Heroics off field for Greenway

MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway became a bit of a hero Monday when he helped two stranded boaters on a windy afternoon on Lake Minnetonka - although it turned out one of them is most definitely not a Vikings fan.

According to espn.com, a KARE-TV cameraman was at the scene for a story about dangerous water levels and strong wind on the Minneapolis-area lake and saw Greenway help Crystal and Edward Alexis, who were taking their boat out for its first voyage but got stuck near a spillway after the boat's steering failed.

Greenway jumped in the water, helped push the boat to a safe area and assisted a water patrolman in tying it up for towing. The former University of Iowa linebacker, 31, then drove the couple back to their boat and car, the website reported.

'The waves are so big and the wind is so strong today that it pushed him right into the rocks, so we had to get him off the rocks. His prop cleared out of the rope, and get him turned in the right direction,” Greenway told KARE-TV.

'I just ran down, of course with my two little girls following behind me, trying to stay out of the way, and I figured I'd help them out. It looked like it was dangerous.”

The couple was thankful for the assistance from the 6-foot-2, 242-pound Greenway, even though Edward Alexis has rooted against him on the field.

'I'm a Chicago Bears fan,” Edward Alexis told KARE-TV.

'Good thing he told me that afterward,” Greenway said.