NFL draft picks get all sorts of advice entering the big night. Some of it is smart. Some of it is crushingly bad. And then there is the suggestion Detroit Lions defensive end Ziggy Ansah received.
Friends who had seen Ansah wear 3D glasses around the BYU campus dared him to take his style game to another level. Wear them on national television as you walk across the stage at Radio City Music Hall. Then you'll have showed us something.
"I thought, 'Why not?'" Ansah said last month.
And so went the NFC North's most recent style revolution. The look garnered immediate reaction in social media, as ESPN.com editor Alisha Puckett noted at the time.
It was also noticed by the IMAX corporation, who as you might know offers 3D movies in its theaters. Marketing lights flashed brightly, poets emerged, one thing led to another and recently IMAX offered Ansah free admission to its 3D movies over the next year.
"We at IMAX couldn't help but notice your keen sense of style at the NFL draft this year," a company official wrote in a letter that was unexclusively obtained by the NFC North blog. "You made quite a fashion statement with your pair of 3D glasses. As a member of the Detroit Lions, you share our love for the color blue and we would like to add an IMAX silver lining for you."
Here's hoping that Ansah, whose upcoming contract will average about $5 million annually, finds a way to turn his fashion statement into a cool gift for his new town. I'm sure there are plenty of kids in the Detroit area who would take some free movie tickets.
Related: IMAX isn't the only enterprise catching on. As ESPN's Darren Rovell points out, the Lions are offering a free replica pair of Ansah's glasses with every purchase of his jersey from their online store.