie season, Leaf didn't seem to concerned with the poor play and would often be seen laughing and yucking it up after bad losses. This behavior continued upon landing in the team charter where three limos ready to party were awaiting Leaf and whoever wanted to head out. Keep in mind this is the plane that also has the owner, GM, team president and the like aboard. Smartly, everyone else on the plane passes not wanting to make a bad impression. Leaf continues this smug and nonchalant attitude for a number of games in which the team lost. Apparently, according to Wiley, the team got so fed up with it they decided to teach him a little lesson. Wiley said on the show yesterday that linemen on the team were basically telling the opposing D line, "Hey you want a shot at this guy? Come over here. Go through me, this is the best place to get it." And he was repeatedly sacked very hard with the help of his offensive linemen!
Hahahaha Good for them. I've seen shit like that in movies, but never really thought it happened in the NFL.
Now for the guns story. This one is even better.
News broke yesterday afternoon that Plaxico Burress will likely be serving out his full sentence in prison, as he was denied a 2nd work release. (This is stupid, but I'll save this argument for another day.) So the conversation moved to guns and NFL players and Wiley was asked if he was ever in a situation in which guns were involved as an NFL player. Wiley, who is not a proponent of players having guns, surprisingly said, "Oh yea. I almost got killed." My ears perked up. He went on to tell a story about how he was leaving a night club in LA in his brand new ride with some of his boys. Traffic around the club was at a standstill and some of his boys had hopped out and were milling around and hollerin' at some hoes and such. Well things got ugly quick when one of his boys apparently talked to the wrong girl and set some dude off. The guy says, "OK..hold up. And he goes back to his car, and he grabs something and starts coming back toward us," Wiley said. There was nowhere for him to run, nowhere to move his car and this dude is marching over to his whip totin' a pistol and ready to pop one in Wiley's ass. He was apparently only about 20 yards away from the car when out of nowhere some guy comes flying and shoves the dude in the chest, saying, "Yo leave him alone, man. He's with me. He plays ball. He's cool." This person who saved the day? None other than Willie McGinest!
Unbelievable. Apparently, Willie somewhat knew the guy so he was able to squash the beef or whatever the kids are sayin' these days. Marcellus says that he has "Willie to thank for his life."
WOW! This was some good radio. I hope that I can find the link for you. Kinda made me like Wiley a little bit more for sharing these stories. I know a lot of athletes have stories like this but they're reluctant to share with the public. Anyway, just thought it was interesting. Willie! I'll be damned.
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