The NY Times had a fun article about the Patriots' offensive linemen today. One of their best guys, guard Stephen Neal, didn't even play college football:
"Neal is a former N.C.A.A. champion wrestler at Cal State Bakersfield who did not even play college football. He landed with the Patriots only because he made a telephone call to the sports agent Neil Cornrich, who is a close friend of Bill Belichick, the Patriots’ coach. Neal has a wrestling move named for him, the Neal Double, which is a takedown in which one wrestler pulls the legs of another out from under him, taking him to the mat. When Neal arrived at the Patriots’ camp in 2001 as a defensive end, he was so raw that Belichick once said of him, 'We’re starting from below scratch.' ”
I think I saw a Neal Double end to a tackle during one of the recent Pats games, come to think of it.
Go Pats!!
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