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Jewish World Review Sept. 7, 2000 / 6 Elul, 5760
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES, six-point underdogs to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, blew out America’s
Team, 41-14.
Too bad you can’t bottle the secret for their success.
The Eagles trainer says Vlasic has.
Twenty to 30 Philadelphia players drank the juice of the company’s dill pickles — kosher dills — the
night before the season opener. Others drank the brine from water bottles during the game at Texas
Stadium, where temperatures on the artificial turf reportedly reached 148 degrees.
“We think it helped,” said head trainer Rick Burkholder, who entered the postgame interview area
Sunday holding a jar of the pickles, which are under the supervision of the Orthodox Union. “We don’t
know why. I wish I could tell you, but I can’t.”
The Eagles introduced pickle juice into this preseason’s regimen, at the suggestion of an intern trainer, to
help players who lost several pounds in water weight during two-a-day workouts under the open sun and
suffered muscle cramps.
“Everyone was skeptical,” said Derek Boyko, an Eagles spokesman. But the stuff worked. The players
who usually cramped, didn’t.
More and more players took the juice, straight, in two-ounce swigs, during training camp. Strictly for
medicinal purposes. “They don’t drink it for pleasure,” Boyko said.
Maybe it’s the high salt content, which replaces the salt lost to sweating, he says. “It might have
something to do with the vinegar, as well. There is no scientific study.”
The Eagles’ results have stirred the interest of other NFL teams, Boyko said. “Some other training staffs
have called our training staff.”
Will the Eagles turn to pickle juice in other games this season?
“If the heat’s there, absolutely,” Boyko says.
The team plays the Giants on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J. Weather report: temperatures in the low
80s.
As for last week’s game, running back Duce Staley gained 201 yards, four short of a team record. He
drank the pickle
Dill-y Of An Idea
By Steve Lipman
Steve Lipman is a staff writer with the
New York Jewish Week. Comment on this article by clicking here.
