Following a series of delays, ESPN’s new website The Undefeatedis finally here, and one of the first feature stories on the site is a story about none other than Marshawn Lynch. The Undefeated reporter Lonnie O’Neal flew to Oakland, California recently without getting an interview with Lynch approved first and proceeded to try and get a story out of him. And while he refused to take part in a formal interview of any kind, Lynch did arrange for O’Neal to tour his city with a handful of his closest friends and family, including his cousins, former NFL quarterback Josh Johnson, current NFL cornerback Marcus Peters, and rapper Mistah F.A.B.
Even though the Undefeated feature doesn’t feature many quotes from Beast Mode himself—the best ones include him lecturing O'Neal about getting his story right and not exploiting him—the entire piece is worth your time because it’ll give you a great glimpse into what makes the Seahawks running back, er, the former Seahawks running back (it’ll take awhile to get used to saying that) tick.
There are stories about how Lynch has used his Beast Mode store to help his community. There are stories about how Lynch’s Fam 1st Family Foundation has helped young people get their lives back on track. And then there’s this story about how Lynch made former President Bill Clinton throw up the North Oakland sign before he would agree to take a photo with him when the two met at an event in April:
And when Bill Clinton brought his Global Initiative University to Oakland in April, Lynch insisted the former president throw up the North Oakland sign — fingers splayed, middle finger folded down — before he would take a picture with him.
How real is that? If you missed Lynch’s meeting with Clinton, you can see a photo from it here (sadly, it does not feature Clinton throwing up the North Oakland sign—although, maybe it does and the photo has just been cropped to cut out Clinton's hand?!):
There’s also this amazing story about Lynch challenging an older white woman to a game of ping-pong outside of his Beast Mode store, which is too great for words:
Clerks and customers from the nearby salon and a Starbucks gather, and pull out camera phones as Lynch takes on all comers. “You ready for that challenge?” he asks passersby.
You can check out the entire Undefeated piece here.
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