Hey Yardbarkers, I have a surprise for you. I know all y'all see me as a bruising Fullback, however little do you guys know, I am also a trained thespian. Upon graduation of college I had a dilemma on whether to go into my first love which is acting or professional football. I reluctantly chose football. While I was out in NY for the NFL draft, ESPN The Magazine gave me a chance to get back to my roots and show all the haters that I can cross over at any time. Below is some of my best work. Excuse my French/ country side accent, I've been away from the game for a while. Enjoy.

"Shock the World" was what the t-shirts read in the Atlanta Hawks stadium. And I think the Hawks did just that. As I've told u guys before, I'm not the biggest basketball fan (but I'm getting there), plus you have to support your home team no matter what. Going to the Hawks game on Monday and Friday changed the whole way I look at basketball and Atlanta's team. It definitely helped that I had floor seats. Because it's a completely different game when you are watching what looks like a bunch of ants scurry around the court compared to when u are on the same level watching these giants dance around the court like gazelles.

But back to the shock the world t-shirts, I don't think anyone gave the hawks a chance to even win one game against the mighty Celtics, much less take the series to game 7. The lack of faith from the city in their sports team reminds me of a certain other Atlanta team that starts with an F. I know that the citywide support for the falcons was probably at an all time low last year and I also know that we brought a lot of that upon ourselves, and I know we might have to go thru some of that lack of support at the beginning of the season again but what the hawks have shown me is that if they can shock the world, so can we. And I truly believe that every man on my team feels the same way.

No one is giving us a chance next year but no one gave the hawks a chance at the beginning of their season. It just goes to show that we the players have the wonderful opportunity to choose our own destiny. It doesn't matter what the

announcers or so called experts or even what skeptical fans say, if the falcons want to go to the playoffs we are going, and I've already set my mind on that. So I am not sure what our t-shirts will say, cuz I don't want to steal the hawk's idea, but it will have something to do with shocking the world.

I know the hawks ended up losing the series overall and it really sucked seeing them go down after all their hard work but I think its an excellent foundation to build on so my hats off to the whole team and organization for putting on a great show and giving the falcons a blueprint of how to do what no one thinks can be done.

What's up Yardbarkers? I'm sorry for going ghost on y'all since my second post, but I've been doing a little traveling. I have probably been on 6 flights in the last couple of weeks. Some of the highlights were going to Cancun for some business and pleasure, then going to San Antonio to work out with Priest Holmes, and throwing out the first pitch at the season opener for the Augusta GreenJackets.

At first I wasn't too thrilled about the 2 hour drive from Atlanta to Augusta, but at the end of my day when we had that 2 hour drive back to Atlanta, I was happy I went. To be completely honest Yardbarkers, even though I have great respect for those who can play America's pastime at a high level, baseball is not one of my favorite sports. It's a little more fun to play than it is to watch, but it's just not my cup of tea. Maybe that stems from a traumatic experience of being hit in the head with a baseball in little league (but that's another story). Needless to say, I was excited when the falcons added a hospital visit and a trip to the Augusta Boys and Girls Club to my itinerary as well.

The two-hour ride with members of Falcons personnel wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. At first I wasn't sure how professional I had to be. I didn't know if I was allowed to kick my shoes off and take a nap or if I had to sit up, be ridged and respectful and make small talk. The uneasiness stemmed from the fact that though I have spoken to them several times, I have never been confined in a limo with them for 2 hours. I am glad to report that we all had a great time and were laughing, joking and strategizing for future ventures. We even avoided the dreaded awkward silence that we all hate.

The real fun started on our first stop at the Children's hospital. My father is a doctor, but I was never sure that I wanted to take over the family business. I don't like seeing people (especially children) in pain or suffering. As I've grown older and wiser I've realized that whether I look at it or choose to look away, there will ALWAYS be adults and children suffering, so I can either choose to do what I can to curb it or to do nothing. This is why I've been trying to make more of a concerted effort to stop by children's hospitals. As the hospital staff went into every room and made sure it was ok for me to come in, I could hear some of the kids squeal with excitement. I would walk in with my falcon's jersey and a teddy bear and do whatever I could think of to let each child know how precious he or she is. Every room was a different experience, but the one that really touched me was when I walked into the hospital room of a little boy named Jack. Jack was one of the kids who squealed when the hospital worker told him I was coming in. When I walked in I barely had time to introduce myself before he ran up and hugged my leg. Jack's face was beaming the whole time I was in the room and he kept on looking over to his dad saying, "he's a real football player." You would think I was giving this kid a blank check to Toys-R-Us as excited as he was. But all I was giving was my time, attention, and a little brown falcons teddy bear. I think that was more than enough for Jack and his dad. What really got me was when I was leaving the room Jack's father stopped me and seemed to be holding back tears as he told me that this was the happiest day of Jack's life.

The words of Jack's father really meant a lot to me because it reminded me how even though we as athletes and as people do and say things that we think are small; they can mean the whole world to someone else.

PS- I don't want to write an essay on here but I have so much I want to share with you guys.

There's still my visit to the Boys and Girls club, my adventures in throwing out the first pitch and especially my being Laura Turner Seydel's guest at a dinner commemorating the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King. I can guarantee that you guys are going to be blown away when I let you know about how I plan to align the Ovie Mughelli Foundation with Laura Turner Seydel and her Captain Planet Foundation to promote environmentalism in our youth. Sorry for the movie trailer preview, but I just want to let you Yardbarkers know that the best is yet to come.

