Before Brett Keisel takes the field on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game, he answered a few questions from Chris Cooley. The wide-ranging conversation -- which touches on everything from the toughness of the Ravens mascot to shaking hands with guys who just went to the bathroom -- can be read below:

Brett Keisel: Talk to me about what you got going on man. Are these questions you made up?

Chris Cooley: Yes. In all my spare time. I don't think you'll have too hard of a time answering them.

BK: (laughs) Outstanding.

(In the midst of some early-conversation banter that has been edited out, Keisel mentions that he had just been sitting in an ice bath to aid his sore legs.)

CC: I don't understand how you can sit in an ice bath. Don't you guys practice outside?

BK: Yeah, but we didn't today. We were inside today. My legs are just worn out I guess. Do you ice?

CC: Uh, yeah. I definitely do. It sucks. We don't have an indoor facility, so when it's cold out I really don't like to get in the ice after we're done. But I can't imagine how tired you are ...

BK: Yeah, it's not too bad, I missed six games this year so I feel pretty good. I can't believe you guys don't have an indoor facility; all the money your owner has.

CC: I know. It's unreal. Well, we practice on, I guess we practice on a flood plane. There's a creek behind our field ... the only turf field we have is an ACTUAL AstroTurf field. I mean it's not even field turf so ... we usually don't use that one either.

BK: Maybe all you guys can chip in and get yourselves an indoor facility.

CC: (laughs) "Hey Dan, why don't we all give you some money and maybe build this thing."

CC: I was gonna tell you too, it's crazy that you grew up in Greybull (Wyoming).

BK: I know, 'cause you grew up in Powell right? (54.6 miles apart)

CC: I grew up in Powell ...  I have little league wrestling medals with a grey bull. It's not a circle, it's a bull.

CC: Well it's kind of funny, we both grew up in Wyoming, we both went to college in Utah, my family all thinks that we should be best friends. Do you ever hear that? I'm like, I haven't even talked to him.

BK: We are best friends Chris, we just don't know it yet bro.

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Site news: MJD is experiencing technical difficulties. Thankfully, Chris Cooley returns to the Corner after setting a career-high with 83 receptions this season.

We lost to the New York Giants on Sunday November 30th. The game had major playoff implications and the team was furious, but as we came together in the locker room Jim Zorn was livid.

I'd seen coach get hot on the sideline, except that was nothing compared to this. He was like a dad ready to spank all of his little kids and watch us sob in the corner: "This is gonna hurt me so much more than it hurts you."

Oddly enough I was having a problem living in that same moment. Yeah, I was devastated and the thought of a spanking wasn't so great, but as I tried to stare into his eyes I couldn't distract my attention from what was around his neck.

It looked like a boondoggle that a third-grader would have made, eccentrically braided together and full of different colors. It was a smiling train wreck staring me down in the middle of defeat. No matter what I did my eyes did not deviate from that necklace, and as I made my trip home I kept wondering why the hell he had that crazy thing around his neck.

Throughout the rest of the season I would notice that Zorn always had one of these necklaces on; in meetings or at practice it was there. I really hadn't asked him about it as I was well aware that he has some uncommon ideas going on in his head.  

Fast forward to the end of the season; the day after the last game is always a team meeting. It's like yearbook signing day at the end of my sophomore year of high school where you really don't need to be there, except the last day wrap-up has been made mandatory. We meet as a team, but it's only for about five minutes and then guys seem to loiter around like there is something waiting for them.

I was BSing with a couple guys about an hour after the meeting, kind of sharing off-season plans and was surprised by a light tap on my shoulder. It was a short dark-haired woman I've never seen before, and at first thought I figured I had just gotten in her way. There's always different people doing business around Redskins Park, and they usually leave the players alone, but she wanted to talk to me. 

As I turned to look down at her I see one of Z-man's crazy necklaces in her hand. We started talking and she begins to explain why Z is wearing one of these. While she is doing this Z himself walks into the middle of the conversation, bandwagoning the necklace lady as well as heightening my attention level.

She went into thorough detail about the body balancing titanium in the Phiten necklaces and how much this can help not only when working out, but also on the field. With Zorn there she continued talking about all the different Phiten items that would be able to help me out. There were T-shirts, calf sleeves and wrist bands that she had brought to the Park. Before I knew it I had my new necklace around my neck and a bag of all kinds of Phiten [stuff] to try out, as well the full scoop about the benefits and possibilities of titanium. 

So we'll see where this takes me. The necklace hasn't come off for the last two weeks, and I'm not sure if I'm more balanced, but it is pretty damn cool. I've worked out a couple times, but after deciding to write about the Z necklace I'm inclined to begin scientific research to find out if it really works. Should be interesting.

