It’s no surprise to learn that Dwight Howard loves candy — we’ve known that for a while. Still, it’s a shock to hear Skittles apparently has sent the Lakers’ center 30 pounds of candy, and that a stash like that is just some of the candy he admitted today to having at his house. Is this seriously how the NBA’s best center, and his team’s training staff, allows him to treat his body?
I’m not trying to be New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and rip every sugary foodstuff out of someone’s lifestyle, but what Howard cops to in a story today by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne is jarring. Just as the Lakers have declared “new seasons” this year at multiple, arbitrary junctures, it appears Howard never took his diet seriously until the final weeks.
Howard said getting some extra rest over the All-Star break helped, as has a new diet he started over the break.
“I’m just making sure I don’t eat as much candy and sugar so I can get in good shape,” he said. “Back when I was able to play 48 minutes, I could eat anything. But now I can’t.”
Just how big of a candy lover is he?
“Am I a big candy person? That’s an understatement,” he joked. “My pantry is full of candy. Skittles just sent me 30 pounds of Skittles. I have a nightstand full of every candy you could think of. Skittles, blow pops, Laffy Taffy, Reese’s Pieces, Kit Kats, all types of candy was in the drawer. They had to clear it out.”
These quotes come, mind you, in the same interview where Howard blamed his poor conditioning on his sluggish, inconsistent play. He knows the problem, he just doesn’t want to fix it. You might think a player coming off of major back surgery and six months away from the game would want as few variables in play as possible by eating right and bonding with teammates, but it’s clear by this point neither of those two — two of the easiest changes he could have made and controlled — were priorities. It makes it that much harder to respond when more hurdles are placed in the way, whether from his labrum injury or the team’s struggles. Add it up, and it’s the 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers.
It makes the recent trips to In-N-Out by the Spurs in the Bay Area and the Trail Blazers in Sacramento seem quaint. Oh, San Antonio’s Aron Baynes ate four double-doubles? That’s nothing compared to the food Howard has been eating all season long.
What do you think?
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