Doug Martin received the nickname ‘Muscle Hamster’ when he was in college and hasn’t been able to shake it since — but he’s still trying.
On Monday, the NFL’s official Twitter account posted this tweet of Martin “bouncing off defenders and breaking tackles like 2012 Muscle Hamster.”
But what was meant as a nice tweet didn’t sit well with the Bucs running back.
The person behind the NFL’s Twitter account quickly posted an apology, but it left us wondering — can Martin ever be rid of the nickname? It’s something he’s rallied against since at least 2012, when he told NFL AM that it “has to be the worst nickname ever.”
“I can’t shake it. It started in college, started back in Boise, with our linemen. I have a lot of bigger friends, and they’d call me the Muscle Hamster because of how much I could lift in the weight room,” he said.
Then in 2013, it got brought up again in a radio interview on a local Tampa station.
“Stop calling me Muscle Hamster. I’m just telling everybody right now: Stop calling me Muscle Hamster. Dougernaut, Dougernator, Muscle & Hustle, any of those are fine,” he said. “But Muscle Hamster has to stop. Doug is fine, also. The Muscle Hamster has to stop. Stop it.”
And again, earlier this year to USA TODAY Sports’ Tom Pelissero:
“The name ‘Muscle Hamster’ is the worst nickname possibly ever given to somebody,” Martin told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday, leaning into a reporter’s recording device for effect. “I hope it changes, and I hope that I play to a level where my nickname changes. That’s what my goals are.”
