I spent last evening as an observer in a marketing class at the University of Chicago. Another prospective student was with me and, while I didn’t know him, we seemed to get along. We were making idle chitchat - god forbid we should speak to the other students - and eventually I asked what he does.

‘I play for the Chicago Bears,’ he said.

That stopped me in my tracks, but not because he played in the NFL per se, as I’m not one to get flustered in those sorts of situations. It was more out of the parochial mindset that says professional football players aren’t allowed to scout for MBA programs. I could tell the guy wanted to blend in, though. After a break halfway through class, he leaned over and said ‘the cat’s out of the bag.’ Apparently word had spread that a member of the Bears was sitting in the class and, sure enough, someone slid a legal pad in front of him:

‘You’re really Hunter Hillenmeyer, right? Could you …?’

Suffice to say we were situational friends. He liked me because I didn’t want to talk football, and I liked him because he helped solve my crossword during the boring parts of class. The first one he filled in: 7-Down - ‘Like many new stadia.’ The answer, as you can see, is ‘domed.’ His contributions are in green.

Leave it to an NFL player to fill that one in for me.

After we leave class, I find a slew of text-message responses from my friends, ranging from ‘can i come to class? tell my boy hunter i say hi,’ to ‘tell him good interception sunday. he’s the hottest bear!’ Apparently Hunter’s the new hotness on the defensive* line. Either way, I never thought I would be sitting in a marketing class next to a professional football player. The world gets stranger every day.

*[Correction, Nov. 10, 2005, 2 p.m.: I originally referred to Hillenmeyer's position on the offensive line, but that would make getting an interception difficult. He's actually a defensive linebacker.]