Adrian Peterson is a better running back because he used to run away from wild hogs

We had the pleasure of speaking with Adrian Peterson last week in advance of the release of a new DVD all about him (check it out, by the way. It's a pretty fine piece of work). We're happy to report we avoided (twice!) any sort of hand-crushing from his legendary grip. That said, because the piece was about the DVD, we kind of had to bury one of the more interesting things he said:

He added that his days in Texas might have contributed to his ability to elude tacklers because he used to have to run away from wild hogs. For real? "Yeah, for real. Don't run in a straight line, or they're going to catch you."

While we agree that people should run, zig-zag or otherwise, as fast as they can away from the 2007 film Wild Hogs, we had no idea about that bit of Peterson's past. But the thought of Peterson outmaneuvering a confused, wild beast is mesmerizing.

It made us wonder, though, what other Twin Cities athletes might have had tendencies shaped by quirks of their childhood surroundings.

Did Nick Punto, for instance, have a 6-foot 5-foot tall bar about 10 feet away from first base on his local ballfield, thus necessitating the learning of a head-first dive for safety reasons?

We will accept other amusing efforts in the comments.