Getty Eagles head coach Doug Pederson wants another Super Bowl parade.
Doug Pederson loves ice cream and he isn’t ashamed of the fattening addiction. Since social media declared July 21 “National Ice Cream Day” let’s take a look at how the Eagles coach came to love the frosty dessert.
Pederson’s secret obsession became public knowledge in January 2018, right before the Eagles were set to take on the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. It actually became a hot topic during media week, with the coach admitting that he used it as motivation after team meetings and served it the night before games.
“I love ice cream. Can’t you tell?,” Pederson told reporters at the Super Bowl. “It’s something I kind of came up with, just a saying, just a phrase, and we do serve ice cream as a snack the night before a game and I love ice cream. I don’t want to stay in that team meeting too long because it’s over there melting so I throw it out there every week.”
One caveat: it has to be Haagen Dazs. No substitutes or exceptions to the rule because everything other brand is “bullshit.” His favorite flavor is old school vanilla, nothing added to it. Sometimes he ventures out and orders a vanilla sundae, with banana, chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, whipped cream and a couple of cherries. Plus a sprinkle or two of dry walnuts.
Happy Birthday, Coach Pederson! Go get yourself some ice cream.
Pederson’s love affair with ice cream has been well-documented and researched. The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia devoted an entire article to it when he went around the locker room asking different players about it. Former Eagles safety Jaylen Watkins confirmed the team looked forward to it every week as Pederson used it as an enticing cue to start watching game film.
“It never fails. We wait for it, and that’s the cue to start the highlight tape,” Watkins told The Athletic. “The funny one was [turns to Rasul Douglas], he don’t like Breyers, bro?”
Douglas responded: “No, he was mad that we didn’t know it was Breyers.”
What’s up with Doug Pederson and the ice cream? I asked a bunch of players this morning about that: t.co/rE0jHgzZeO
Pederson was also a little miffed that Haagen Dazs never reached out to him for a sponsorship deal — or at least to send him some free ice cream.
“What the heck else do I gotta do man?,” Pederson told 94 WIP’s John Barchard.
Doug Pederson Received 100 Pounds of Free Ice Cream
Once the news of Pederson’s ice cream habit got out, everyone wanted to send him a gift. According to Eagles line chef Tim Lopez, via “Feeding the Birds” podcast, fans sent the coach 50-100 pounds of all different flavors after the Eagles won the Super Bowl.
“A lot of people were sending you ice cream after the Super Bowl,” Lopez said, via Philly Voice. “We were getting deliveries to the backdoor of 50 to 100 pounds of different stuff. Everybody wanted to congratulate their coach Doug Pederson on the Super Bowl by sending him some ice cream.”
He also brings ice cream as the dessert for any dinner party he’s invited to. It’s all part of Pederson’s affable personality, a trait sometimes uncommon in the serious circle of the NFL coaching fraternity. Pederson likes to have fun and cares about his guys. Penn Live relayed a story of the coach popping into the training room, in between rehab sessions, and telling light-hearted tales about his own playing days.
“Of all the coaches I’ve had, I’ve never had a coach who would be sitting on the edge of the table while guys are getting treatment, talking about stories and discussing it like he’s a fan,” Jaylen Watkins told Penn Live. “It’s unique.”
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