Shawne Merriman

THE SAN DIEGO CHARGERS' MEANEST SOB IS REBUILT RECHARGED AND READY TO HIT ANYTHING THAT MOVES

PLAYBOY: You missed nearly all of last season to have surgery on two torn ligaments in your left knee. How tough was the decision to take the season off?

MERRIM AN: It wasn't hard once I played the first game. I knew physically I wouldn't be able to play through a full season. If I was going to get surgery, I had to get it done right then or it would have been lingering the following season.

PLAYBOY: Was the decision entirely yours, or did you have people pulling you in different directions? MERRIM AN: My family said, "Boy, you are crazy." They told me to get it done and sit out the season. My coaches wanted me to make the best decision for myself. It came down to just me and my doctors, which is why I took so long to make a decision. If I felt I couldn't go out there and play, I would have gotten the surgery before the first game. I pushed and scrounged to try to get one game in. I thought I had a chance to go out there and perform well.

PLAYBOY: How dangerous is the rebuilt Shawne Merriman? MERRIMAN: I'm so dangerous right now I scare myself. I'm 100 percent healthy for the first time since entering the league. My first year I tore my posterior cruciate ligament. People didn't know I had a torn PCL throughout my whole career. My knee had ntver been 100 percent. Now I'm the strongest I've ever been.

PLAYBOY: Has your nickname always been Lights Out?

MERRIMAN: I've always had a nickname everywhere I've played football. I played four years with the Boys and Girls Club, and they called me Big Moose because I'd run people over like a moose. Then it changed from Big Moose to Pepco, which is a gas-and-electricity company back on the East Coast. During my sophomore year I knocked four guys out of one game, so I became Pepco until my junior year. They kept call­ing me that, and I said, "I don't like that name because if that company goes out of business, I go out of business." I changed it to Lights Out. Every level I've played-high school, college and even in the pros-I've been able to knock somebody out to prove I deserve that name.

PLAYBOY: What is the hardest hit you've delivered in the NFL?

MERRIMAN: When I knocked out Priest Holmes. That was probably the hardest hit, and from what I've heard, it was one of the loudest hits anybody has ever heard. That's coming from teammates of his and coaches I saw in the off-season. They said, "Look, man, I was on that sideline when you hit Priest, and that was probably the worst thing I've ever seen."

PLAYBOY: That hit injured Holmes's spinal column, sidelined him for the 2005 and 200E seasons and is sard to have led to his retirement. Some critics claim it was an illegal hit. MERRIMAN: They said a bunch of stuff. When I was in high school parents sent letters complaining that I shouldn't be on the field with their sons, that I was (continued on page US)

MERRIMAN

(continued from page 89) an animal. It was hilarious. They stopped letting me hit in practice. Whenever we had contact drills, they'd send me over to another field, where I would practice hit­ting dummies.

Q

PIAYBOY: Has Holmes ever said anything to you about the hit?

mkrrimaN: It was awkward, because I saw him two years ago at—of all places—the Playboy Mansion. He was standing beside me, and I didn't know who he was until one of my boys tapped me and said, "Hey, isn't that Priest?" I looked over and said, "Oh shit, it is." It was awkward, because on the field I'm a beast and a killer. I'm going to try to get you by any means necessary. But off the field I'm not like that. When I saw him I didn't even know what to say. I said, "What's up?" I tell all the players, "On the field I'm going to try to knock you out, but during the off-season, call me and I'll show up at your charity event." That's just the way I am.

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playboy: Is it hard to maintain that inten­sity for every game?

mkrrimaN: I got one speed all the time, and I have only one mentality for myself on that grass. When I'm out there, man, it's like a different Shawne. Sometimes I look back and say, "Damn, why did I do that?" I must have split personalities. Somebody might ask me about a game, and I'll look back on the film and say, "Damn, I really did that?" I'm just a totally different guy on the field.

Q

PI.AYBOY: Two of your homes burned down when you were a kid in Baltimore. What happened?

MERRIMAN: The first time, when I was 11, my babysitter had witnessed a murder, and the murderers bombed our building. The second time, my mother lit a candle and it burned through the TV in my room. The first one, I was there. The second time I was at my friend's house, and I found out later, like 5:30 in the morning, that the house was burning. Everything was gone— trophies, pictures, everything. We stayed in motels on and off. It was tough. I had a really troubled upbringing, and some of the unfortunate things that happened are why I'm able to do what I do now. I'm built for everything that's taking place now.

