Deadspin on Prince's eating habits

[dannyjnoonan]

http://deadspin.com/5016228/so-is-vegetarianism-really-hurting-prince-fielder

[sargennm]

The attention was somewhat puzzling.

 

Huh? Two paragraphs later he goes on to pretty much say that Prince is the highest profile athlete ever to go veg, not to mention he's doing it for a team that has racing meat between innings.

 

I also love when a story starts with a question that it fails to answer.

[jeffy]

and it ends with this:

 

in a nation where more people are shaped like ovals and where cheese is stuffed into every imaginable nook and cranny, Americans need dietary inspiration. Why shouldn't a 270-lb baseball-playing vegetarian lead them?

 

 

As if emulating Prince Fielder's body is the way to improve one's health and as if there are not plenty of oval shaped, peanut butter and fried chip eating vegetarians. Even funnier is, if posts on here are to be believed, Prince is a big cheese eater.

 

Prince is apparently eating Dorito and cheese topped salads not tempeh (whatever that is...probably something gross), seitan (ditto), black beans (mealy and gross), and lentils (ditto) and who can blame him?

[brewers19]

Oh how I loathe this topic.

[jeffy]

Oh how I loathe this topic.

 

So naturally, you feel compelled to click on it and post your feelings http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eyes.gif

 

 

[Invader3K]

The talk about Prince's eating habits rise and fall with his home run production during any given week.

[kramnoj]

The talk about Prince's eating habits rise and fall with his home run production during any given week.

 

That is probably true. For me, I think about it anytime I see Prince run the bases. Sure, he should have been ruled safe at 3B recently, but if he actually lightened his load as opposed to just cutting meat out of his diet, he'd be faster and would have made it with no chance of a blown call.

[JJHardy7]

I think this is an interesting topic, but not in terms of what he eats. IMO Prince is a long-term risk to sign to a contract because of his body type...that is what I think is the interesting aspect. I'm not going to get into whether he's bigger or that, but it does scare me that he's still very young and I wonder what will happen to his body as he ages.

[sgtcluels]

Oh how I loathe this topic.

QFT. I'm sure we could raise up a few dozen topics with the same "issue" and the same arguments. Fun..

 

[TheRealMattKain]

Prince is apparently eating Dorito and cheese topped salads not tempeh (whatever that is...probably something gross), seitan (ditto), black beans (mealy and gross), and lentils (ditto) and who can blame him?

 

 

Wow. I guess I forgot what it's like to live in the Midwest. This sort of close-minded attitude towards vegetarianism seems so antiquated. Do people really think like this, or is this supposed to be tongue-in-cheek? Anyway, I just got back from weight-training so excuse me while I go make a disgusting, protein-rich tempeh sandwich.

 

signed,

A healthy, vegetarian athlete who can probably out-run, out-swim, out-bike, and out-lift 99% of the people on this message board

[dannyjnoonan]

"A healthy, vegetarian athlete who can probably out-run, out-swim, out-bike, and out-lift 99% of the people on this message board"

 

And who is nowhere near the best meat-eaters in any of those sports. Especially lifting.

[silversurferr]

Reduced power has nothing to do with his diet or his physical health. He is getting less pitches to hit because there is not a genuine power hitter behind him. Branyan and Hart do not count. Branyan has great power but is not a consistent threat. Hart is an excellent hitter, but (despite his recent outburst) is not a consistent threat. Who would you pitch to? Even Braun was less effective in that spot, and he is a god!

[crewcrazy]

While I do think pitchers are pitching him differently this year, I don't think it's because there isn't a "true" power hitter behind him in the lineup. He hit 50 home runs last year with a combination of Johnny Estrada, Bill Hall, and Corey Hart hitting behind him. The scouting report is just out on Prince now, and pitchers know how to jam him better and avoid letting him hit as many flyballs. It's up to Prince to fix his swing and mindset at the plate, not his diet. Eating a hamburger won't cause Carlos Zambrano to hang a slider.

[JJHardy7]

Reduced power has nothing to do with his diet or his physical health. He is getting less pitches to hit because there is not a genuine power hitter behind him. Branyan and Hart do not count. Branyan has great power but is not a consistent threat. Hart is an excellent hitter, but (despite his recent outburst) is not a consistent threat. Who would you pitch to? Even Braun was less effective in that spot, and he is a god!

 

Who hit behind Prince last year?

[razzzorsharp]

Who did he have behind him last year that instilled so much fear or is it your theory that Prince was not being pitched around last year as he was still new?

[homer]

"signed,

A healthy, vegetarian athlete who can probably out-run, out-swim, out-bike, and out-lift 99% of the people on this message board"

 

 

God I admire you.

[silversurferr]

Yes, the league has adjusted after a year of trying to get him out with strikes. For whatever reason, last year they were more willing to pitch to him. This year, pitchers are definitely making Prince fish more. He often trys to do more than he should. I have not looked, but my guess is that his walks are up this year, but not dramatically, because he is swinging at bordeline pitches that he might let go if there was a solid power hitter behind him. Nevermind Estrada, Jenkins; this year Hall stinks, Hardy is not hitting, Branyan strikes out every third at bat, Cameron is hitting second (??), the pitcher is batting eighth, and Kendall has no pop. Why would anyone pitch to Fielder with those guys coming up? And people think Brussels sprouts are the problem?

