Minnesota Football players are now Zoo security guards and now we want photos of them with animals

I’ve heard of a lot of summer jobs for athletes, but never in my life did I expect to see a tweet about Minnesota Football players who are working as security at the Como Park Zoo.

Truly this is the story I didn’t know I needed until it was here. A few choice excerpts (though you really need to read the whole thing):

Gibson and DeLattiboudere get children running up to them all day while on duty but none of them have any idea they are football players.

“Being a football player, you get a lot of attention. Here I still get attention but people don’t know I play football,” Gibson said. “I feel like Superman because it’s Clark Kent’s hidden identity. Nobody knows who I am.”

On a normal day one security guard will work the front desk to monitor the visitors coming in and out. Como Park Zoo and Conservatory sees two million guests annually, according to Graff.

DeLattiboudere enjoys the front desk spot because of his interactions with park guests. He bounces around holding doors open, high fiving children and making sure people start their trip to the zoo off on a positive note.

“I’m a social butterfly so being able to talk to people every day and hearing their stories, helps me gain knowledge about the world around me,” DeLattiboudere said. “There is always something bigger going on than yourself.”

It is at this point that I want to congratulate Jerry and Winston on their excellent beards and their singing skills. That’s right, they sing to kids too.

My only critique of this fine Gopher Sports post is that they really needed to convince the Como Zoo to let Jerry and Winston hang out with some baby animals because the photos would be phenomenal and don’t you dare spoil this idea with your accurate statements about how wild animals are dangerous and we really don’t have the defensive line depth to absorb a tiger cub mauling.