On Monday night, Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch appeared on Conan O’Brien’s show, where he dropped an “F” bomb and talked about “grabbing my ding-ding.” (And he also grabbed his ding-ding several times.) On Thursday night, teammate Russell Wilson appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s show. While there was no “ding-ding” talk, Wilson stepped way out of his carefully-manicured character by using a word that had to be bleeped.
“I’ve gotta tell you a story,” Wilson said as soon as he took a seat between Kimmel and Andy Samberg, who was in a plastic bubble because he was pretending to have the flu. “So I’m backstage, before the show, obviously. And all of a sudden I run into this guy with a bubble. And he sticks out his hand. I shake his hand. Next thing I know, he sh-ts in his pants.” (It’s possible Wilson said “jizzes,” in reference to Samberg’s “Jizz in My Pants” video from Saturday Night Live. Either way, it was bleeped. Either way, it didn’t mesh with the Wilson ordinarily projects.)
The discussion quickly turned to Wilson’s contractual status, with Kimmel asking Wilson if he’s more tired of talking about the Super Bowl loss or his contract.
“Both,” Wilson said.
Kimmel then pointed out how underpaid Wilson is, suggesting that he’s making only $37,000 per year. (The audience didn’t get the joke.)
“So you’re ready for the next contract?” Kimmel said.
“That sounds exciting,” Wilson replied.
“I would love to help you with this contract, I really would,” Kimmel said. “Do you have an agent?”
“I do have an agent,” Wilson said.
“Well, that’s a bummer.”
“Maybe you can be his consultant,” Wilson said.
“How much money do you want, because we can probably hash this out right now?”
“Can we take a collection plate, maybe?” Wilson said, laughing.
“No, you get it from the team,” Kimmel responded, with a little bit of force in his voice. “You made enough money for them. I think it’s OK for them to pay you. You want to be the highest paid player in football, correct?”
“I just want to be paid based off my play,” Wilson said. “It’ll work out in the end, and we’ll figure it out.”
Wilson then reiterated that he wants to stay in Seattle, but it’s still not clear exactly what he wants financially -- because he continues to avoid the question.
Wilson also said he’s seriously interested in playing both football and baseball professionally, calling it a dream he had growing up.
“It’d be tough to play [both],” Wilson said. “But, you know, there’s always a way.”
Kimmel then asked if Wilson would play both if his baseball rights were traded from the Texas Rangers to the Seattle Mariners.
“I’d definitely consider it,” Wilson said.
Kimmel did a great job of asking the right questions and drawing Wilson out on some touchy subjects, even though it’s a comedy show with low expectations for anything newsworthy.
And there was still some comedy (or at least attempts at comedy), including a quick jab by Wilson at coach Pete Carroll for paying players at USC. But it came out so fast that it sailed over the heads of the studio audience.
“He’s gonna love that comment,” Kimmel said.
Carroll won’t mind that comment if they can get a contract worked out. For now, it’s still unclear what it will take and when it will get done. However, it is clear that Wilson remains serious about baseball -- and that he’d be even more serious if he were playing for the baseball team in the same town as his football team.