Chris Cooley is a Pro Bowl tight end for the Washington Redskins and posts now and again right here on Shutdown Corner. Read more from Cooley on his personal blog, where he gets awesome all the time.

It's only three days into the season and I have one sore ass body. If five different NFL camps have proven anything to me, it's that there is no way to fully prepare my body to take the beatings of football. I've tried working out twice a day, working out in altitude, racing my dog up and down the driveway, I've even tried sitting on my ass. Whether its preseason rest or work I've felt like dog [excrement] within the first week, progressively getting worse year after year. I think that’s what makes training camp so dreaded by all of us going through it.

Whether or not I feel like practicing,  it's gonna happen ... over…and over ... and over again. We will actually hit the field for "practice" over 50 times before we play the NYG in the season opener. What has recently become important in my career is a pre-practice routine. 

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We sat front-and-center over the shoots chutes for the Cody Nite Rodeo, and I found myself rooting for the bulls all night long. ESPN Xtreme Bulls drew a sellout crowd of 5,000 and no bull could have been extreme enough for me. Fact is, put me in any environment with a cowboy, and I'm gonna root against them. I just don't like Cowboys!

What I did like was watching tight wranglers and spurs bucked and dragged, hats flung in the air (at least some of them were man enough to wear hats and not helmets) and faces stuffed in the mud. Most of all I loved a terrified little man in Tony Lamas scurrying around like a whimpering pup. Cowboy up!

What the rodeo does provide is an outstanding environment to become a belligerent fan. First of all, it may have been the only sporting event to sell beer by the six-pack ($3 a can). Secondly, I was able to holler lines from the Blue Collar Comedy tour: "Get ‘er dun, boy! Buck that sumbitch off!" Finally, I got my chance to be the fan who is better than the professional: "I could have rode those bulls in my slippers tippin' my cap to the crowd all night!"

I would highly recommend the bull riding event at a rodeo to any non-cowboy fan. The bull wins 70 percent of the time, and even when he doesn't win he strikes the fear of God into his competitors.

As the crazy rodeo fan says at the end of this video, "Let ‘er buck, that's all I figure I need!"

Chris Cooley is a Pro Bowl tight end for the Washington Redskins and blogs every Wednesday here on Shutdown Corner. Read more from Cooley on his personal blog, where he gets awesome all the time.

About a month ago I was wandering around a sports memorabilia store, PSGameGear, in the Dulles Mall. I got bored and found myself at the front of the store where the football cards are at. I hadn't opened a pack since I was a kid, so I thought it would be fun if I could pull my own card. I bought about 10 and let the opening begin. Ten minutes and $70 later I was out of luck -- no Cooley cards! I was a little disappointed, but in that 10 minutes I'd become addicted to a hobby that consumed my life as a 12 year-old.

In the sixth grade I put together a string of cash flow opportunities. I would mow anybody's lawn or shovel any driveway of snow. I became a master of the used golf ball business. I could find a lost ball anywhere on any course, and then I would clean it up and start selling. I was taking in about $100 a month and every penny of it went to trading cards.

I collected hundreds of thousands of cards. It didn't matter what the sport was; I wanted the best. The card shop was a three-mile bike ride away, one that I made close to every day for over two years. I would buy packs, boxes, singles, rookies ... you name it. It all made me so happy.

After opening the 10 packs the other day at PSGameGear I learned that football cards are way cooler than when I was a kid. There are autographed cards, jersey cards and all different kinds of numbered cards. I got an Adrian Peterson autographed rookie card listed 62 out of 199! On eBay it's going for over $300. I have never gotten a card worth close to that much money, and after returning home all I wanted to do was open more packs.

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The end of the football offseason is fully underway as the NFL has progressively shortened the time between the last game and the first workout. Most players just spent the better part of the last four months working out with their team: hitting the weight room four or five times a week and attending mini-camp and OTA's (official team workouts). Most guys made the choice to show up for team activities simply because someone was keeping track, but whether they liked it or not, with over a month left before training camp, players are quicker, stronger and healthier.   

With teams so ready to start a football season, it's amazing to me is that we're now going to take five full weeks off. The Redskins finished the last official team work out on June 12 and don't begin training camp until July 19. There's nothing on the schedule for players to show up for between now and then.

It's like, bust your ass to get in shape, now take a month off. I mean, if you're not working every day, a month is more than enough time to lose considerable strength and endurance. Mentally I will be right where I left off for the summer, but it's unbelievable how quickly my body will forget what it had to go through to be ready for the field. 

