Israel Idonije has written a comic book, a graphic novel to be more precise, an epic tale, a "cross between X-Men and Superman" he says, a myth that explains one of life's great mysteries.
"The Protectors tells the story of why there are athletic people on earth," the Chicago Bears defensive end says, explaining that a big-name illustrator is about to come on board and publication is in the offing.
"Why is one guy fast and another not so fast? I'm taking a unique approach to it, a new perspective. It's deep. Very well-layered in all of the subplots. It's a great story."
But however creative, however fantastical, Idonije will be hard-pressed to match his for-real biography. Even in sports literature at its most hokey, just try to find a true parallel.
Idonije arrives in Toronto this weekend for the Bears' game against the Buffalo Bills at the Rogers Centre firmly established as a defensive end in the NFL, leading his team in sacks.
He has worked his way up from training-camp oddity, to "project," to jack of all trades, to every-down starter in eight years as a pro despite the fact he didn't play a single game of football until his final year of high school - and that on a team just starting out, in a nine-man league in prairie Canada - then had to fight his way on to a CIS roster.
Now, he is near the top of the list of Canadian football players who have made an impact south of the border. Articulate, intelligent and genial, Idonije has also become a go-to-guy in the dressing room when the local press comes looking for a quote, and he is a player the Bears organization pushes forward, more than happy to have him serve as the face of the storied franchise. It is the rough equivalent of first lacing up skates at 16 and winding up as Sidney Crosby's NHL linemate.
"The entire journey," he says, "has been a lot of fun."
That journey began when Idonije emigrated with his missionary parents, Henry and Choice, to Brandon from Nigeria when he was 4. The culture shock extended to sport. Though Idonije found his way to the basketball court, there was no hockey, and no opportunity even to try football until his final year at Vincent Massey High School, when they started a program from scratch. Lacking real knowledge of how the game was played, Idonije was sent out and told to chase down the guy who had the ball.
Still, he showed enough raw potential that he was recruited by the University of Manitoba Bisons. Idonije sat and watched and learned for his first two years without suiting up for a game.
"I was frustrated," he says. "Because I knew I could play. It's just the politics that come with sports. I thought I was ready, then they brought in another kid from North Dakota after I'd already been there two years. He started ahead of me. I was ready to quit and try out for the basketball team."
Finally, in his third year, Idonije was allowed to dress for the final game of the season - understanding it would cost him an entire year of eligibility. "They looked at the bench and said, 'So here's your shot.' "
He started the following year, and was chosen an all-Canadian. A year after that, he was selected as one of two players to represent the CIS in the East-West Shrine Bowl, and it was then that he began to believe playing in the NFL, rather than the CFL, was a realistic goal.
"Before going there everybody was telling me that these guys were monsters - they're so big, they're so fast. That's all I heard. Going into that game, I thought I don't know what I was getting myself into. Then, I got there and I was the biggest defensive lineman on both sides. I was the heaviest defensive lineman. And there wasn't a person on that field I couldn't keep up with."
Still, he acknowledges, it was "a major jump," that physical ability was only part of it.
"Just the mentalities are so different. A lot of kids in the CIS have the ability and the talent to play great football but mentally they don't believe that they have what it takes to play in the NFL. Their dream? To play in the CFL. Being in the NFL was never even something on their radar," Idonije says. "If you can't see it, that's your No. 1 hindrance. Fortunately for me, I was able to break out of that and say, 'You know what? I can play in the NFL. I belong in the NFL.' "
There were only a few others who believed that - including a Cleveland Browns scout who worked him out and signed him to a training camp deal in 2003 (Idonije got hurt, and was cut), and Bears general manager Jerry Angelo, who spotted him at the Shrine Game, and then brought him to camp after Cleveland let him go.
It was a faint hope - undrafted free agents without great football pedigrees are disposable by definition. But Idonije simply wouldn't let the Bears get rid of him.
"I wanted to stand out," he says. "If we were going to run for an hour straight, I was going to make sure I was the leader of the pack for an hour straight. Somebody told me: In everything you do, go into the lead, make sure you're the standard, because they can't cut the standard."
Because of his speed and size, he could do a lot of things, including playing special teams. Idonije was given spot duty on the defensive line, told to put on weight (when they briefly considered converting him to tackle) and then to lose weight, and shuffled from position to position. All the while, he dedicated himself to bringing his football IQ up to speed.
"The other guys had had a really great understanding of the scheme of the game," he says. "Different blocking schemes, different styles of players. If you played football all of your life you're very familiar with the answers to the questions as they come up. It's a long road just trying to get there off athletic ability. When you can read your keys, little subtleties, understanding what's going on around you, it makes the game a lot easier and slows the game down."
This season has been his breakthrough. With Julius Peppers attracting regular double-teams on the other side (and with the Bears deciding to cut Mark Anderson in the preseason) Idonije is finally getting his chance, and is thriving.
"This is kind of like the last phase of my development," he says. "I want to be one of the best defensive ends in the league. Now, I'm getting my first shot to do that. This is my eighth year. I may continue to play a few more years and then I'll thank the game of football for everything it has provided for me and my family, the platform that has allowed me to do some incredible things in my life, and then move on to something else."
Something else like the comic book business, and like very active off-field life in community service - a calling he inherited from his parents. ("He's just a fabulous human being. I admire what he does in the community, with kids," Bears defensive co-ordinator Rod Marinelli says. "He adds value to our game.")
In the meantime, for what is likely to be the only time in his career, Idonije will follow his wildly unlikely career path all the way back to the Canadian soil whence it began.
"I'm a Nigerian-Canadian," he says. "I wouldn't change that for anything. People ask me, 'Would you want to become American?' Absolutely not."