Leinart Gets 'Physical,' Not Tough

I don't know. Matt Leinart's new MMA toughness video looks less like a guy who would fit in as a gangsta than a guy who could put on a headband and be in the old Olivia Newton-John "Let's Get Physical'' video. Before, the images of Leinart on the Web showed him in a hot tub with a bunch of young women, or holding a beer bong for another woman. At least that carried some street cred, if that's still the term. Sure, it fit his pretty-boy, party-boy Hollywood image. But in the world of football players and real guys who watch the game, well, a quarterback in a hot tub with young women is not the worst thing.

But now this.

It was 60 seconds into Leinart's newest five-minute video that I started feeling embarrassed for him. This video shows FOX Sports football writer and reporter Jay Glazer giving MMA training to Leinart, the Arizona quarterback. Leinart rolls around on the floor hugging a heavy bag. He looks absurd. He throws a couple punches, then does a pushup. He tackles a bag and throws a bunch of pitty-pat punches at it with his elbows out. He puts his arms around Glazer's neck and thrusts his knees up into a pad Glazer is holding in front of him.

Oh God.

It's the modern version of the 98-pound weakling, who, after getting sand kicked in his face on the beach, goes to old-time muscleman Charles Atlas for help. Except that Leinart is going to a reporter instead of one of the original body builders. Now it's true that sports reporters are known as the experts on everything from toughness to high fashion.





"I think the biggest thing for me is just trying to find an edge, what can make me better," Leinart says on the video. "What can really separate me from other guys? Build in here [taps his heart] and up here [taps head] mentally. And, um, this is it.'' An NFL quarterback is telling you that he's tough now. He really, really is. He took a course on it. And made a video. Now, I can do MMA. I can roll around on the floor and do a pushup. Look at me. I'm a tough guy. Pitty-pat. Oh God.

If Leinart wanted to toughen up, something he really does need, then I'm all for MMA training. Glazer, who worked with Minnesota's Jared Allen, might have even been the right guy for it. But find some expert, and work hard in a dark basement somewhere. Leinart can't even work on his own toughness without seeking out a camera. Why did he go to Glazer? Do you think Leinart was after the best-possible trainer, or the best possible one with a camera? Leinart isn't here to be a tough-guy, but to be a Hollywood tough guy. Even Rocky trained in a meat locker.

Glazer tells us on the video that he didn't think Leinart would even come back for the second day, but he did. Leinart propped himself up on his elbow, lying on a mat, and said, "People's perception is what is it. It doesn't bother me at all. It never has. But I think doing this has helped me, is going to help me to have that edge.''

Yes, Brian Urlacher is going to be a little hesitant now in running over to the sideline and hitting Leinart. This is supposed to be part of the growing-up of Leinart. That's the script. He sat quietly when he lost his starting job to Kurt Warner, and when Warner led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl this year. He was there for the team, and it was a real sign of progress for a Heisman Trophy-winning, $51-million player who needed to show that he could be as comfortable in the tough realities of the NFL world as in the celebrity world.

"I haven't had a lot of chances out there to show what I can do, and part of that is my fault,'' he told the Arizona Republic earlier this year. "But I have gotten better. I've grown up a lot.''

I can't quite put my finger on this, but grown-ups and tough guys don't go around saying they're grown-up and tough. Even with Olivia Newton-John, we just knew it.