Good morning! We’re in the midst of the offseason dead zone, when the San Francisco 49ers and beat writers are taking some time off. Now’s the last opportunity to unwind and re-charge your batteries before the start of training camp. Once training camp arrives, football doesn’t end until the Super Bowl. There are a few down weeks in February, but with free agency and the draft following, it’s effectively a ten-and-a-half month slog.
But that doesn’t mean we have nothing for the Golden Nuggets! ESPN The Magazine is coming out with their annual Body Issue, and this year’s will include this interview with Jerry Rice on how he stays fit into his 50s. He believes he could still go out there and play the game if he “wanted” to. He thinks he still has the explosiveness and can beat up defenses. He thinks remaining in shape is key, and talked about practicing with the team last year.
I went out and I practiced with the [49ers] football team last year. The young guys could not believe that after playing a game for 20 years, and being out of the game for 15 years or something, my body knew what to do -- that I could run routes, that I could catch the ball, that I can beat them off the line of scrimmage and do all those things. I think that really impressed them. But because I never got out of shape, my body just knew what to do the second I put on those football shoes.
The Body issue poses famous athletes naked, with key bits of their body hidden based on camera angles — so, get ready for a whole lot of Jerry Rice.
The other bit of news is this video of wide receiver Pierre Garçon delivering kid-sized Ferraris to Joe Dimaggio’s Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida. Garçon resides in West Palm Beach during the offseason.