Special delivery elicits different quote from Marshawn Lynch

Kevin Kaduk

It turns out that the way to a different Marshawn Lynch Media Day quote is through his stomach.

Minutes after he uttered "I'm just here so I won't get fined" close to 30 times, the reclusive Seattle Seahawks running back had another reaction when approached by USA Today reporter Josh Peter.

Peter's secret? He came bearing a special lemon cake baked in Sacramento by Lynch's maternal grandfather Leron Lynch.

"Oh yeah, that's the magic cake," Lynch said. "Thank you."

OK, so the cake didn't spark a long address or interview from Lynch. But the delivery did give us a more personal look at a player that most casual fans only know as a media-averse man of few words.

As USA Today details, Leron Lynch was the central male role model in Marshawn's life, watching him become a star player in high school and forbidding him a serious girlfriend so he'd stay focused on the sport. Leron said it's Marshawn's focus and aversion to the media that won't leave him surprised if his grandson decides to walk away from the game after Sunday's Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.

"I know he'll quit," Leron Lynch told the paper from his kitchen as he baked the cake. "If everybody keeps standing in his face like that and makes him talk, he'll walk away. He loves to play the game, but he'll walk away. I know he will.

"I don't even know why people would want to interview him. If he doesn't talk, he's just going to give you one word. So who would want to interview somebody that's not going to talk. So I don't know why people don't just back off. … The more they want him to talk, the less he's going to want to talk."

Still, Leron has devised a way to have his grandson avoid the heavy fines the NFL threatens Lynch with.

"They're going to ask you questions, so tell them about Papa," Leron said. "Tell them about Papa's cake, that's all."

As someone who needs a good dessert recipe for Sunday, we're listening.

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Kevin Kaduk is a writer for Yahoo Sports.. Have a tip? Email him at kevinkaduk@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!