[DuWayne Steurer]

Lineup protection is grossly overrated. Bonds had monster years in SF with not a lot around him. Major league pitchers make mistake pitches all the time. It's up to the hitter to capitalize, and Prince just isn't doing as good a job at it as he did last year. Like others have said, he had Johnny Estrada hitting behind him for quite a while, and he's about the antithesis of "protection".

[DuWayne Steurer]

A healthy, vegetarian athlete who can probably out-run, out-swim, out-bike, and out-lift 99% of the people on this message board.

 

My big brother can beat up your big brother.

[dadofandrew]

So naturally, you feel compelled to click on it and post your feelings image

 

And as a mod, he will tell others not to do the same thing.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[brewers19]

Cute, Al.

 

Oh how I loathe this topic.

So naturally, you feel compelled to click on it and post your feelings http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eyes.gif

 

This is such a hot button topic, but the vast majority of opinions on it have no factual basis whatsoever. In fact, the only side of the issue that has provided any sort of evidence to back up their stance is the vegetarian/nutrition crowd; and despite this, there still remains an epidemic of armchair nutritionists that claim the lack of meat in Prince's diet is 100% to blame for his disappointing production. This really no longer is an argument anymore, but rather people throwing around unfounded assumptions and opinions. Forgive me for being fed up with it.

[jazzytrav]

the only side of the issue that has provided any sort of evidence to back up their stance is the vegetarian/nutrition crowd; and despite this, there still remains an epidemic of armchair nutritionists that claim the lack of meat in Prince's diet is 100% to blame for his disappointing production.

Also, just because Prince hit 50 homers last year doesn't mean that he's going to hit 55 this year. Sure his production is down, but I don't think it's down as much as some think it is.

[TheRealMattKain]

"A healthy, vegetarian athlete who can probably out-run, out-swim, out-bike, and out-lift 99% of the people on this message board"

 

And who is nowhere near the best meat-eaters in any of those sports. Especially lifting.

I'm also not a professional athlete, nor do I claim to be. You can blame that on genes, motivation, primary level athletic programs, etc., but it has little to do with the fact that I prefer seitan and natto to a bratwurst and chicken wings. This notion that vegetarianism somehow precludes one from being an elite athlete is a bit baseless and seems better placed in the 1950s than the 21st century. Sure, there's not a lot of vegetarian athletes, but there's also not a lot of vegetarians in general. We're a tiny, tiny minority. Not to mention, any athlete that even *considered* becoming a vegetarian would have to deal with a ridiculous amount of stereotypes, misinformation, and criticism from teammates, fans, and the press. Yeah, all that negativity, peer pressure, and constant condemnation (which ironically usually comes from people with absolutely no background in sports nutrition) probably turns most high level athletes away from vegetarianism. Sort of like, you know, exactly what Prince has to deal with. How many "Prince eats tofu, muscles atrophy overnight" articles and message board posts do we have to read?

 

Nonetheless, I'm not trying to claim that going veggie magically makes one healthy. If you're living off of doritos, mountain dew, marshmallow peeps, and hot dogs, dumping the hot dogs isn't going to fix much. Prince is a heavy set dude with some big-boned genes running the show. Whether he's taking care of that body or not, I don't really know. When he comes up to bat, I think we all have to admit that he doesn't look too fit. He looks like someone that... well... lives off of doritos, mountain dew, and marshmallow peeps. Mix this in with NL pitchers figuring him out and a disgruntled attitude over contract negotiation, and I'm not really surprised his numbers have declined.

 

 

My big brother can beat up your big brother.

Probably not. He eats meat.

 

MK

 

[jackalope02ca]

All he needs is a good greasy steak to get him going. Wouldn't it be something if he switched back to eating red meat on a regular basis and started hitting home runs again. I wonder if there is somewhere you could bet on this? I'd make that bet. Vegetarianism is just not a natural thing. You can go back to the start of mankind and there is one consistent. We eat meat.

[TheRealMattKain]

All he needs is a good greasy steak to get him going. Wouldn't it be something if he switched back to eating red meat on a regular basis and started hitting home runs again. I wonder if there is somewhere you could bet on this? I'd make that bet. Vegetarianism is just not a natural thing. You can go back to the start of mankind and there is one consistent. We eat meat.

Oh no. Not the "it's not natural" argument. Look around you, and I think that you'll find that 99% of the things in your life aren't "natural". Do you eat processed foods (i.e., soda, canned soups, candy bars, most cookies, chips, white bread, sugary breakfast cereals, most fozen foods)? Bad news - they're not "natural". Better toss 'em out. I hope all your veggies are organic cuz guess what? GMOs and pesticides are definitely not "natural". Airplanes? Dagnabbit! If we were meant to fly, God would have given us wings. Not natural. Wait. Since when is swinging a big wooden stick at a little round ball "natural"? Oh oh, better quit playing baseball. I don't know about you, but I try not to make value judgments based on what people were doing tens of thousands of years ago. The vegetarianism isn't "natural" argument is pretty weak IMHO.