Hey Guys I just noticed that my original Back To Work blog did not post completely. Here is the part that was cut off. Enjoy.

Finally I am back in Atlanta and I can definitely say that I have missed this city. Even though I have only been a part of the dirty bird franchise for a year now ( March 2nd to be exact) I am really starting to view Atlanta as my home.

I have been doing a lot of traveling since the season ended. I started with a weekend get away in Las Vegas then I stopped in Phoenix for the Superbowl which is a great experience every year ( it will be even better when I am playing in the game and not just watching). After the Superbowl, I flew to Hawaii to hang ten during the Pro-Bowl. After I got all of my fun out of the way it was back to business when I headed to Northern California to attend a business entrepreneurial program presented by the NFL at Standford University. From Standford I spent a week in Charleston at Moms house ( everyone know you cant stay away from home for too long before Moms is on the phone complaining.) After my much needed visit home I had the great pleasure and honor to speak at Columbia University as the keynote Speaker for the Sports Philanthropy Project. I was extremely nervous however I was told I did a great job (thanks everyone for all the support and motivation).

Now if you are exhausted reading the above paragraph, just imagine how tired I am from going through it. A lot has changed football wise since the season has ended. We have a entire new staff, including a great new GM from New England, our new head coach from the Jaguars, offensive coordinator courtesy of the Steelers and lastly my running back coach who we call Shaft. As far as I am concerned our whole staff is a bunch of Bad Mother (shut yo' mouth).



There were many causalities of war from the regime change. The one that hit me the most was when Alge Crumpler was released. Coming from Baltimore, Crump reminded me a lot of pro-bowl TE Todd Heap except he had a better tan. The reason Crump and I became so tight was because he was just an all around great person. He was always joking and laughing and cared about his teammates as individuals not just football player. I am very confident that he is going to do his thing with the Titans. I will be sure to pour out a little Gatorade next time I am on the field.

Yesterday was the first day of team meetings, and it allowed me to witness the reshaping of our organization. It is definitely a lot more quiet with Crump, Wayne Gandy, Rod Coleman and especially "Mouth of the South" DeAngelo Hall no longer with us.

Yardbarker, to be honest, DeAngelo and I did not get along that well when I first arrived (to keep it really real we never got along). I don't know what it is about DB's and me, but even in Baltimore, Chris McAlister and I butted heads initially. I want to assume that it is the Napoleon complex but C-Mac is not a little guy.

Near the end of the season D-Hall and I began to understand each other, though. That may have been due, in part, to the departure of cancer of a coach, Petrino. It definitely helped the feng shui of the team because we now had a common enemy.

But back to our 1st day volumandatory (I made this word up.) Because it says "voluntary" on the schedule, but if you don't show up to these workouts and meetings you might not want to show up at all). I had the chance to meet Michael Turner, the man for whom I am going to be blocking in the years to come. I believe the synergy there will lead to great things on the field. After reuniting with the Boys, meeting Turner and the new staff, all I can think of is Championship.

Some of you may have heard of me but very few of you truly know me. This is why I would like to thank Yardbarker for giving me this opportunity to speak my mind. I never thought I would be a blogger but I am excited and think this experience is going to be fun.

The experience that I have had in the last 5 years as a professional football player has provided me a limitless archive of topics perfect for blogging. I could certainly write a novel about my first year experience as an Atlanta Falcon. Despite the grueling training camps, exhausting workouts, tedious film sessions, painful losses, I would not trade this experience.

My football career is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to who I really am and what I am about. Let's face it; we live in a world of stereotypes based on race, class, gender, occupation etc. There is nothing that infuriates me more than someone who assumes I am one-dimensional because I am an African American who plays a professional sport. Most people assume that I have a huge ego, spoiled, selfish, have several baby momma's (I am currently without children), business illiterate or barely educated. I know that these stereotypes do not apply to most of my friends in the league and certainly do not apply to me.

People are consistently surprised when I tell them that although I am proud of what I have accomplished in the NFL it is just one of the many goals that I have for myself. I am well aware that the NFL stands for Not for Long and because of that I have been very adamant about preparing my self for life after football TODAY. All professional guys hear the horror stories of guys who were raking in millions and in as little as 9 to 12 months after retirement have to file bankruptcy and move back into their parents' home.

For those of you who don't know my parents, moving back in with them is not an option. My parents were both immigrants from Nigeria who came to America with very little money but extremely big goals and ambitions. With the combination of sacrifice, determination, and hard work they both graduated from college and now my father is an enormously accomplished OB/GYN and my mother has a masters in business and accounting and manages every aspect of my father's 3 private practices.

I say all this to elucidate that if they can accomplish this with what little resources that was available to them. Then I will be damned if I don't become the president of the United States with the head start that I had growing up in the U.S.A. (not trying to be the president people just using a example that our generation should are resources to the utmost opportunity)

I could go on all day Yardbarker but I will end with this; Failure is not nor has it ever been an option and neither is mediocrity. I know it is a lot of pressure to put on myself. However I am a firm believer that pressure brings out the best in people. How do u think diamonds are made?