As I walked out of the Redskins facility for the last day before the summer break, vacation plans were aplenty.  We have guys going all over the world, me included (at least all over the country). On July 2, I'll be heading to Wyoming to hang out with family for the last couple weeks before the training camp starts. The question is how many guys will be working, and how many will be drinking beers?

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Last Friday morning I took off out of D.C. and headed to Michigan to do a TNT interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr. A quick flight to Detroit turned a little sour as we circled over Lake St. Clair for a half-hour before the pilot says, "The weather been pretty bad around Detroit, but we got a quick shot at the airport so we're gonna take it." He paused and then said, "It's gonna be pretty rough so you better buckle those seatbelts tight." A 55-minute flight turned into an hour and 45 minutes of banging around. I really hate flying, but for Dale Junior, I guess anything goes.

I spent the morning getting into the track, trying to convince Sandra in the TNT trailer that I really did play for the Redskins and that my name was supposed to be on the credential list. She said I wasn't big enough to be a football player, and then laughed at me when I said I was supposed to head over to Earnhardt's trailer. To her I was just another fan, but I noticed that of the other male fans that morning, keeping my shirt on was definitely a distinction. After a few calls and a couple different trailer visits I made it through the gates.

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Thank God Michael Strahan is retiring. He's doing me a favor by relieving plenty of stress from my life two weeks a year. Number 92 has beaten my ass enough times for any 36 year-old man.

I'm happy I don't have to worry about it anymore, but at the same time I'm a little disappointed. With this offseason's retirement of Strahan, as well as Brett Favre, almost none of my childhood idols are left in the game. The fact remains, though, that Michael Strahan has been, and in my opinion still would be, a major force in the NFL.

In my eight Skins-Giants matchups I would define Strahan as the most intelligent defensive player on the field. I guess that's bound to happen toward the end of a fifteen-year career; a career that began after the 1993 draft, about the same time I was finishing up the sixth grade. He made his first Pro Bowl shortly after I wrapped up my first season on the Logan High freshman football team. Even better, No. 92 set the NFL record for sacks (22.5) and was named Defensive Player of the Year while I sat the bench on a below-average Utah State squad. As I entered the NFL, Michael Strahan became a looming standard of competition. He played at a level far above anything I'd ever seen before and keeping up with him has made me a better player. 

One of my favorite memories of Strahan happened last season at FedEx field. Right tackle Jon Jansen suffered a season-ending injury two weeks earlier and our offense was having some problems controlling the right side of the line. We had built ourselves a lead in the game, but it quickly diminished as our offense became extremely conservative. Throughout the second half I stayed in from my tight end position on third downs to pass block Strahan. I had mixed things up and held my own, but in the fourth quarter there was a breaking point.

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"I'll take the number two with a Coke. Oh, and a large fry."

A quarter-pounder with cheese from McDonald's has been my favorite sandwich since I was a kid. Growing up, a trip to McDonald's, Taco Bell or even Wendy's was a popular event. Pizza night was another common dinner in the Cooley household. Of course, my mom cooked a lot of meals, but I was a busy kid and fast food was always so easy.

In a world full of performance-enhancing drugs, I have spent a lifetime being great at sports and eating garbage. Friday night football games in high school were preceded with a 39-cent hamburger eating contest at Arctic Circle. I could usually eat nine or 10. Two hours before my high school state championship wrestling match, I took down three cheeseburgers with a Mountain Dew. I went on to win in a 14-3 decision; the closest match in a season that I finished 40-0.

I entered college as a 205-pound defensive end and still looked like a skinny kid. After two months of Big Mac Mondays and 2-for-2 Quarter-Pounder Tuesdays I topped the scales at 240. A growing college athlete has to eat, and not only was fast food the best, it was the cheapest. Team snack the night before a Utah State football game consisted of a bag full of hour-old cheeseburgers. I always ate them all! I knew no better about how poorly I was eating, but how could I? It had worked throughout my life. I finished my freshman season starting the last five games and raking in 4 sacks.

As I made the passage from a small D-1 football program to the NFL I began to figure some eating changes would be in order. If I wanted to compete on the highest level, I would be on some form of team diet. Walking through the front doors at Redskin Park one of the first players I met was Clinton Portis. He carefully set down his Roy Rogers bag of breakfast and shook my hand. Right then I knew I would be just fine.

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This being Wednesday, we'd usually post Chris Cooley's tales about rookies, urination, owners and, soon enough, opponents. Today, however, congratulations are in order to Chris and Christy, who were wed last Friday and are currently honeymooning in the Bahamas. So check out the slideshow from their reception, leave comments for the happy couple and come back to Shutdown Corner next Wednesday after Chris returns for what will surely be a must-read.