Marshawn Lynch is Even More Awesome Than You Thought

When we last saw Marshawn Lynch around these parts, he was calling to mind both Huey P. Newton and Augustus Gloop, as only he can. Lynch is fun in a way so very few football stars are, so it hurts not to have him in our lives every Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, the Beast Mode stories will never die. They're too good. And there's too many.

Seattle Times sportswriter Jayson Jenks collected a bunch of priceless yarns for a piece entitled, "Ex-Seahawk Marshawn Lynch is never far from teammates' memories," which is definitely worth a few minutes out of your day, regardless of your feelings about Pete Carroll's chewing gum.

The great thing about Jenk's article is that it grew out of Lynch's friends telling stories unprompted, organically. Here are a few of the highlights about the Gridiron Artist Formerly Known as "Shitty," (for real.)

• As teammate Ricardo Lockette lay in a hospital bed waiting for surgery after he almost died on the field against the Cowboys last year, Lynch said, "'Don't be doing all that crying because Beast Mode don't cry, and if you cry, I'm going to cry.'"
• Marshawn showed up at birthday parties for the offspring of his O-line, and once had a long chat with the punter's mom.
• He's well-versed in the medical career of Gaylord Focker.

By far the best tale, however, comes from Lockette's father. Try not to get misty-eyed reading this:

"We were in there with Ricardo and everything was in a sad mode," said Earl Lockette Sr., Ricardo's dad. "A nurse comes up and says, 'We don't know much about football, Mr. Lockette, but there's a guy outside who says he needs to be in here. He says he plays with Ricardo, and his name is Marshawn Lynch.' I go to the lobby, and Marshawn has his bags. He said, 'I knew it was more than what they told me when I saw him go down. I knew it was more severe than that and I could not leave him here.'

"What Ricardo didn't know is that Marshawn peeked in the room and saw he was in there, in the bed, strapped down, couldn't move, and he cried like a baby. Marshawn did. I won't tell you everything he did, but he took a couple steps back and soaked those tears up, and he went in there and made my son feel like he could run and jump.

Guhhh.

Anyway, go on and read it your damn self. Defensive end Cliff Avril, a Haitian, discusses how much time and effort Lynch has put in helping build schools with the charity Free the Children. Oh, and what do you know? There's Marshawn and Bill Clinton sprucing up an athletic center back in his hometown of Oakland. And wait, is that Beast Mode rapping on the back of a camel… in Egypt?

Long live the Lynch tales.