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By Cameron Kiszla
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It seemed like both an obvious choice and a disparate match.
The Las Vegas Raiders selected Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, with the first overall pick.
For the team, it absolutely made sense, but the clean-cut Mendoza in Sin City was a little more of a stretch.
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Speaking with Michael Silver of The Athletic, Mendoza sounds like he's settling in to his new home, but he's not taking advantage of all that Vegas has to offer.
“I’ve been there once or twice, but I haven’t really experienced the Strip,” Mendoza told Silver earlier this week. “It’s like a boogeyman. A lot of people talk about the Strip like, ‘You don’t want to go there.’
“It’s like when you’re a kid; you’re trick-or-treating, and there’s the haunted house. You’re not trying to go over there.”
That attitude toward a hotbed of hedonism certainly fits the bill for Mendoza.
He's more likely to be found on LinkedIn than strolling a local bar, and he's noted for avoiding swear words.
Even at one of his highest, most emotional moments, he remained himself.
"The Hoosiers are flippin' champs!" he told Fox Sports after the Big Ten title game. "Let's go!"
Mendoza continues to avoid swearing, even in a sport where four-letter words are more the norm than the exception.
“Rookie year, it really gets slammed up on you,” Mendoza told Silver. “Like, ‘Boom, here’s your playbook, and here we go.’ Especially seeing Kirk Cousins in the room, who knows a lot. It’s like, ‘Wow, I thought I knew a lot. Holy shuck! I’m how far behind? I’ve got to study this to feel confident in my preparation and in myself.’"
Holy shuck. Flippin' champs. It's the kind of language you wouldn't expect out of an NFL quarterback unless that passer is Mendoza.
Even in Sin City, the Heisman winner is remaining himself.
“Las Vegas is one of the entertainment capitals of the world,” he said. “But I have a job to do, and it’s football. I don’t have anybody that really relies on me, if that makes sense, so I can just be psycho about football. And then every once in a while, on an off day or night, I can go out to a movie and watch ‘Spiderman’ or ‘The Odyssey’ or something.
“In Vegas, there is a lot to do, and sometimes it can be seen as activities that wouldn’t be supporting a healthy football lifestyle. But there are different things that you can go see and do that aren’t degenerative activities, per se. There are some great restaurants. But I’m probably not going to be playing blackjack till late at night.”
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