He’s known for his big smile and his big arms. Really big arms! IMAGO Magazine caught up with Tampa Bay Buccaneer running back Michael Pittman and asked him about golf, family, and yes, those arms.              

I have to ask you about the arms. I know everybody asks you about your arms. I read that they are 19½” around. Are they?  “They are probably a little bit bigger than that right now. They are probably about 20, but that’s flexed. That’s not just sitting around. But I don’t go around measuring my biceps.” 

I was going to ask you that.  “No, no. How that 19 ½” came about, my teammates in my 3^rd year in the NFL, one of my teammates, Jerry Drake, he’s a defensive lineman, he took a measuring tape in front of everybody. He told me to flex while we were getting our physicals. So I flexed. And he measured it in front of everybody, and it was 19 ½”. So, that just stuck.” 

So you don’t really know.  “No, I just work out really hard on my biceps. It’s one of the biggest muscles in my body and it grows the fastest. But I don’t go around measuring them. Not at all.” 

Tell me about golf.   “I’m OK. I’m not the best.” 

What’s your handicap?   “I shoot in the 90’s. Well, I’d say the high 90’s. Yeah, I’m not good, but I like to get out there and have a good time.” 

How far can you drive it?   “Oh, I can drive it pretty far. I think the longest I ever drove it was like 370. Yeah, and there was this one with this rock star, Tico Torres, Bon Jovi’s drummer, he had a golf tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, and they had a longest drive contest and that one I hit 355.” 

Tell me about your kids.   “They are doing good. Getting big, running the house of course. They’re getting me a little older every day, you know, I’m starting to get a little gray hair. But they’re great kids. They’re the love of my life. The oldest is 11, then my second oldest is going to be 10. Then my other boy is 7 and the littlest is 4.” 

So you and your wife have your hands full. “Hands full! She wants one more, but I don’t know about that. Maybe once I retire we’ll think about that.” 

Are you thinking about that? “What, retirement? No. Oh no. No time soon. I think I’m going to play at least 3 or 4 more years, and then I think I might think about shutting it down. Cause my body right now still feels great. I still feel young. You know, I’m just 32 and I still feel good.” 

Tell me about your web site. I know you’re really proud of it.   “Well, it’s www.pittman33.com, and it’s a web site for fans to go on there and talk to me, chat with me. There’s message boards, different chapters so they can see what’s going on with me. There’s photos of what’s going on with other players on the football team. And there’s a chat room where everybody can get on there and talk. So, it’s a good web site. There’s a lot of things to do on there. I answer every now and then, and I really try to get to it as often as I can.” 

Thanks for the interview, Michael.  Keep running and working on those arms. And we’ll keep watching on Sundays. Go Bucs!