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Bengals Tight End C.J. Uzomah Listens to the Same Disney Song Before Every Game

In Thursday’s Hot Clicks: an NFL player’s unusual way of getting his adrenaline pumping before hitting the field, Lance Stephenson’s big night and more.

There are worse ways to get amped up

Every athlete has their own unique way of getting ready for a game. For athletes preparing to play the intensely physical game of professional football, that usually means finding some way to get your adrenaline pumping. Former Jaguars defensive lineman John Henderson used to have a trainer slap him in the face in the locker room before heading out to the field. While running through the tunnel before a game against Jacksonville in 2009, Seahawks fullback Owen Schmitt hit himself in the head with his own helmet so hard that he started gushing blood. Colts running back Nyheim Hines revealed earlier this season that he tells himself before every punt return, “I don’t care about my life.”

Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah also has a routine for getting his blood pumping, but it isn’t nearly as violent.

“I listen to Mulan, ‘I’ll Make a Man Out of You,’” Uzomah told reporters Wednesday. “Why? Because I’ve done it since college. I don’t know. You listen to so much rap and so much up-tempo things that I’m like, all right, I need to take it down to my roots for a second. It used to be ‘Eye to Eye’ from A Goofy Movie but it’s pretty much ‘I’ll Make a Man Out of You’ from Mulan at this point.”

So that’s not one but two songs from animated Disney movies that Uzomah has used to get himself ready to hit the field. “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” is a classic song about preparing for battle, which makes it undeniably a great choice. “Eye to Eye,” on the other hand, is just a generic pop song, so I’d say that Uzomah made the right call in switching to Mulan.

This is Uzomah’s seventh year in the NFL, which is a long time to be listening to the same pump-up song. He’s played in 79 games in his career, not counting the preseason. Sunday’s game in Cleveland will be the 80th time he’s listened to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” as a pro and it’s hard not to envision him sitting in at his locker singing, “Let’s get down to business, to defeat… the Browns.”

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Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.