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Bucs tackle the training buffet
By JANET K. KEELER
© St. Petersburg Times,
But the Bucs aren't boys anymore, though they play as hard, and most have stopped growing. Those who are getting too big try to reverse the trend by eating low-fat foods and smaller portions. At the University of Tampa, where the Buccaneers live, eat and practice until Aug. 17, the culinary staff caters to the players' every whim. Or rather, gives them whatever the team nutritionists have approved for them to eat. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and an evening snack are served daily during the three weeks of training camp. About 175 players, staff members and journalists (who reportedly love dessert), dine on bacon and eggs, shrimp and prime rib, corn chowder and crab marinara pasta. The snack is served in the residence halls rather than the cafeteria, and is like no snack you've ever had. Forget the graham cracker and glass of milk; the Bucs are eating pizzas (150 were ordered on day two of camp), hoagies (200 on another night) or fajitas, chicken or beef, at 9:30 p.m. One day last week, lemon-pepper grouper fried golden was among the offerings on the self-serve lunch line. In the kitchen, some 80 pounds of the fish were dropped one fillet at a time into sizzling hot vegetable oil. For the college crowd, portions range from 4 to 6 ounces; for Bucs with big appetites, portions up to 8 ounces are common. Some guys take two. Piping hot and ready to go were black-eyed peas, greens, seasoned vegetable rice and chili con carne. The sandwich and salad bars were stocked with assorted goodies, including multigrain bread, banana peppers, feta cheese and lots of sliced turkey. The dessert table tempted even those advised to stay away from extra calories. Freshly made pineapple upside-down cake, fruit and custard pies, strawberry shortcake and Rice Krispies treats, both chocolate and regular, were laid out for the taking. Players could make their own ice cream cones from eight flavors of Edy's ice cream; soft-serve frozen Columbo yogurt with toppings was available. Sodas, Powerade and Gatorade flowed. The Culligan man was installing water dispensers last week, a more economical way to provide the pure stuff. In the early days of training camp, players were going through 100 bottles of water at lunch and dinner. This year, says executive chef Bryan Cicchini, special requests have included plums, egg-white omelets, Cocoa Krispies cereal and Tabasco sauce. We're guessing players aren't eating them all at once. Norma Mathis, a "Bucs fan since day one," is part of the deli and salad crew. She has been with university food service since 1974 and has worked training-camp meals since the mid-'80s, when the Bucs began using the university's facilities to get ready for the season. (The Bucs face the Miami Dolphins at Raymond James Stadium on Monday in the first of four preseason games, and the regular season kicks off Sept. 9, when the Bucs travel to Dallas.) Mathis notices plenty of differences since the early days, in both food offerings and team attitude. "They're more confident and happier now," Mathis says. "They have a little more hope these days." Mathis remembers the dark times when an orange-clad, feather-festooned swashbuckler was the team's logo and a losing season was almost assured. Today, there is Pewter Power, a sparkling new stadium complete with pirate ship and trips to the playoffs. The biggest difference between then and now on the food line is meat. "We used to have a lot of red meat," Mathis says. "Now they are eating more chicken, pasta and seafood." (Some 250 pounds of crab legs were cracked one evening early in the camp.) Cicchini says team nutritionists okayed the menus proposed by Sodexho Marriott, which operates the university's food service. They even requested a method to let players know which items are high fat, moderate fat and low fat. A red cloth napkin under a container indicates high-fat content; yellow means moderate and green, low. Carbohydrates are not generally a concern for the players, who burn them quickly in practice. The players eat much more than the students who frequent the dining hall during the school year. Some 1,000 eggs are scrambled, fried and poached each morning and about 100 pounds of pasta gobbled by day's end. That's about twice what the same number of college kids would eat. The 120 players grazed lightly on the first day of camp, and Cicchini suspects that weigh-ins may have had something to do with that. By the second day, though, they were back to their big-eating habits, making quick work of 30 pounds of tuna fish and 40 loaves of bread at lunch. Fullback Mike Alstott, who along with teammate Dave Moore is part owner of the Island Way Grill in Clearwater, says the selection in the dining hall is good. Something for everybody, he adds. The reality is, though, the Bucs aren't at UT for a culinary experience. Despite their big salaries and celebrity status, they are required to eat in the common dining room, and Cicchini and crew respond to that by trying to serve food they might eat at home. "It's really about feeding your face and getting back out there to play," a weary Alstott says after a lunch. A rest, a team meeting and they're back out on the field again. Then back for dinner and that big bedtime snack.
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