The Superstar Running Back Who Wants to Beat You In Madden (And Train You To Be A ‘Well-Rounded Adult’)
Green Bay Packers great Ahman Green on Batman, Pilates, the Blizzard and fantasy football
You might know Ahman Green as the all-time leading rusher for the Green Bay Packers, or as a four-time pro bowler. But unless you’re a diehard Cheesehead, it’s more likely you know him for other reasons - maybe he helped your Madden franchise take the Super Bowl win, or brought your fantasy football team to another playoff appearance. The thing about Ahman Green though, after his playing career, is…he’s right there with you. A Madden gamer, a fantasy football player, involved with the D1 Sports Training facilities, and a part-owner of a team in the Indoor Football League (where Project Fanchise will have their team). Oh, and he’s in the new Batman v Superman movie. Our Q&A with the Packer great:
Project Fanchise: You were a long-time NFL player, a Pro Bowler, a superstar running back — besides the stats and what people see on the field, what are some things that went into the preparation or day-to-day life of a player, that people might not see from just watching on Sundays?
Ahman Green: In the off season it starts, working out, getting rest, recovery from the season. You’ve got almost two months, from February to April, for recovery. What I did was I took two weeks where I did nothing - normal errands, didn’t touch the gym - but after two weeks I would get back slowly. Hit the weight room, stretching, if I had knick-knack injuries, which I did, start working on them. Working on flexibility was really important - flexibility is what keeps a guy on the field longer. I did yoga and Pilates too.
PF: Two weeks of taking off is really not that much. People think of the season as maybe five-six months, but it seems like it’s a year-round thing.
AG: For every week you take off, that’s two weeks to get back in shape. If you want to be the best at what you do, especially if you’re playing football or any physical sport like hockey or soccer, two weeks off is a good recommended amount of time. When I say do nothing, do nothing. Play video games, binge watch a show, go hunting - you need that recovery time.
Mental and physical work together. If you know exactly what’s coming at you, you don’t have to work as hard to get where you need to get.
PF: You talk a lot about the physical preparation and what that takes, but how about on the mental end? We hear more now about the amount of work it takes to learn playbooks, watching film, what it takes to be a student of the game. Tell us about your mental preparations.
AG: Mental and physical work together. If you know exactly what’s coming at you, you don’t have to work as hard to get where you need to get. Everybody’s fast now, everybody runs a fast 40. They can jump out the gym. If you get drafted, if you make it to the NFL, everybody is pretty much the same now physically. So the way you get faster is you watch every detail on film. You study every detail in the playbook. Be tedious about it. That one little bit you have will make you seem faster. you’re physically the same but you’ll seem one step faster. You already did the thinking - then you just have to react. In Green Bay, the running backs started meeting on their own with the offensive lineman. We’d ask them what they were thinking, what they were seeing. That communication became invaluable. The guys already knew what was coming.
PF: How about things like locker room or travel, are there any other insights that come to mind for people who might think they’re a football fan, or Packers fan, that they wouldn’t think about?
AG: One of the things is what a lot of players do during the off-seasons. We go on family vacations, but also do internships at different companies that the NFL offers us. We can go to broadcasting boot camp or pro football Hollywood camp - I did that one - basically a crash course in Hollywood, from acting to directing to writing to building out a budget. Some of the younger guys now are starting to understand that, doing extra things during the off-season. It’ll prepare them for the next step. A lot of guys are normal guys, doing work in the community, maybe have a business or foundation. You don’t hear about that as much. [Ed. note: Ahman’s foundation is http://ahmangreenfoundation.org/]
PF: Let’s talk about some of your post-NFL work. You mentioned acting - you’ll be appearing in the upcoming Batman v Superman movie. As a big Batman fan, what was that like, and how was the transition to acting?
AG: It’s not much different from being a football player. There’s a work ethic. It’s a mental one. We know just like in football it’s not going to be given to us - we have to work, we have to train, be competitive, have respect for those directing us. Batman v Superman was a great experience. I’m a comic book guy - Batman was my guy. I had met Henry Cavill before on the Man of Steel set, and I met Zack Snyder then also. That’s how I got to be in this movie. I found out he’s a Green Bay Packers fan, he was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He knew his stuff, he was a Packer fanatic. He said, ‘I’ve got to get you in a movie.’ It was great being on set, meeting Ben Affleck - he was definitely in shape for Batman. He was in the suit when I was on set. I’m a fanboy - I was probably more impressed by the suit.
I’m in Wisconsin — guys like to hunt, fish. I like to fish, but if I’m hunting, I’m hunting guys on Halo.
PF: You’re a big Madden fan and player. What does it mean to be part of that community, and what drew you to become a gamer?
