It’s one thing for professional athletes to think that their skills on the field or court mean they can succeed on wax or film. Just ask Kobe Bryant. It’s another thing for musicians to think that being smooth on the mic means they can run a sweet post pattern in the NFL. Apparently that didn’t stop Marvin Gaye from trying to become a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions.

Larry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times has the story of a chance meeting between the Detroit Lions’ Lem Barney and Gaye. Barney and Gaye became friends after the defensive rookie of the year knocked on the singer’s door to introduce himself. Mel Farr, also of the Lions, completed the trio that became fast friends.

The three became tight especially after Tammi Terrell’s death which Gaye didn’t take well (to say the least). He ended up inviting them to appear on his hit “What’s Going On”. Unfortunately Barry Gordy and Motown thought the record was too political and wouldn’t touch it. Gaye refused to record any more music until the single was released.

In the meantime, Gaye bulked up and got the idea that he could play wide receiver for the Lions. Wonder where he got that idea.

Though he had never participated in organized sports, the singer believed he was a gifted athlete.

“I was always a sports fan,” he told David Ritz, author of the 1985 Gaye biography “Divided Soul,” “but I was determined to play for real. I knew I could. . . .

“You see, I had this fantasy: I was in the Super Bowl, with millions of people watching me on TV all over the world, as I made a spectacular leaping catch and sprinted for the winning touchdown.”

Through Barney and Farr, a former UCLA star, Gaye knew most of the Lions and had met their coach, Joe Schmidt.

“So Marvin went in to talk to coach Schmidt about it,” Barney says. “Schmidt asked if he had any film of when he played in high school or college and Marvin hung his head and said, ‘I didn’t play in high school. I didn’t play in college.’ So Schmidt said, ‘What makes you think you can play professional ball?’

“He said, ‘Coach, I just believe the first time I touch the ball I would score a touchdown.’ And Joe said, ‘I like your enthusiasm, so let me think about it.’”

Schmidt says he told the singer, “If I could sing like you, I certainly wouldn’t want to play football,” believing that Gaye and Barney were joking when they first met with him. Only after Gaye returned to meet with the coach a second time, this time unescorted, did Schmidt realize he was serious.

Still, Schmidt was unwilling to put the singer in harm’s way and quickly rejected the idea as unworkable.

Master P and his son weren’t the first musicians to fail at organized sports. Remember Garth Brooks’ pathetic attempts to play for the Padres? Schmidt did the right thing for the sake of music but imagine the Detroit Lions on Hard Knocks talking about Gaye trying to make the team. Matt Millen probably would have signed him to a multi-year contract.

Six months after Gaye recorded “What’s Going On”, Motown released it and it went gold before classic as it is even today. He made a full album by the same name and some assclown was stupid enough to sell it so I could buy it at a second hand store on vinyl for $5. I got five on it and then some. I’m talking about kicking in like Shinobi.

Good on Crowe for bringing this story to the masses but most of you would be well served to watch the American Masters on Marvin Gaye for starters. Better yet, get a compilation or several albums if you don’t know where to start. Remember or learn about when R&B used to be good and had substance.

Here’s your Deuce double feature. Not only do we give you “What’s Going On”. You also get a little “Mercy Mercy Me”. You’re welcome.

Watch Peter Forsberg, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Markus Naslund, Victor Hedman, and Mats Zuccarello Aasen get their cook on at Swedish restaurant Mamma Mia.

Surprisingly, Forsberg didn’t injure himself making these videos. They didn’t burn the restaurant down either. That already happened in 1994.

These videos should start a trend. We’d love to see a group of boxers like James Toney, Mike Tyson, Roberto Duran and Evander Holyfield take over a kitchen. Gordon Ramsey should think about having them on Hell’s Kitchen. Imagine him trying to yell at one of them.

H/T to Slice and Serious Eats for the videos.

It’s not clear what Joe Pacquette Jr. expected when he showed up at the Detroit Lions headquarters. It sounds like he received a pat on the back and a handshake from QB Matt Stafford and head coach Jim Schwartz. Did we mention he walked 400 miles to get there?

Joe Paquette Jr. walked 400 miles from his home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Detroit for one reason. He is a die-hard fan of the Detroit Lions. And he wanted the team to know it.

Paquette arrived at team headquarters Wednesday and was greeted by coach Jim Schwartz, quarterback Matthew Stafford and other players.

Paquette, 63, said he started his trek from Munising Aug. 8. He walked as much as 32 miles a day during the two-week journey he hopes inspires the team.

His walkabout must have worked. The Lions barely beat the Browns this past weekend. Who knew some random crazy guy walking 400 miles could do something money and a Super Bowl trophy couldn’t? I think I heard Ndamukong Suh thank Paquette for inspiring him to try and take off Jake Delhomme’s head. Unfortunately he failed because well … he plays for the Lions.

Most soccer fans loathe when players dive to the ground to get a card especially when they overreact. It’s even more infuriating when great players do it on a regular basis. I’m looking at you, Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba. Robert Pires was an expert at the diving game.

There usually aren’t any repercussions for divers unless they play in Greece. Check this player’s reaction after being sent off for a tackle.

He figured if he’s going to get a red, it might as well be for something legit. That would do it.

You probably thought we were talking about rugby. No, we’re talkin’ prostitution. 2014 is only four years away yet prostitutes in Rio are already thinking and planning ahead in anticipation of the World Cup’s return to Brazil.

Brazil, like South Africa, has plenty of work to do before the World Cup begins in four years. There are stadiums to be built and renovated. Transport infrastructure has to be upgraded and streets have to be cleaned up. One can only assume all favelas will be walled in like Palestine. While most people are happy about the impending modernization, people involved in the pimping game aren’t as pleased.

While most are celebrating the city’s regeneration, Vila Mimosa’s prostitutes and their employers are growing increasingly nervous that the city’s makeover may see them driven out by mooted plans to bulldoze the area and replace it with a platform for a high-speed rail-link between Rio and Brazil’s economic capital Sao Paulo.

“As soon as the rumours started going around people started knocking on my door and saying: ‘How are we going to earn a living if they make us leave’?” said Cleide Nascimento Almeida, the head of Vila Mimosa’s residents association. “The city is going to undergo big changes for the World Cup and the Olympics. [But] the red-light district cannot be moved outside of the city centre no matter how shameful the government might think this place is,” she added. “The city centre is where the people come to work and when they are not at work it’s where they come to have fun.”

Shutting down the area to rebuild will simply drive the business to other locations around the city. Brothel owners will obviously mourn the loss of income but maybe the women employed or used by the pimps will be able to find another vocation.

“Men will go anywhere [for sex],” said the 21-year-old prostitute, who works under the name Julia and dreams of leaving the Vila to open a fish shop on the beach

Well…they’ll more likely pick up where they leave off in a new location. No way we’re touching the fish shop quote.