Super Bowl 52 Patriots vs Eagles: Mike Gillislee eats pickles at halftime
Tom Brady isn’t the only dietary genius on the team.
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New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady gets a lot of attention for his diet and how it’s enabled him to play at such a high level at the age of 40, but he’s not the only dietary genius on the roster.
I spoke with running back Mike Gillislee about his gameday routines and it turns out that he might have a secret stash of pickles in his locker.
“I usually leave the house pretty early because I like to go the long way and I just listen to music and think about where I came from because it’s been a long road for me,” Gillislee said as he described out his pregame ritual. “I’m just blessed.
“Once I get to the stadium, I stretch real good and just listen to Kodak (what song?“Tunnel Vision”) or Yo Gotti. Then I go out and warm up and next thing I know it’s game time.
“As far as a pregame meal, I have pasta and a steak and I have asparagus, every game. I think asparagus gives you energy for some reason. Every time I eat it I get energy for some reason.
“As far as halftime, I eat pickles. I don’t eat oranges, I eat pickles for some reason.”
Gillislee might not know why, but asparagus is a pretty great pregame vegetable because it’s high in folic acid that helps to produce energy for the body. And pickles are great because apparently the vinegar “shocks your system…and that stops the cramping.”
When I asked fellow running back Brandon Bolden if he could verify Gillislee’s halftime ritual, he just laughed.
“Hey, that man’s business is his business,” Bolden said. “Whatever he does, that’s on him. I mean, in the past, in high school and college and stuff, we used to drink pickle juice at halftime so we didn’t cramp up. He has his little secret stash of pickles, or if he got pickles from somewhere everybody else is grabbing them from, I need to find out about them.
“I need to follow him around at halftime.”
