Vikings hire strip-club owner to speak to rookies

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 14, 2012, 12:52 PM EDT

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The Minnesota Vikings have hired a colorful character to talk to their rookies about the importance of staying out of the wrong places at the wrong times.

That character is Sean Bishop, a convicted felon who works in the strip club business and was brought to Minnesota to tell the Vikings’ rookies that if they’re smart, they’ll stay away from characters like him and establishments like his, because strip clubs are a great place to blow your money and find yourself in legal trouble.

“I tell them I am a scumbag club owner who will use and abuse you,” Bishop told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I just don’t want to see any of them ruin their lives. They need to be protected from themselves.”

So where did the Vikings find this scumbag? It turns out that Vikings executive director of player development Les Pico was Bishop’s football coach at Washburn University in the 1990s. And Pico thought Bishop’s life story would provide something of a “scared straight” vibe if he spoke to the team.

“He’s not a choirboy by any means,” Pico said of Bishop. “I can’t legislate morality. Sean’s a guy who isn’t afraid to talk negatively about the business he’s in. Our owners give us great latitude allowing us to run these programs and put a convicted felon on a plane to come here and talk to our rookies about why they shouldn’t be in strip clubs.”

Bishop says NFL players are often treated like royalty at strip clubs because they have plenty of cash to throw around, but eventually things go wrong.

“These guys get comfortable in the VIP section and think they’re not being seen and forget where they’re at,” he said. “Being a competitive athlete, it’s hard for them to turn the other cheek or swallow their pride and walk away from bad situations. Instead, they make a scene and forget where they’re at because the owner’s treating them like a king, they’re young and think they’re invincible when all it takes is one snapshot and you’re done.”

So the moral of the story is, don’t go to strip clubs. Spoken from a man in the strip club business.

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