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EAGAN, Minn. -- Larry Fitzgerald cut his teeth in the NFL long before he built his Hall of Fame resume. The Minneapolis native got to live out the dream of many 15-year-olds as a ball boy during Dennis Green’s Minnesota Vikings tenure, which afforded him the chance to watch the likes of Cris Carter, Randy Moss, John Randle and Randall McDaniel up close. Now in his 15th season with the Arizona Cardinals and embarking on what’s likely his last trip to Minnesota to play in front of his hometown crowd, Fitzgerald’s ties to the Vikings organization prove this isn’t just another game. "I pull for those guys every week, except for when I’m playing against them," Fitzgerald said. "I still got a little purple running through my veins." On Sunday, Fitzgerald will encounter several familiar faces, including longtime equipment manager Dennis Ryan, who gave the star receiver his first job. He’ll also see Adam Thielen, the league’s second-leading receiver (589 yards), whose path crossed with Fitzgerald’s years prior. Their mutual admiration is rooted in their Minnesota upbringing. Thielen, whose rags-to-riches story from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, to Division-II Minnesota State-Mankato to NFL star has been told countless times, spent his teenage years watching Fitzgerald’s early rise with the Cardinals after he was drafted third overall in 2004. Two receivers at different points of their careers are tied together by their understanding of where each other came from to get to where they are now. But it’s much more than that.  "It just makes me so damn proud to see him doing the things he’s doing," Fitzgerald said of Thielen. "But not just on the field -- the way he carries himself, the constant professional, the teammate he is. Being around him at different events, I mean, the guy is class personified, and it just makes me so, so happy to see someone like that be rewarded for the person that they are. You see the hard work he puts in, and it’s an honor to call him a friend, and I just wish him the best and the continued success."
Thielen and Fitzgerald cross paths every offseason at various charitable functions and with their training regimen, often in workouts at the University of Minnesota. Getting to train alongside a player he developed great respect for has afforded Thielen an opportunity to learn the keys to Fitzgerald’s longevity, an area the 28-year-old wide receiver has matched in his own rise to the top. "I think the biggest thing about Larry is just the way he works," Thielen said. "I think when you’re not in the NFL or when you’re early in your career, you don’t understand how hard guys work, especially the guys that play a long time and are successful. So that was something for me where it was like, 'Wow, this guy has been successful for a long time and he’s still out here grinding in the summer when he probably doesn’t need to.' When you see stuff like that, it just kind of makes you understand how important it is to take care of your body, to get out there and still get better at your routes even though you’ve been doing it for 10 years." Thielen has a long way to go before he catches up to Fitzgerald’s 11 Pro Bowls and 110 career touchdowns, but there’s one area the Cardinals star confidently says Thielen has him beat: the golf course. "I’d rather not talk about that out loud," Fitzgerald joked. "Hey, he can really play. But I can beat Kirk Cousins, I know that. I whooped up on him this offseason a few times. He can’t hang with me. But Adam’s a different story. I beat up on Rudy (Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph), too. Rudy can’t play -- I whoop up on him a lot, too. But Adam’s a completely different story there. I try to stay out of his way. That guy’s long. I mean, Rory McIlroy, PGA Tour long off the tee. I try to stay away from him. It could get costly for me."
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