AG: It started with Nintendo. I might have been 7-years-old. I was the first on my block with a Nintendo. Before that I had Colecovision, that was my system of choice. It’s been over 30 years of playing video games of all kinds. Back then it was just games. Now you have shooters, MMOs, role-playing games, all the sports games. My first shooter was when I was in college, playing GoldenEye. I was getting my butt kicked but it was fun. Me playing football, I had access to meeting the developers - guys at EA, guys at Ubisoft, guys at Rockstar. When they sit me down, put a remote in my hand, they raise their eyebrows, like ‘you know what you’re doing.’ I’m going to start working with Twitch, and another company called Gaming To Give, working on video game tournaments. I’m a gamer, that’s what I do. I’m in Wisconsin - guys like to hunt, fish. I like to fish, but if I’m hunting, I’m hunting guys on Halo.
PF: Fantasy football is also a huge thing, you’re in the legends league with other former players. How did you get into fantasy football?
AG: It was after my career. I thought it was a gambling thing, so I didn’t want to touch it while I was playing. When I retired I couldn’t wait to get into it. Once I learned it I was like, ‘oh man I could have played this while I was in the league.’ I’m in it to win it! I recommend not playing five leagues - I’m managing five leagues right now. I’m doing ok, but I could probably do better if I wasn’t in so many. I pay attention to the waiver wire, guys getting injured. Watch the team your players facing, to take advantage of who they’re playing on defense.
PF: When you were in the NFL did you ever get people come up to you and say they’ve got you on their fantasy football team, or they like playing with you in Madden?
AG: Oh yeah. If I could get paid for every time someone came up to me and said I helped them win their fantasy football league, I’d be doing pretty good. I actually looked it up recently, and saw what my average was when I was playing and it was like 20 points a game. So I helped them out big time. I see why I get the handshakes for winning leagues. Playing video games, I play online weekly, with my clients from D1 Green Bay or sometimes I just play against random folks, who don’t know who they’re playing. It’s amazing sometimes you get up on a guy 10 or 14 points and they quit the game. I’m like, ‘take it like a man!’ What’s wrong with the kids of today?
PF: Project Fanchise will give more power to the fans to control all aspects of a pro football team. Do you think you’ve seen fans in general that you’ve interacted with through fantasy or Madden, now knowing the depth charts and play-calling, become more intelligent about football?
AG: Yeah. They won’t have the full game IQ because they didn’t play professionally, but what I do know, which is great, I told EA when I met with the Madden developers, they have the Skills Trainer . That Skills Trainer is awesome. I asked them what coach they interviewed for it, because they teach you exactly how to read a Cover 2 Zone. It’s dead on. It’s scary good. For the gamers and fantasy football players, which often are one and the same, do the Skills Trainer. It’s the next best thing to playing 10–15 years in the NFL. It’s your crash course without getting beat up and having back issues and knee problems.
A lot of what sports does for a kid is make them experience things — having to deal with losing, or a traumatic moment, having to deal with getting hurt.
PF: The Project Fanchise team will be in the IFL, and you’re part owner of the Green Bay Blizzard in the IFL. How has that experience been being involved with this pro football independent league?
AG: It’s been really good. My goal was to help the players develop, because I know where they want to go. They’re trying to get to the NFL. A lot of the players on the Blizzard have done very well. It’s always a development. Maybe it’s attitude, or personality, or learning how to become a professional. You might not be doing the little stuff - getting the nutrition you need, working out, studying your playbook. Everything, all that together, makes you a professional. If you keep at it, you might get there.
PF: You talk about developing athletes - another thing you’re involved in is D1. How did you get involved, but also, you look at the roster of people now helping people, Peyton Manning, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, it seems like an up and coming way that’s going to help a lot of people.
AG: I wasn’t just a football player. I played baseball and basketball, I ran track, I’m a power lifter. All through high school I did different sports, to find out what I liked. My two favorite sports were baseball and football. I could have went pro in baseball but the roads to football developed a little clearer than baseball. I love dealing with the kids, because they’re in that mode where they haven’t shaped themselves fully. Along with their parents, you can help mold them into a good athlete, and maybe a great athlete - at least a kid that can grow into a well-rounded adult. A lot of what sports does for a kid is make them experience things that they might not have experienced if they didn’t play a sport - having to deal with losing, or a traumatic moment, having to deal with getting hurt. Some kids today aren’t active, they aren’t riding bikes, climbing trees, exploring in the neighborhood. That’s what I did. You teach yourself, you learn through different situations. That’s why I got involved with D1. It develops the young athlete and then on the other side I help the moms and dads and other adults that are members become what they want. We give them a coach and a training program, so they’re not looking at a set of weights thinking ‘what am I supposed to do?’
PF: What’s something you can think back to from your childhood, a specific moment, where you started to love sports - whether playing or watching or video games?
AG: I barely remember it, but two of my older brothers, Jerry and Nicky, I remember going to one of their high school football games. I must have been three or four. Being outside, seeing them play - I really don’t remember watching them, but just knew the feeling from that moment, it just seemed like fun. Once I started playing flag football myself around six, being out there, being competitive, I just thought it was fun. The guys I was playing with I didn’t really know, and by the end of the season I had a whole bunch of new friends. That’s why I liked sports - I got to meet new people, learn to do new things.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
For more information about Project Fanchise, visit http://fanchi.se.
