| | | | | | | |  Sunday, September 9, 2001
Getting Crazy with ... Glenn Parker
By Marc Connolly
ABC Sports Online
Every week throughout the 2001 NFL season, ABC Sports Online senior writer Marc Connolly interviews one player from that week's upcoming Monday Night Football game on a variety of topics. Last year's victims included such Pro Bowlers as Darren Sharper, John Lynch, Willie Roaf and Trevor Pryce, as well as Survivor cutie Colleen Haskell. In Week 1, Connolly caught up with New York offensive guard Glenn Parker, one of the more vocal players in the Giants locker room. They spoke on Wednesday afternoon as the Giants prepare for their season opener against Denver on Monday night (ABC, 9 p.m. ET). Here's what transpired:
Connolly: You look an awful lot like Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Ever get that?
|  | | Glenn Parker has brought his own sense of hipness and style to the Giants. |
Parker: I don't even know who that guys is, but I do get a million questions about, "Where's your hair?" Fans outside of New York aren't always the most intelligent ones in the world, so they speak the obvious: "Where's your hair? Parker, you're fat!" It's the same stuff I've heard since I was 13.
Connolly: The Anvil was a wrestler when it was popular the first time around. Had the whole bald dome and goatee thing going.
Parker: I've never been into it, but I remember that era. Sometimes when I'm down in Times Square I'll get "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Goldberg. All those types. I'm a professional football player -- my job is real.
Connolly: What's the best part of being in New York after being in such places like Buffalo and Kansas City?
Parker: Learning a new language, like when drivers wave at you. It's not just because they're saying, "Hi." I've had to learn to appreciate when someone holds open a door for you. Basically, when you walk through a door here, they walk through it, flip you off, and keep going. Outside of the football field, the best part is the great restaurants in Manhattan. If you take a look at my midsection, you'll see how much I enjoy it.
The New York fans are great too. I have to say that.
Connolly: New Yorkers think they are so hip, but so do people in California, where you're from. What's the difference between the two?
Parker: The main difference is that people in California know they're hip and they don't need to show it. If you go to a restaurant out in California in flip-flops and shorts, no one is going to judge you. Here, people flaunt their wealth, from cars to jewelry. It's just much bigger here.
The other thing is that New York City likes to wear black a lot. If you're not wearing black in New York City, something is wrong. You'll stick out like sore thumb. That's a way of not being in style. If you just wear black, you don't have to worry about being in style. In California, you just wear anything you want and don't worry about being in style.
Connolly: Growing up as a beach bum, what's the best beach sport: volleyball, surfing or bikini-watching?
Parker: It would be bikini-watching without a doubt. It's not even close. It's even better if you can body surf while you bikini watch. Or watch bikini body surfing, because there is always a chance they might "lose" something there.
Connolly: Since you didn't play sports in high school, what sort of clique were you in? Were you a metalhead or gearhead or anything?
Parker: None of that. I would have been classified as a geek, I guess. A beach bum/geek. First off, I was at the beach all the time. Secondly, I was geeky enough by being into a lot of books and history, so I was automatically classified as a geek. I wasn't into sports, wasn't an athlete, wasn't a smoker, and I wasn't a gearhead. I was just a geek, and a guy who hung out by himself. I was a loser!
Connolly: I find that one hard to believe, but I'll take your word for it. How about all your tattoos? Which is your favorite?
Parker: Probably the one I didn't get. I have them now, but my wife hates them and people judge you by them. Thank God I kept them all within my t-shirt. I can wear a t-shirt and shorts and no one knows I have any tattoos.
Connolly: I'm sitting here looking at a copy of the NFL's Family Cookbook from 1997. You're in here with your Chicken Chile Rellenos. Looks damn good. Is that really your best dish?
Parker: No, they wanted a variety, so this is one that I came up for them. I have a hundred dishes that I make. They wanted something in the barbeque/spicy vane, so I went with that. Even so, they changed that recipe a little. I went with adobo seasoning in there, and they said it was a seasoning that you'd buy at Spanish food stores to shake. But it's a sauce that you get in Mexican food stores. They made it Spanish, but it's really Mexican. It's good either way.
Connolly: We made Elway's Hamburger Soup once, as well as Favre's Crawfish Etoufee. Both were excellent. I guess you guys know what you're doing. Did you try any other player's recipes?
Parker: No, I didn't. I love to cook, but if I open up a recipe and see any name-brand items or canned items, I float away from it a little. If you ever have to take one big can of beans out, that bothers me. I'm fresh obsessed.
Connolly: The game aside, what was the best part of the Super Bowl?
Parker: The feeling of team unity that we had. It's amazing how that brings a team together. It's like a "Wow, we did it!" feeling. Having all your family down there is fun. Seeing them get to come down and have fun even when you can't be too much a part of it was great.
Connolly: After playing the Ravens, have you watched Hard Knocks?
Parker: No, we were at camp without HBO, so there wasn't much of a chance to. People I know who have watched it have enjoyed it.
Connolly: You're seeing things on that show that no one ever sees, even media.
Parker: Yeah, the hard part is how much you see of Tony Siragusa. From what I've heard, he's all over that. I don't know if Tony knows, but a TV screen is only so big.
Connolly: Well, who would be the Goose and the Shannon Sharpe all over the screen if the Giants were the team in focus?
Parker: They'd definitely go with Lomas (Brown), myself and Dusty (Zeigler). If it's a practical joke, Dusty's in on it. If it's making fun of people, I might be right there with him. If it's just being there and having fun, it'd be all three of us because that's what we do.
Connolly: A lot has been made of your wine cellar. When do you get to enjoy all of it?
Parker: I have wine with dinner every night. A lot of times I do the cooking, and there's always a bottle of wine on the table with it. My wife and I enjoy wine together. Part of the question that you just asked is indicative of the problem that wine faces in this country as a celebratory drink. It's not. It's part of food. It's part of your meal, like bread or a main course.
Connolly: Outside of maybe Italian of French neighborhoods in many cities, do you think overall that's more of a California mindset to have wine on a regular basis?
Parker: I think that's definitely a California thing. It's people who live in the wine culture, whether it's people who love it or experience it. It's part of life, it's not something to be tucked away and only to be brought out on special occasions.
Marc Connolly is a senior writer for ABC Sports Online. He can be reached at Marc.Connolly@abc.com
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