Detroit Lions Running Back Jamaal Williams chose to celebrate the team’s victory over the Green Bay Packers by wearing a beanie of thePokemonGengar during his post-game press conference. Williams has a history of literally wearing his anime and manga fandom on his sleeve, especiallyPokemon,with a littleNarutoadded in for good measure.In the week leading up to the game, Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers talked some trash about the Lions, so a reporter asked Williams about the comments. While wearing a customNarutoheadband and aNarutojacket, Williams told the reporter that he didn’t care. He was done with talking football drama andjust wanted to go home and playPokemon. When the reporter pronounced it “pokeman,” Williams corrected him. “You can’t disrespectPokemonlike that,” he said with more than a little whimsy in his voice.RELATED:Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Fan Creates Impressive Paradox Form for FeraligatrWhen it came time for the game, Williams was ready. His 16 run attempts for 72 yards and two touchdowns helped the Detroit Lions knock Rodgers and the Packers out of playoff contention. After the game, he wore that niftyPokemonhatshaped like Gengar as an expression of his love of thePokemonfranchise, possibly having something to do with his interaction with the reporter a week earlier, or maybe he’s simply a huge fan.Williams’Pokemonhat during an NFL press conference was just the nerdy bookend of the game. When the Lions’ offense took the field, NBC ran a quick package of each player introducing themselves to the viewer in the lower third of the screen. Whilewearing the sameNarutoheadbandmentioned before, Williams introduced himself as “First swag kazekage, leader of the Hidden Village of the Den.” That may seem like nonsense without proper knowledge ofNarutolore. Kazekage is the leader of Hidden Sand Village in both the anime and the manga it’s based on. Williams simply took some inspiration from his favorite anime and put his own spin on it for the player introductions.
It shouldn’t be surprising that professional athletes are huge anime and game fans. In August 2022, New Orleans Pelicans superstar Zion Williamson of the NBA, who is also aNarutofan, estimated in an interview with GQ that “around 80% of players in the league are into anime; they just won’t admit it.” This current generation of Millennial and GenZ professional athletes was raised with Toonami and Adult Swim blocks of anime. They grew up exchangingDragon Ball ZVHS tapes or DVDs. Some of them probably grew up watching anime supercuts on YouTube. If Zion estimates that 80% of NBA players are into anime, then it could be just as true of manyNFL stars, too. And in time, as anime takes greater hold in North America, there might be a lot more than that.
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