Right after Blazing Saddles came out, all of a sudden my "friends" started calling me "Mongo". I have no idea why... unless it's that I'm bigger than Alex was. Or that I could do a really good "Mongo like Candy" impression.
I think a good indication of how thoughtful Alex was that when, in Jerry Kramer's book "Instant Replay" chronicling the 1967 Packer season, Kramer compared Alex to Merlin Olsen of the Rams as his two toughest matchups. Kramer said that Olsen came after you every play no matter what the score, but that if the Lions were down a bunch of points that Karras would kind of coast on some plays and not try hard all the time. When Karras was informed of Kramer's comments, instead of blowing up he took a moment to think on it, and replied that Kramer was right; he did take a play off now and then in a lopsided game. Karras wasn't worried about what others thought of his comment, he just told the truth. Don't see that too often now with spin for everything said or done.
