Sometimes we think we know athletes based on what they say in the occasional interview or in the case of Arizona Cardinals defensive end, Darnell Dockett, what they tweet.
↵Darnell is all those things he's known for. He's funny, he's passionate, he's got a mean streak and he's also a deep and intelligent man who loves his son in a way that's easy to understand once you learn more about where he came from.
↵In this ESPN profile story, Darnell talks about his upbringing and how he walked in his house at age 13 to find his mother, a drug dealer according to Dockett, shot dead on the floor. Darnell's father had already died so he was raised by his uncle, Kevin.
↵It was his uncle Kevin who encouraged Dockett to play football and bought Darnell a weight set at a teenager.
↵"The first day I went out to the practice field I ran over two people and from that date, I never looked back," Dockett said in the video.
↵This story is just another reminder that we really don't ever know the celebrity athletes that we follow. Darnell came through a lot to get where he is today and is much more than just the great football player and funny tweeter that we know.
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