MARKAN the BARBARIAN

Check out Mark here in this poster dressed as a Barbarian of some sort. Look at his fist going through that helmet.

Me and Mark having a little ( POSED ) arm wrestle at the 1983 JETS SWARM PICNIC in East Meadow NY. I was 15

Mark Gastineau number 99 for the NY JETS from 1979 to 1988 one of the most physically dominant players ever to step foot on the BATTLEFIELD known as the GRIDIRON. In 100 starts he racked up 100 sacks and by the end of his career he had 107 sacks...( 106 and a half actually ) at 6'5" tall and weighing in at 276 lbs he was a powerful and imposing giant among men. His prowess on the field was legendary he would tear helmets in half. Few men in football can lay that claim to fame. He once held the record for most sacks in one season at 22 sacks only broken within the last few years by former NY FOOTBALL GIANT Michael Straihan.

At one time he was married to Brigitte Nielsen ( who went on to play RED SONJA ) he retired from Football to spend more time with her whileshe was going through a tough time with Cancer. Don't worry she beat it. But his career was done. He tried going into the Canadian Football league but he did not get much respect from any of the other members of the league and his career in the CFL was brief. So he turned to boxing and he had a pretty impressive record but that did not last long either. Later on he had done some time in the Pen for drug possession and when he came out he tried going back to boxing. But at that time he was not quite what he used to be as boxers were all training hard to battle big men such as himself. He retired from that as well. Lately he lays low but has been known to make appearances at Sports card trade conventions and other public personal appearances. He is still a legend in the NFL and still has the respect of the league.

In 1983 I met him and actually had a photo taken with him...arm wrestling. This is shortly after a bar fight scrap he'd gotten into with the bouncer of a club in NY over ARM WRESTLING of all things.

An interesting little bit of History here. Sylvester Stallone actually wanted Gastineau to play the part of DRAGO in Rocky III...but for one reason or another Mark turned it down. ( Take it with a grain of salt ) During that time..STALLONE was married to the woman Mark would marry just 2 years later...coincidence? I think not.

That kind of leads to another similar situation between Mickey Roarke , Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa...Jason did not want to share a set with Mickey ( Take it with a grain of salt )...years ago when Lisa ( Jason's wife ) was filming ANGEL HEART with Mickey Roarke it was rumored they had a little on set romance going on....so...The part of CONAN's Daddy was given to Ron Pearlman. Coincidence? Hmmm...Don't buy into these old Hollywood rumors. Anyway...Gastineau will always be one of my heroes. He had that physique and size I always imagined would be pretty much what CONAN looked like up close and personal...and from Gastineau's performance out on the BATTLEFIELD pretty much what it would be like too.