Fred Dryer: Badass

Alright, I'm getting real goddamn tired of you people not knowing who this guy is. Watch and learn.

Fred Dryer was a defensive end for the L.A. Rams from 1972-1981. Prior to his career in the NFL, he played at San Diego State (alongside teammate Carl Weathers, aka Apollo Creed from Rocky-- no shit), and he is in the College Football Hall Of Fame. After college, Dryer played briefly for the NY Giants, before being traded to the Rams in 1972.

Wait, it gets better. In a 1973 game against Green Bay, Dryer became the first (and so far, the only) player in the NFL to score two safetys in the same game (which is even cooler because it was against Green Bay). According to Wikipedia, "Dryer ended his career with 104 career sacks, one of the few in NFL to do so, although since Dryer played prior to 1982 when sacks became an official statistic they are not credited in the NFL record books. Dryer played on a tough Los Angeles Ram defense that during the decade of the 1970s, allowed fewer points, fewer total yards, fewer rushing yards, and sacked more quarterbacks than any other defense during that time-frame."

After being immortalized in NFL history, Dryer went the OJ Simpson route -- no, not killing white people. I mean acting. In 1984, he took part in a little TV series called...Hunter.

For those of you who are uninformed, Hunter just might be the most badass cop show ever to air on television. This guy makes NYPD Blue and The Shield look like a bunch of pussies (well, maybe not the Shield.) Dryer plays Sgt. Rick Hunter, a LAPD homicide detective who solves crimes with the help of his partner DeeDee McCall, who is often dressed as some combination of Wonder Woman and a prostitute.

Wonder Woman + Prostitute = Sgt. McCall?

I don't think I've ever seen an episode of this show where a suspect actually stands trial -- they're usually blown away Dirty Harry style by Hunter within the last 5 minutes of the episode. Come to think of it, Hunter is pretty much Dirty Harry but on TV. Which just makes it that much cooler. Virtually every episode of Hunter is a smorgasboard of shooting deaths, car chases/explosions, ridiculous stereotypes, cheesy dialogue, and whorish women, so you really can't go wrong. I've heard that this show is available on DVD, and it's probably also still on the air at some ungodly hour, so do yourself a favor and check it out.