Rand: Getting inside Adrian Peterson's head

It can be hard to find a superstar athlete who lets his or her guard down during an interview. Before or after a game, interview questions can be so specific and serious. Even during lighter times, they can be very conscious of what they have to say.

As such, we found a Q&A session Vikings RB Adrian Peterson did with fans Tuesday to be quite refreshing, probably because there were no real agendas and fans want to know things that media members frankly often don't ask about. It was hosted through reddit.com, and there were a number of answers that ranged from amusing to downright interesting. Here are some examples (note: the answers were written, and we cleaned up capitalization and punctuation as needed):

• In response to a question about his best friends on other NFL teams, Peterson listed a bunch of players. One was Percy Harvin, of whom he said, "even though he only answers the phone every blue moon."

• He said the Packers' Eddie Lacy is the best rookie running back prospect in the NFL this season. "But he's on a passing team. But that was a real good pickup … that I didn't like," Peterson said.

• He said Jared Allen has been known to come into team meetings wearing nothing but a Speedo and a cowboy hat.

• In response to a question about teammates being major role models for him, Peterson had high praise for former Vikings tight end/fullback Jeff Dugan. "Guy that wasn't extremely talented but the work he put in was inspiring for football," Peterson said. "Catching balls every day after practice. Small things."

• On being called "Purple Jesus": "Mixed emotions. That's pretty funny, but I'm a big on faith. I don't really like to be called Purple Jesus because there's only one. I get what they're sayin', though."

• And our favorite: He admitted he squeezes some reporters' hands a little extra hard with his legendary bone-crushing handshake.