Steve McMichael, or “Mongo” as he is known, is back in the headlines these days. On Wednesday multiple sources reported that he will indeed, finally, be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His induction into the hallowed halls at Canton
His quest for Canton comes at a time when he is fighting a very public battle with ALS. Simply put, as I wrote in my first book, Mongo was the greatest exclusive interview that I’ve ever had, over the course of my 20 year career in journalism.
So with that in mind, we re-post this exclusive, conducted in July 2010 when he was enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame, in two parts
Here it is:
After Steve McMichael completed his Chicago Bears/NFL career, he spent four years as a professional wrestler. I interviewed him on the day of his enshrinement into the College Football Hall of Fame, and it was a pleasant surprise that the media availability period overlapped with cocktail hour of the enshrinement reception.
โMongoโ told me the primary reason he got into wrestling was to once again experience the transcendent thrill that accompanies walking out of the tunnel and hearing a massive crowd, anxious to bestow adoration, roar in approval from his mere appearance.
โOh, there ainโt no drug like that. When you walk out of that tunnel baby, thereโs nothing in this f***ing world like that adrenaline rush,โ Steve McMichael said.
โLawrence Taylor wonโt find it in a pipe. No oneโs going to get it filling up their vanity in a bathroom like Roethlisberger. And that battle fatigue guys go through after you canโt play no more, and your career is over, until you come out of the fog with the hairs standing up on the back of you neck- thatโs what that is. And itโs like a drug,โ he continued.
Steve McMichaelโs wrestling record/career seems unimportant compared to the deeper meaning behind it: his motivation for initially entering that arena.
โI thought Iโd get it (the high) from wrestling and the fans and RAHRRR!!! Thereโs a line in that movie Conan the Barbarian, when they throw him down into that pit, and he had to kill or be killed. And the orator speaks:
He did not care any more…life and death…the same. Only that the crowd would be there to greet him with howls of lust and fury. He began to realize his sense of worth…he mattered.
An interview with Steve McMichael reminds me of speaking with Ron Artest, or Ozzie Guillen, a pure example of the Hawthorne Effect. But if youโre a wrestling fan, you may find that spectacle ti be less glamorous now upon hearing Steve McMichaelโs behind-the-scenes insights. His quotes are reminiscent of Mickey Rourkeโs character in the critically acclaimed film The Wrestler.
โAh yes, the years I spent as a traveling carnie,โ he responds to a wrestling query.
โAny kid that threatens his parents: Iโm going to run away and join the circus, DUMBA** I did that, almost killed me. Itโs a guarded secret how much youโre on the road. I was home two days out of the month for clean clothes. Cuz itโs not just tv and the pay-per-view. They do house shows, you gotta drive to another town just for the ticket sales at the arena. Thatโs where most of the money comes from,โ he elaborated.
Today, Steve McMichael is back in football as the current head coach of the Chicago Slaughter of the Indoor Football League. In 2009, the Chicago Slaughter went 14-0 and captured their first CIFL Championship trophy, averaging over 65 points per game and outscoring their opponents by an average of almost 30 points per game.
โWho knew I knew anything about football, huh?โ Steve McMichael said about his championship coaching performance.
โMongo was a character I played to intimidate the other team. And when the other team underestimates you- itโs their ass. Well, it was my pleasure to make them think I was a dumba**,โ he continued.
I then brought up how much his players must love the game, since they canโt make enough money playing the game to make a living.
โFootball is not a game, itโs not your job, itโs YOUR LIFE. Itโs a LIFESTYLE; if you want to be good and win. Itโs not those two- a game or a business. My as*, itโs YOUR LIFESTYLE. And when you get up in the morning, until you go to bed at night and youโre about that, youโll be good,โ he responded.
I guess that quote says it all. And later, when the Hall of Fame dinner program commenced, we got to hear this famous gem from former college coach Henry Russell Sanders.
“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”
All I can say is- agreed!
For part one of this exclusive, go here
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank.ย Heโs also theย author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ andย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him onย Twitter.
