Charles Barkley has admitted before that, during his playing days, his favorite pre-game meal was a big greasy bag of Mickey D’s. But apparently, the Round Mound of Rebound spent a little more time basking in the postprandial glow of the Golden Arches than he previously let on. According to a (rather notorious) former teammate, McDonald’s was a staple of Barkley’s “diet.”
Jayson Williams, whose various legal troubles included the 2002 shooting death of his limo driver, went on Vice’s “Cookies” podcast Tuesday to discuss that and more, when the conversation eventually turned to his early days in the NBA with the Sixers, which included this amazing story about Barkley and his practice regimen. A tip of the hat goes to For The Win for the transcript of that segment:
“I’ll never forget this story. My second day of practice we’re out there running up and down. Charles Barkley comes in about 5-minutes late. He comes in and he has a big McDonald’s bag. And he goes and he sits down on the bike. And like a chemist. You know, a guy over there cutting up lines or something. You know? He’s just making – he’s got his back towards us and he’s doing stuff — I’m like, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ So, he takes the eggs, and he takes the pancakes, the sausage, maple syrup and butter, puts it all in one, wraps it up with the pancake and gets some extra syrup. And the butter’s oozing out. And I’m going, ‘Wow, you going to eat that then and come run with us?’ Hell no. He’s going to eat that while he’s on the stationary bike. Peddling one mile an hour going … ‘Run the floor!’ … ‘That’s why we ain’t never going to win the game!’ And pancake is spitting out his mouth.”
That is some next-level gluttony and laziness on Barkley’s part, but not terribly surprising. The TNT analyst has struggled with his waistline in his post-playing days and has been a longtime spokesperson for Weight Watchers. You can get away with stuff like that when you’re younger, but eventually, the old metabolism will catch up with you.
