Cincinnati Bengals linebacker and bow-tie enthusiast Dhani Jones has a show on The Travel Channel with one of the coolest concepts you can dream up for a professional athlete. He travels from country to country with 10 days to learn a sport completely foreign to him, and the compete at a relatively high-level. I tracked him down for a one-on-one early Monday morning.

From the show to his family in Buffalo to the Bills and Michigan football... Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Here are some typed-out excepts:


NM: Let's start with the show because I think it's been incredible... appointment-television-DVR-type-stuff. It's on the Travel Channel at 9 p.m. Mondays. Tell us how it's been.

DJ: "I learn a tremendous amount about the culture of these different countries, from Switzerland to Singapore to Thailand to North Spain in the bass country. (I'm) learning about different countries, playing different sports, truly immersing myself in the community within the people, trying all kinds of different food... really just enjoying life, and seeing it from my perspective, but also giving the viewers a chance to see a different part of the world."

NM: We've seen you muay thai fight. We've seen you play rugby and have to have a couple beverages after the game. We've seen you knee a guy in the face in training for "schwinging."

DJ: "I didn't mean to hit him in the face, but all the sports I do everything is very live action. There's no stunt double. There's no make-up. There's no cover-up. Everything is as you see it. If I'm getting hit in the face, I got hit in the face. If I'm bruised, I'm bruised. If I'm limping, I'm really limping. If I'm cussing, I cuss. There might be a beep over top of it, but that's a different side of emotion, but that's sports."

NM: Were there a lot of growing pains while feeling these games out, or did you do any research about these games beforehand?

DJ: "No research. Basically, I land in a country and I have 10 days to learn the sport the best I possibly can and compete in whatever that sport is, whether it be an individualized sport or a team sport. When I was in Ireland, it was basically two or three days I had to pick up the basic, small, fine-tuned skills of hurling, and then at the end I actually played in an actual playoff game. It's up to the team sometimes how much I participate, but when it's an individual sport, it's one-on-one combat, it's one-on-one competition."

NM: The NFL is way too crazy, you don't have to agree, about protecting their assets.

DJ: "They protect everything, right?"

NM: Yeah. Did you have to sneak around the Bengals? Was it before you re-signed?

DJ: "There's no sneaking around. Maybe in the beginning, when I did the pilot, I didn't want to tell anybody. And then the cat was out of the bag, and I got a couple phone calls saying, 'What are you doing?' and I said, 'This is how I cross-train. This is how I get better at the game of football that I love to play.'."

"All these different sports translate into a different way to practice... fine-tune your skills as a football player because as an 'athlete,' you should be able to do everything. You should be able to do little bits and pieces of all the sports, as I'm doing, and apply those to the big sport of football."

NM: I gotta ask you about this. I am a huge proponent of the three-piece suit. You've spoken before, on our station actually, of a bow-tie revolution. I think they look pretty fresh. How's the revolution going?

DJ: "The revolution is coming along, I mean it will not be televised... you know that song by Gil Scott-Heron? The bow-ties are coming along. They are still going strong. The more people I talk to, the more people understand my mantra of the bow-tie revolution... the mantra of the re-establishment of the gentleman. People understand why."

"A lot of times that's what's important -- for people to understand why, because sometimes people do mindless things and they don't really know what's behind Five-Star Ties and the bow-tie revolution. It's the re-establishment of the gentleman. The way you carry yourself. The way that you speak. The way that you act. The way that you are as a human being is important, and it's reflected by small items you may wear, carry... ways that you present yourself, so, the bow-ties come with that."

NM: I promise you've got me on board... Couple of football questions. What's the opinion league-wide on the Buffalo Bills franchise?

DJ: "I went up there actually to visit. I think it's a great town. People are fully-invested in Buffalo. I have family up there. It was cool when I played (against the Bills) because my grandmother came up there, my aunts and other family members on different sides of the family, but it's cold, I'll tell you that much."

NM: We know, we know...

DJ: "It is freezing up there. It's a family-run business. It's a great stadium to play, and people are truly passionate about their players."

NM: I gotta ask you about Michigan. I started following them when I was seven... Now my school, Buffalo is my favorite and good with Turner Gill, and I'm not sure about Rich Rodriguez in Ann Arbor. What's going on? Can you keep me on board with Michigan football?

DJ: "I'm not sure exactly what to tell you about Michigan right now. It's an interesting situation. Rich came into a program that's completely different than what I suppose he's used to. I'm not going to give him any credit yet, but I'm not going to give him no credit at the same time. Regardless of what happened last year, it takes time to build a team around you. Maybe it's the recruiting class. Last year was inexcusable, and he needs to step it up and get it together, and this year will be a very telling one to see exactly where Michigan is going to go."

There's more... for the full interview go to our Audio Vault.

Email: nick@wgr550.com