The Arizona Cardinals are on a break from organized team activities this week, allowing players a chance to get out on the golf course or spend some time with their families or, say, provide backup to a young hospital patient singing karaoke.
Wait, what?
On Wednesday, a group of the Cardinals rookies made a planned visit to Phoenix Children's Hospital to spend time with children in the oncology unit (which primarily deals with with cancerous tumors). There were 25 rookies in all -- the team's nine draft picks as well as 16 players in camp on rookie contracts after going undrafted.
The players spent the day at the hospital, doing everything from visiting patients' rooms to playing air hockey and pool with the kids to signing autographs. But one particular meeting took an unusual twist.
A young patient named Bethany -- in for a temporary stay after having her appendix removed -- decided she wanted to put on a karaoke performance. She nails Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble," and the players get in on the act, providing both some backup instrumentals and a very visible group of backup dancers who clearly should keep their football-related day jobs.
Watch and enjoy (the Cardinals' official website also has an extensive photo gallery of the visit):
The rookies in the newly assembled music group (from left): Jamaal Johnson-Webb, a totally engaged Padric Scott, Earl Watford (with stuffed dog), Dan Giordano and first-round pick Jonathan Cooper on lead guitar.
Regardless of how many of those players ending up making the team, all of them will have at least one fan for life.
