Breaking news out of New Jersey.
Far be it from us to recommend how an NFL player prepares for a game, but maaaaybe don’t do what Cam Skattebo did ahead of Thursday Night Football. One of the big moments early in the game came with a report that Skattebo threw up on the sidelines, prompting the Giants’ medical staff to rush over and check on the running back.
It’s flu season, and a lot of people are catching stuff going around right now — so the concern was understandable. The wild card was that Skattebo’s reaction to barfing wasn’t exactly normal. The running back was seemingly laughing about the fact he blew chunks on the bench, and appeared to wave off team doctors when they wanted to check him out.
After the game he revealed that it wasn’t illness, or nerves that got the best of him — but a pretzel dog.
I love a good pretzel dog. In fact, if you can add “pretzel” to almost anything, it tends to make it better. Still, this is a heavy item to consume before any athletic endeavor. I’m over here worrying about whether or not it’s okay to have a protein bar then hit the gym 30 minutes later, and Cam Skattebo is downing pretzel dogs before competing in the toughest sport on the planet.
The real question is: Where did the pretzel dog come from? Teams always have a pre-game meal for players, which normally takes place three or four hours before kickoff, but there is absolutely no way a dietary team for the Giants is putting pretzel dogs on the spread. Not because it’s fast food, but they just tend to focus on lean proteins ahead of games, and like to monitor players’ macros closely prior to kickoff.
This sent me down a rabbit hole to try and work out where Cam Skattebo found a pretzel-wrapped hot dog to eat right before the game — and wouldn’t you know what I found on Google maps?
Wetzel’s Pretzels is just off the I-95 ramp as you head to the stadium. I am convinced that Cam Skattebo stopped here to get a Wetzel Dog on the way into the stadium. This is by no means a knock on the fine name of Wetzel’s, I just think in this case they caught a stray by having an NFL player eat their food right before trying to complete and it made his tummy gurgle.