Victor Cruz has had such a hectic offseason that he looks forward to the relative calm of putting on pads and getting beaten up.
“I can’t wait for football season to come around, so I can kind of relax and focus on football,” Cruz said Tuesday at the William & Mary football camp, according to Tom Robinson of the Virginian-Pilot.
Cruz passed on a chance to appear on Dancing With The Stars (which surely would have kept eventual champion Donald Driver from being invited), telling Neil Best of Newsday that “I just want to be focused on football and focused on what’s to come, and I’m just not at the point in my career where I feel like I need to do that.” But Cruz has instead focused on plenty of things other than football, hiring IMG to represent his off-field interests, which include writing a book and becoming the new Campbell’s Soup pitchman and handing out a Grammy and shopping his Young Whales T-shirt line via among other things a trip to Italy.
Out Of the Blue comes out next month, and Cruz has given it a predictably raving review. “I’m obviously biased, but I think it’s an amazing book,” Cruz said. “It really details my life, really true stories. Stuff that kids can really adapt to and read and be like, ‘Man, if this guy can make it, I can definitely make it as well.'”
He made it last year. If he wants to make it to a huge payday, he needs to make it this year, too.
The good news is that Cruz says he always will have “that chip on my shoulder.” And that will serve him well in 2012, given all the things he now has on his plate.
