SANTA CLARA, Calif. — New England Patriots receiver Mack Hollins might be the first player ever to show up barefoot for his Super Bowl media availability.
That’s tough to research, but this seems like an indisputable proclamation: Hollins is definitely the first player to show up to talk to the media while carrying the book, “Pastured Poultry Profit$.”
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At Super Bowl Opening Night on Monday, Hollins goodheartedly stopped all questions about Super Bowl LX with a “No football! No football!” He was willing to talk about mostly anything else, including that he doesn’t eat vegetables, doesn’t like to drink water (and only spring water when he does), typically doesn’t use any utensils when he eats, how he doesn’t trust wireless headphones and his preference to never wear shoes.
“He’s probably No. 1 on the unique list,” Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs said. “He’s actually taught me a lot. Alternative medicines, things he does, things he eats, how he moves on the daily. He is definitely one of my different teammates.’”
NFL players, especially during Super Bowl week, often try to avoid saying anything unusual to avoid any whiff of controversy. Hollins didn’t say anything that would cause any problems this week, but he has been the quirkiest interview subject of the week, sharing his various theories.
“I’m not like so deep that I’m on the flat earth side,” Hollins said. “Yet.”
Mack Hollins of the New England Patriots warms up prior to a game against the Buffalo Bills on December 14. It was 32 degrees at kickoff. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
(Kathryn Riley via Getty Images)
Mack Hollins is his own individual
If you’ve heard about Hollins’ alternate views on life, it was probably because of the oft-told story of him not wearing shoes.
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Hollins said it started when he met with Melbourne Muscular Therapy, a group of trainers from Australia, to find answers for a groin injury he had when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles. Hollins flew them to the United States, and they exposed him to the idea of living barefoot when possible. That’s why you might see him walk into a stadium on a cold and snowy day with no shirt and no shoes.
It has become a trademark. He wore a hoodie at the Patriots’ availability on Wednesday that had “HOLLINS” written across it, with footprints replacing the Ls, and “Free the feet” underneath his name. He said he’ll wear shoes in airport bathrooms. When he’ll be outside in less than 35 degrees for an extended period of time he’ll wear shoes. If he wears a military outfit as one of his many interesting pregame outfits he’ll wear shoes too, because he wants to respect the uniform.
“Oh! if I’m going out with the guys I’ll wear them. I don’t want them to kick us all out of the restaurant, ” Hollins said. “If I’m by myself? I’ve been kicked out of many a restaurant. It’s all right.”
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[More on the Patriots: New England team feed]
Hollins believes in grounding, which is the positive health effects of feeling the Earth’s electrical charge through walking on ground with bare feet. He said he believes he has better mobility and has healthier hips and knees due to grounding.
“I feel like I’m healthier because of it,” Hollins said. “So yeah, I think there’s significantly more positives than the few negatives when I step on a rock or something.”
Whatever term you wish to use for Hollins’ views, he comes by them honestly.
“I think I’ve always been like that,” Hollins said. “I’ve always wanted to try things and do things. I used to take things apart all the time when I was a kid. I used to just do new things and, oh, let me try this out. And YouTube was as close a friend of mine as anything can get. I think you can figure out anything on YouTube.”
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Among the beliefs Hollins will share are that wireless headphones aren’t healthy, due to the EMF (electromagnetic fields) emitted by bluetooth.
“I think around the locker room, more guys have started to pay attention to wired headphones versus wireless headphones, the impact that I can have on the human body,” Hollins said.. “And it seems hokey-pokey or whatever you want to say, but if there’s science, I can back it, and I think there is science that can back, maybe not direct correlations to human health, but I know on plant health, they’ve done enough things, studies on how plants grow when affected by EMF.”
This isn’t a normal conversation during Super Bowl interviews. And he’s just getting started.
The Super Bowl’s most interesting man
Whatever you want to ask Hollins about, he typically has an answer. Or wants to look into it.
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Hollins said he hasn’t eaten vegetables in five or six years. And if he did it wouldn’t be with a fork: Hollins generally doesn’t use utensils to eat.
“I never liked vegetables to begin with,” Hollins said. “I think they have other purposes other than nutrition. I think they’re better or if you’re not well or something for more medicinal purposes than anything else.
“But to each their own, I tell people if you’re going to have a diet, make sure it’s the highest quality stuff. I don’t care if you’re vegan, you’re a carnivore, you’re anything in between. Just make sure the quality is good. I think the quality of food in the United States has, I mean, basically crumbled. People choose convenience, and that’s what most people do. They want convenience, convenience, convenience, and convenience comes with a cross.”
On his avoidance of water, he’ll drink spring water if he has it at all. He prefers watermelon juice. He was also happy to land in California this week, because they have raw milk in stores.
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“I’m not big on the water thing,” Hollins said. “I think that’s kind of a scam.”
The three snakes he has as pets are “alive and well.”
The book he’s carrying around? His latest curiosity has been with farming, and specifically regenerative agriculture.
“So this book is just about chickens and how they can help, really help the world because our food,” Hollins said. “The way we raise animals in general is a huge problem, number one. not only from a health standpoint, but from an environment standpoint. It’s bad.”
At some point in Super Bowl week, most players get tired of the endless questions about the game or the off-the-wall queries that come out of nowhere. Hollins seemed like he could talk all week about his world views.
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“I think there’s just a lot out there to try out and learn and be cool with,” Hollins said.
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