Photo Credit: Jensen Walker/Getty Images for Guitar Hero
So CNN/SI has a photo gallery up right now of "Male Athletes Off the Field" (which is a weird title - aren't 90 percent of athletes that people know male?), and the picture above is the first picture you see. The cheese-eating goofball front and center with the Janet Jackson Rhythm Nationa 1814 headset is Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo, playing Guitar Hero III at a promotional event with teammates Terrance Newman, Marc Colombo and Cory Procter.
First off, does anyone look like they less want to be somewhere than Terrance Newman? And take a look at the "guitar" they gave Marc Colombo - could they find a larger model for the giant, hulking NFL player. It looks like he's playing Mandolin Hero.
But really, the star here is Romo. From the too-high position on the guitar to the "yuck yuck" grin on his face, everything about him screams "yokel". This picture alone is going to cause me to lay serious scratch on the Packers next week against the Cowboys - no way Brett Favre would ever look this dorky.
But here's my main bone of contention - what the hell is he doing wearing that headset? I don't own Guitar Hero, but I've played it several times. At no point do I remember signing being a part of it. I don't even know if the headset is plugged in (it might just trail off into nothingness, like watching a band "perform" on American Bandstand back in the day when none of the electric instruments were attached to anything).
My theory: he's so used to getting play calls from the booth that he cannot function without assistance 100 percent of the time. In this case, his possible girlfriend/maybe just friends/whatever Carrie Underwood is in another room telling him which buttons on the "gee-tar" to push.
I'd also recommend checking out photo #4, of NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson trying for the Jim Halpert casual cool look at a fashion event and failing. Miserably. He looks like a 6 year-old dressing up in dad's clothes.
