Lamar Jackson's Running Is Even More Impressive Than You Think: TRAINA THOUGHTS
1. The next time you watch Lamar Jackson running all over a football field on a Sunday afternoon, know that he's doing it with a combination of pasta, cream, butter, cheese and shrimp in his stomach.
The Ravens quarterback has revealed that before each and every game, he eats shrimp Alfredo.
“Shrimp Alfredo, that’s my meal before the game,” Jackson told CNBC. On carbo loading, he says, “They say [pasta] helps your brain. I feel like I go out with a level head and I can think."
Now, I know about food, but I don't know anything about running. So instead of trying to figure out how Jackson can be so damn fast after downing a meal that has 1,150 calories and 69 grams of fat, I reached out to my SI.com colleague, and dedicated runner, Chris Chavez. (If you are into running, Chavez is a must-follow on Twitter and Instagram.) I asked him to share the effects a plate of shrimp Alfredo could have on a runner. Here's his take:
"Every athlete has their pre-run routine and superstitions. Fueling is definitely one of those boxes that you need to check before a run or race. I’ve heard of runners who will eat an entire sleeve of bagels before a run. My biggest question is how long before the game does he eat the shrimp Alfredo? Consuming that pasta and sauce is heavy and turns into glycogen that’s supposed to sustain him a long time. Two to three days before a race is what I’ve been taught in the past. He’s an MVP and I’ve never played four quarters of an NFL game but I’d think he’s burning off a bunch of his fuel and glycogen stores in that span of time. For the amount of exercise he’s doing, I don’t think the shrimp Alfredo would weigh him down. Especially with how much running he’s doing on the field plus pregame warmups and such."
I thank Chavez for the info because when I saw the story about Jackson eating shrimp Alfredo before every game, naturally, I could think of one thing and one thing only:
2. The Last Dance mashups are becoming all the rage.
This one that takes on LeBron James gets a solid "A."
And this one about our federal government's disastrous response to the coronavirus crisis gets an "A+."
3. With Becky Lynch announcing her pregnancy on Monday Night Raw last night, I immediately flashed back to the interview I did with her fiancée Seth Rollins in late March and what he said to me about spending all this time with her.
4. With word of mouth being as good as it's been, I'm surprised that television ratings for The Last Dance have gone down each week. Regardless of the dip, the numbers are still record-breaking for ESPN. The most-watched 30 FOR 30 prior to The Last Dance was You Don't Know Bo at 3.6 million viewers.
• April 19: Episodes 1 and 2: 6.3 million viewers, 5.8 million viewers
• April 26: Episodes 3 and 4: 6.1 million viewers, 5.7 million viewers
• May 3: Episodes 5 and 6: 5.8 million viewers, 5.2 million viewers
• May 10: Episodes 7 and 8: 5.3 million viewers, 4.9 million viewers
5. The latest SI Media Podcast features an interview with play-by-play man Ian Eagle. Eagle discusses what it's like to have a new analyst on NFL games with Charles Davis jumping from Fox to CBS and what his role is to make Davis comfortable. Eagle also shares funny stories about doing Zooms with Bill Raftery and being a producer for Mike and the Mad Dog years ago. We also discussed The Last Dance, and Eagle shares some great analysis on the differences among Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.
6. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: Jerry Stiller was completely unfamiliar with Seinfeld when he was originally offered the role in Season 4.
7. SPORTS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: NFL Network aired a 1994 Patriots-Dolphins game Monday night, featuring Drew Bledsoe against Dan Marino, and it was outstanding. The play below isn't from that game, but it's from another 1994 game involving Marino.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.
