Antonio Garay: The nose tackle who drives a Hello Kitty smart car
It took a while for San Diego Chargers nose tackle Antonio Garay to make an impact in the NFL — when he replaced Jamal Williams at the position in 2010 and put up an impressive 5.5 sacks, those became the first 5.5 sacks of his five-year NFL career. Garay already has one more sack this season, and things are looking bright for the Boston College alum.
However, that's not why we're featuring Antonio Garay in Shutdown Corner today. The reason we're featuring Antonio Garay in Shutdown Corner today is that we are reasonably sure in guaranteeing that this is the only time you will see a 6-foot-4, 320-pound NFL defender driving a tiny convertible smart car … with the Hello Kitty logo on it.
As Garay tweeted about the car, "Yo @TakeoSpikes51 I wish I had 4 hands 2 give the Hello Kitty drop top Smart car 4 thumbs UP but 2 will do."
Four thumbs up would be most appropriate.
[Check live scoring and set your lineup with Yahoo! Sports' Fantasy Football app]
Lest you think that that photo was some sort of prop, and the car isn't really his, there's further photographic evidence here and here (there are many more on his YFrog account). The second photo has teammate Cam Thomas in the car as well, which, as Garay points out, puts about 665 pounds of football player in a car that looks like it won't stand that for too long.
"Not only is this dog cruisin around in a Hello Kitty drop top Im rockn my 3D shades cus its so real," Garay tweeted.
Now, who can argue with that? Garay is a man who knows how to accessorize; he also spray-paints designs into his sculpted hair (we love the look on Tim Tebow's face in the middle picture above) and recently lost a very spiffy iPhone case we would certainly miss if we lost it.
Style, thy name is Antonio Garay, and we are duly impressed.
Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
• Packers fans in epic cheesehead battle
• Pro-Tim Tebow billboard goes up in Denver
• Olympic hopeful jumps over three cars