Q10

PIjWBOY: How much of your life is spent in the gym?

mkrrimaN: I'm a gym rat. You can't get me out of the gym. I just love working out. In high school I worked to get a weight set to put in my garage, and I used to lift until two or three in the morning. If my friends saw the light on in my garage, they knew exactly what I was doing. I'd gel somebody knocking on my garage at 1:30, two in the morning, and I'd be in there working out.

Q11

PLAYBOV: How important is the Hall of Fame for you? Do you think about it? MERRIMAN: I do, because people don't often talk about the Hall of Fame this early in a career, and it's an honor even to be considered. But I don't feel it's right until you prove yourself in your game. Anybody can have one or two good years. Do I want to be considered the best that ever played the game? Of course. But at no point in time do I want to come across as being disrespectful.

Q

PLAYBOY: During the 2006 season you were suspended for four games after failing a steroid test. Do you worry the suspension will affect your Hall of Fame chances? mkrriman: I don't think so at all. That's something that maybe I'll have to deal with one day when I get there. I'm just going to go out and play and show you what I'm able to do. I'm not a big talker about what I'm going to do. Baby, look at the paper and the game reel. Look at some of the things I've been able to accomplish. That's not going to change, and if anybody's expecting it to, it's not.

Q

PLAYBOY: As a competitor, how did you mentally deal with the suspension? MERRIMAN: It was just like I was on a path. I got ridiculously focused. I thought, Okay, people believe this, and they're entitled to their opinion. That's fine, but they don't understand. They don't know, especially with all the shit going on around it. Itjust got blown up out of proportion. I don't have to prove anything to anybody but myself and to people who watch and love the game of football, because that's who I do it for. What I love the most is when guys who are in the Hall of Fame or coaches from other teams pull me aside before games and say, "Man, you're one of the most amazing players I've ever seen play this game." That shit brings a tingling in my body. I get a rush.

Q14

plavboy: A big deal was made after Maurice Jones-Drew from the Jacksonville Jaguars blocked you and knocked you down during the 2007 season. What happened? mkrriman: When 1 first started playing football I used to call out older guys all the time. They'd say, "One day everybody gets older, and everybody has to deal with it." I told them, "I'm Lights Out. Nobody's ever going to do nothing to me." Everybody gets caught at least one time, they always say. Sure enough, I didn't see the little guy. He came out of the blue when I was looking at the quarterback, and Maurice is about eight inches shorter than me. The juy leveled my ass. A fucking bowling ball s what he is, man. It wouldn't have been iuch a big deal if it wasn't me. You know, 'Lights Out got lights out." It was just one )f those things.

Q

¦lavboV: How much grief did your team-nates give you for that?

MERRlMAN: Every time somebody gets hit or blown up or something, I'm the first one to give you shit about it. When somebody gets floored, intercepted or hit, I'm the first guy running up to them. So you best believe everybody got on me.

Q u

PLAYBOY: Did any of the Chargers try to haze you your rookie year? MERRlMAN: I had to take the whole team out for dinner. The tab was about $32,000. Cristal bottles everywhere, all the best things you could think of were ordered. I felt sick. 1 talked to nobody for three or four days.

Q17

playboy: You've been ajudge at a Miss USA pageant. Is that as great as it sounds? MERRlMAN: I loved it. I made a joke about Donald Trump twisting my arm to get me to go there, but I probably would have gone out there for free—flown myself out, put myself up in a hotel for that one. You're around 50 hot chicks, and I'm single. It was fun for me.

playboy: Who are the hardest guys to shake up on the field?

MERRiMAN: Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. They're great quarterbacks, but they're also very hard to get to. They get rid of the ball

quick; they make the right decisions. It's not always about your athletic ability. There are some guys in the league who have more athletic ability than both of them, but Brady and Manning are so good. It's really hard to hit them.

Q19

pijWBOY: During your time offyou appeared in Keri Hilson's "Knock You Down" video with Kanye West and Ne-Yo. How did that happen?

merrimaN: Chris Robinson, who directed the video, is a friend of mine, and I also know- Kanye. I hadn't met Keri, but Chris told me Kanye had this part and it would be great if I could shoot a quick cameo. 1 told him, "I've never done a video. I can show you how to hit a quarterback, but I don't know about videos." He said, "All you have to do is stand there and be Lights Out." So 1 just stood there, and it worked. It was a hot video.

Q20

playboy: Now that you're back on the field, is anyone on your hit list? merrimaN: I'm going after anyone in a different-colored helmet. Period. If you're wearing a different-colored helmet than me, you're in trouble.