What I Learned from Donovan McNabb
By
Joe Hashey
I’ll have to start this story with an admission—I didn’t play for the
Philadelphia Eagles, but I did play a Philadelphia Eagle. Long story
short, I played semi-professional football for a few seasons and made the All
Star team. Campbell’s Soup took photos of all of the All Stars and selected the
ones who looked most like NFL players to play as Eagles for their 2004–2006
Campbell’s Soup campaign with the NFL players and their mothers.
So being six feet, five inches tall and 265 lbs played a larger role in
getting me cast for the commercial than my playing ability. However, I did get
to talk with many of the Eagles players for the better part of a Saturday and
was able to pick up bits of advice from them.
The commercial involved a mixture of Eagles and fill-ins running one play
continuously for ten hours so that they could film it from every angle. The
“real” players included David Akers, Javon “The Freak” Kearse, Hugh “The
Bad-assador” Douglas, Brian Westbrook, Hank Fraley, and Donovan McNabb. In the
huddle between the plays, the players chatted, and occasionally, the talk turned
to strength training.
Without further adieu, here are some things that I learned from the Eagles:
- “Normal” strength: The term “prototypical” body type for an
athlete is a fluid concept. Donovan McNabb, a quarterback, squatted over 550
lbs coming out of Syracuse University. Hank Fraley, an offensive lineman
(which is supposedly a position of strength) couldn’t squat nearly as much.
Does it matter? Absolutely not. Both players possessed different kinds of
strength whether it was a cannon arm or perfect blocking form. Both athletes
had abilities to transfer their individual strengths to sports.
On a side note, I can attest that Donovan throws the fastest football I’ve
ever seen. There was a fill-in wide receiver who had to catch one of
Donovan’s passes. The first ball flew through his hands and hit him in the
head so hard that it knocked his helmet sideways and took his feet right out
from under him. No wonder NFL receivers go through a pair of gloves a game!
- Nutrition: When you play hard, you have to eat hard. I had the
pleasure of eating with Javon Kearse and Hugh Douglas during a “snack
break.” Javon’s snack (mind you, not his lunch) consisted of a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich. Well, perhaps that’s an understatement. It was five
slices of bread with peanut butter and jelly in between each slice. The
impressive thing was that it looked like a normal sandwich in his hands. He
mentioned that he eats 5,000–6,000 calories each day without a problem. When
training and playing sports, athletes need to refuel their bodies.
Behind my back is the largest peanut butter sandwich that I’ve ever seen!
- Strength training: In order to be the best at their positions,
players must dedicate time to film sessions and pre-game planning. However,
a few Eagles mentioned that only ten percent of the game is actually won or
lost during the season. The rest are won or lost in the weight room between
seasons. One of them stated, “It’s more about the Jimmy’s and Joe’s than the
X’s and O’s.” In other words, your coach might be a great game planner, but
that is only a small fraction of the game. If you gave Vince Lombardi a team
of 120-lb weaklings, he would never win a game!
- Don’t mess with Mamma McNabb: This is perhaps the most important
bit of information, although it deals little with training. The lady in the
commercials was his real mother. She came out on the field about noon. She
went right over to David Akers and said, “David! I’ve been speaking to your
mother, and we need to talk about your behavior.” Shortly after, she yelled,
“Donovan, tuck in your dew rag!” She meant it!
After that, a fill-in player said, “Wooo Donovan, is that your mother?
Looking good!” I never saw that player again. Don’t mess with an NFL
player and his mother!
Despite my sidetracking during the above anecdotes, there was a lot to learn.
I’ll give everyone the Cliffs notes—strive to be your best, eat well, train
hard, and mind your manners!
Joe Hashey is a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the
NSCA and the owner of Synergy Athletics. After playing Division 1AA football at
Colgate University, he dedicated his time and experience to helping the next
generation of athletes. For more articles or to contact Joe, visit
www.Synergy-Athletics.com or
email him at
CoachHashey@Synergy-Athletics.com. Take advantage of the Synergy Athletics
free newsletter by signing up at the website.
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