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For those you that didn't know, Sports Illustrated's NFL writer Peter King, was once the Cincinnati Bengals beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer from 1980-85.
He relayed an intriguing story on Tuesday about Brian Pillman, a former wrestler for WCW, ECW and the WWF who had actually played for the Bengals before his career shifted into professional wrestling. Pillman, a Cincinnati native, played called ball at Miami University (teammates and former roommates with current Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh) and then made the Cincinnati Bengals in 1984 as an undrafted free agent. King covered Pillman's attempt to make the team and recalled a story of him and Larry Kinnebrew. Instead of summarizing, here's the story in a series of tweets that King posted Tuesday night.
I covered Flyin' Brian in 1984, when he was a UDFA LB from Miami (Ohio) trying to make Bengals. Want to hear a great Pillman story?
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 11, 2013
Flyin' 1: Pillman, trying make club as 218-lb LB, was under orders to gain weight. Fatso FB Larry Kinnebrew was under orders to lose weight
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 11, 2013
Flyin' 2: One night at camp in Wilmington, Ohio, Pillman ran over to McDonalds and bought 6 cheeseburgers. Brought them back to his dorm.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 11, 2013
Flyin' 3:He was walking into dorm w/huge sack of burgers. Kinnebrew, famished (salad was all he ate there), ordered Flyin': "Gimme the bag."
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 11, 2013
Flyin' 4: At first he refused. But then he handed over the burgers. Kinnebrew scarfed. Pillman went to bed hungry. The next day ...
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 11, 2013
Flyin' 5: I was ghostwriting Pillman's Rookie Diary in CinEnquirer as young Bengal beat man. He told me. I wrote it. And the next day ...
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 11, 2013
Flyin' 6: Mike Brown fines Kbrew $500 for violating dietary restrictions by eating the 6 burgers. So, at practice that afternoon ...
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 11, 2013
Flyin' 7: Kbrew walks over to me, menacingly. Looks like he wants to deck me. Comes within 6 inches of my face. Pauses. Says slowly: ....
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 11, 2013
Flyin' 8: "That ... wasn't ... no ... nice ... thing ... you ... wrote." And he walked back onto the practice field.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 11, 2013
Police found Pillman's body in a Minnesota hotel on Oct. 5, 1997 where he scheduled to wrestle for a Pay Per View event. He died of arterosclertic heart disease.