Lutui's family emigrated from Tonga to Mesa, Ariz., when he was months old. They joined the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mesa, where his parents will go Sunday to pray for their "little big boy," Lutui said.
TAMPA, Fla. — Taitusi Lutui laughed with the guy from "The Tonight Show," the one who said his bowl haircut looked awfully super.He laughed with his Arizona Cardinals teammates, the ones who call him Deuce and tease him for the love songs that fill his iPod. And he laughed with reporters who asked what he would receive from the king of his native Tonga if he won the Super Bowl."Probably a big, fat pig," Lutui said, leaning back and laughing so hard his belly shook.In the Lutui family's native Tonga, they play rugby instead of football, live in a monarchy instead of a democracy, and watch the Super Bowl on Monday instead of Sunday.From this — from Tonga to Tampa with stops in Arizona and California — Lutui grew into a guard with massive girth and a matching sense of humor who plays a decidedly Tongan brand of football for the Cardinals."I will say this about Polynesian kids in general: They love football," said Pat Ruel, Lutui's position coach at Southern California. "Because back in their culture, there has always been this warrior mentality. Not so much that intensity about it. But almost a playful warrior mentality."Lutui, the Cardinals' playful warrior, described Tonga as a tiny island — the kingdom is actually an archipelago of 171 islands, 48 of them inhabited — as a country on the international dateline, the first to receive the new day, as a place filled with humble and passionate people who love family above all else.Lutui treats his elders like royalty and regards his parents as the king and queen of the household. Asked if that made him a prince, he laughed again and joked that Prince Baby Huey may fit better."People are less fortunate there," he said. "They live off the land and their family and their love for God."Lutui's family emigrated from Tonga to Mesa, Ariz., when he was months old. They joined the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mesa, where his parents will go Sunday to pray for their "little big boy," Lutui said.