As a Seattle resident, I remember the stories of future Hall of Fame offensive tackle Walter Jones keeping his strength up back home in Aliceville, Ala., by pushing Escalades around -- and knowing full well that any SUV that tangled with Big Walt would get the bad end of the deal. People do all kinds of weird things to liven up their workouts in the dog days.
But second-year Green Bay Packers tight end D.J. Williams may have the best offseason regimen I've heard of yet -- the 2011 fifth-round draft pick out of Arkansas credits his impressive training camp thus far to the underrated but fast-rising sport of cow-wrestling.
No, really. Several Packers beat writers asked the affable Williams if he was pulling their legs, and he insisted that he only pulled legs of the bovine variety.
"I wrestle cows every day," Williams said. "Back home in Arkansas, we don't have anything else to do."
And how does one accomplish such a feat? "You just try not to get hurt or die," he said. "Do whatever you can to stay alive ... It's very difficult to put him on the ground. If you can wrap the hind leg with the front leg, you have a good chance. If you get enough push."
Uh, OK. This apparently isn't an official rodeo-style thing like calf-roping -- Williams said that he had never participated in a rodeo. His workouts feature a more informal style.
"I just roomed with a whole bunch of country people in college. Nothing else to do," Williams said, before adding that cow-wrestling is a great way to woo members of the opposite sex.
"It's very impressive. Usually, you say, 'Let's go cow tipping' and they feel it's a good rush when the cows start chasing you and stuff. They think it's to impress them, but I'm really working on my football stuff at the same time. Two birds, one stone."
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Asked for photographic evidence, Williams begged off. "Y'all get lucky and find yourself in Arkansas, you might see it."
All kidding aside, Williams is a good young prospect. He won the Mackey Award as the best tight end in the nation in 2010, and he kept impressing me as a real standout during the week of Senior Bowl practices in 2011. With starter Jermichael Finley recovering from a mild concussion, Williams has been making the most of his time in the spotlight. But the cow-tipping stuff is more intriguing to us. That's just how we roll.
Teammate Tom Crabtree was asked if he thought Williams was making it all up -- while he acknowledged that such shenanigans would be very much like Williams, Crabtree was ready to give it a shot. These are great competitors, after all.
"That sounds about right. I don't know. Maybe I'll have to get down there next offseason and try the cow-tipping program."
Quick note to the Yahoo! Sports big brass: If y'all ever start a cow-tipping blog, I want in.
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