Part of Carlton Banks' schtick was his nerdiness and lack of athleticism. It turns out Alfonso Ribeiro is actually a fairly successful amateur athlete in real life. He has raced cars professionally and could hustle you out of a few dollars on the golf course. Believe it or not, he might even be more athletic than Will Smith. ThePostGame caught up with Ribeiro at Super Bowl Radio Row.

ThePostGame: We're here at Mall of America. What have people been yelling to you as they've seen you walking by?
ALFONSO RIBEIRO: The typical, "Carlton! Do the Dance!" Those are typically the two that I always get.

TPG: How much do you get asked to do the dance?
RIBEIRO: Every day of my life. If I leave my house and I am amongst people, somebody is going to ask me to do dance for them.

TPG: Are you sick of it?
RIBEIRO: I was sick of it maybe 20 years ago, in that people are asking me to dance, like you realize, "I'm not actually going to dance for you."

TPG: Carlton, in the show, was not an athlete. Outside of the show, are you an athlete?
RIBEIRO: I think of myself as an athlete. I play a little b-ball. Mostly, my game is golf. I'm a scratch golfer. I shoot low 70s, high 60s every once in a while. So golf is my game. I don't know if we want to consider it a sport. I also used to race cars professionally, which is a sport. And you've got to be in good shape to race. I used to race Formula cars. So, you know, I'm athletic in my own way.

TPG: When did you get into golf? Was this is a childhood thing?
RIBEIRO: I got into golf as a young man. I was 18 the first time I hit a golf ball, but I was able to hit the ball far right from the very beginning. I had no idea where it was going, so I had to learn where to hit it, but I was always able to hit it a long way. And then I got serious about the game and took the right lessons and learned to hit it where I want to hit it.

Alfonso Ribeiro

TPG: I saw you were in the celebrity tournament in Tahoe recently. So when you're around those guys, a lot of them former professional athletes, are you better than them?
RIBEIRO: I'm better than more than half of the field. I typically place in the top 25 percent of that field every year, so really well. Even next week, I'm going to playing at Pebble Beach, up at the AT&T Pro-Am. I get to play in those and I will be one of the lower-handicap guys in that field. It's harder to make the cut being a low handicap guy in that format, but I love the game.

Ribeiro's pro partner at Pebble Beach this week is William McGirt. Technically, Ribeiro is playing to a 4 handicap for the tournament.

TPG: Athletes and celebrities, you've played with a lot of them. Who's even better than you? Who's the most impressive?
RIBEIRO: There are a few that are better than me, obviously. Most of them are athletes.

TPG: How about celebrities? Justin Timberlake?
RIBEIRO: I play with Justin all the time. I'm a lower handicap than Justin, but he's sometimes busier than me, so I get it. Jack Wagner would probably be the all-time best actor-golfer. But he was on his college team, so he played it as a young man, but even today, he's still probably the best actor-golfer.

TPG: Do you play Bel-Air Country Club a lot?
RIBEIRO: I do not. I'm a member at a place called Lakeside, but I've played it. It was kind of one of those things like, I can't join Bel-Air, it just doesn't work. I can't be rolling around Bel-Air Country Club. It's too right on point.

TPG: If you were doing the Carlton at Bel-Air Country Club, you wouldn't be sure if you was your character.
RIBEIRO: Is it real? Is it fake? Where are we at? We want to be in the real world. In the real world, I play at Lakeside.

Will Smith, Tatyana Ali, Alfonso Ribeiro

TPG: Better athlete: You or Will Smith?
RIBEIRO: Will Smith. But, at different things, right? I've got the hand-eye coordination, but he has size. If we're playing basketball, I can't beat him because he's bigger than me, but I can beat him at golf. I was probably a better baseball player, but he was a good basketball player.

TPG: Do you guys ever play golf outside of work?
RIBEIRO: Yeah. I mean, I play golf, he hits golf balls, sometimes.

TPG: He's got to have some distance on his shot.
Ribeiro: He can hit it far. A long drive contest is fun, but it's about getting in the hole in the least amount of shots and the most consistent player is also the best player. He also works a lot, so he doesn't have the same amount of time.

Ribeiro talked to ThePostGame on behalf of Tostitos, which ran a campaign that gave fans the ability to create their own ad using templates inspired by past Super Bowl commericals. Ribeiro made his own and put it on Instagram:


 

-- Follow Jeff Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband. Like Jeff Eisenband on Facebook.