From new Sports Bank contributor Helen Salinger.
One of the newest Chicago Bears is tight end Martellus Bennett. And Martellus Bennett believes — to a certain extent — that he is a unicorn.
A black unicorn.
And as Bears training camps starts this week in the beautiful, bucolic, rural burg of Bourbonnais down Interstate 57, we should all be reminded of what he said about being a black unicorn when Martellus Bennett held his introductory press conference in March.
Please, don’t laugh. I kinda like this stuff.
“I have several nicknames I go by. The Black Unicorn is just the one that seems to stick the longest. Basically, black unicorns are rare. Anytime you see a picture like at school, when you get the folders, they all have the white unicorn on there. So being African-American, I just thought it would be clever to be the Black Unicorn.”
Martellus Bennett continues to explain his love of unicorns, dinosaurs and Harry Potter:
“I mean, unicorns are cool. But I prefer dinosaurs, honestly. One day, I had black tights on and I was running down the field and I just felt like a unicorn. I didn’t feel like a horse. I felt like a unicorn. So I just say the Black Unicorn. There was nothing special about it. It was just spur of the moment. I like it, though. I like the nickname.
It’s like the Black Mamba for Kobe (Bryant). The Black Unicorn. It’s magical. I enjoy magic. I’m a Harry Potter fan.”
Sports Bank fans, don’t laugh. This is good stuff.
I admit I thought it was a bit odd that a 6-foot, 6-inch, 265-pound man would feel like a unicorn when he ran sprints. But, hey, in this day and age of Aaron Hernandez and pretty much anyone who plays for Ohio State (or Florida when Urban Meyer was coach there), Martellus Bennett is a breath of fresh air and I will be pulling for him every week.
(Cue the unicorn icon, please.)