Andrews Focused on Losing Weight

[Seabiscuit36]

Eagles' Andrews focused on losing ...
Weight, that is. Lineman lost a good friend to a heart attack at age 23.
By GEOFF MOSHER
The News Journal

05/16/2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Shawn Andrews knows his weight always is a hot topic around the Eagles' water cooler.

He proudly reports that he has dropped about 30 pounds from his hefty frame during the offseason. Down to 360 pounds, Andrews intends to lose more weight before training camp.

Not for contract incentives. Not because of Pro Bowl aspirations. Not to prepare for a potential move to right tackle down the road.

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For good health. For the family left behind last month when his childhood friend, "Willie," died from a heart attack. Willie was 23.

"First, it's my health. Then it's football," Andrews, the Eagles right guard, said Monday, the last day of the first minicamp. "I kind of have that perspective."

Willie and Shawn met in the third grade and had been tight ever since. They were kindred spirits, big guys with bigger appetites. But Willie didn't play pro football and didn't take care of himself.

Last month, in their hometown of Camden, Ark., they hung out one afternoon at a park. Willie went home and collapsed. Just like that, Willie was dead.

Andrews said the incident made him look closely at himself. Weight issues have followed him since the Eagles chose him 15th overall in 2004. He vowed to tackle weight gain, and for the last time.

"Football is great. It takes care of the family, it pays the bills, it is a dream of mine," he said. "But after that tragedy happened, it's not even worth going to McDonald's or eating a cheesesteak, which I used to love so much."

Andrews had grappled with dieting once. Medicine he took for polyps clogged 95 percent of his nasal passages during his senior year at Arkansas, causing him to balloon to nearly 400 pounds.

In a lost year, Andrews succumbed to temptations. He bulked up to about 385 pounds last season and often snuck into the sauna before morning weigh-ins in order to sweat off an extra five pounds.

He knew something had to give, before he did. Even before Willie's death, Andrews had decided to make a life change.

"I just had to step back and take a look at myself," he said. "I looked at film last year from the Oakland game, and we actually wore black uniforms. I watch it almost every other day. And I'm like, you know, black is supposed to make you look smaller, and I'm looking and that's not happening."

On the first day of minicamp, Andrews walked into the cafeteria and walked by his favorite foods -- "glossy pancakes and waffles up there, and sausage and the sweaty bacon."

He thought about Willie and the promises he made to himself and his family. He reached for orange juice, water and yogurt.

Teammates have noticed his new physique, and they marvel about his potential.

"It's rare when you see a guy that big, that strong who can move that fast," said center Jamaal Jackson, a former Delaware State standout. "I always knew if he really applied himself, which he did this off-season, then he's going to groom into the Pro Bowl guard he's expected to be."

Added Andrews: "I don't think it's just for 'What am I going to get on my next contract?' It's for the rest of my life. I don't want to die young because I'm too fat."

He doesn't want to go like Willie did.

[DH]

Nobody "bulks up" to 385.

[SunMo]

how long until this scare wears off?

[ice grillin you]

lol @ sweaty bacon

[MURP]

how long until this scare wears off?

dunno, but I swear I read an article about him losing weight before his friends death.  Lets hope the death just reinforced something he was already on board with.

[Beermonkey]

glossy pancakes and waffles up there, and sausage and the sweaty bacon.

Sounds like how Spads would describe the breakfast buffet at WaffleHouse.  All that's missing is a reference to the huge girth of the omelets & meaty, throbbing scrapple.

[Geowhizzer]

glossy pancakes and waffles up there, and sausage and the sweaty bacon.[/quote}

Sounds like how Spads would describe the breakfast buffet at WaffleHouse.  All that's missing is a reference to the huge girth of the omelets & meaty, throbbing scrapple.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Wafle House 

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Waffle House has a buffet like you have teh awsum quoting skills, beermonkey.

[Rome]

Waffle House has a buffet like you have teh awsum quoting skills, beermonkey.

Waffle House has the cheeriest waitresses ever.

that is incredibly accurate.

[BigEd76]

They asked Jamaal Jackson for quotes for an article about losing weight?

[Beermonkey]

I don't follow you? [quote}

Waffle House has a buffet like you have teh awsum quoting skills, beermonkey.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Waffle Houses

don't have buffets.

Strictly an ala carte

/menu place.

[Feva]

Andrews = Corey Simon Lite

[PhillyPhanInDC]

scrapple.

[Beermonkey]

Waffle Houses

don't have buffets.

 

Strictly an ala carte

/menu place.

Aargh... my lack of knowledge about southern eateries has been exposed.