What’s the deal with athletes in the off season? Do they spend all of their time at pie eating contests or chugging gravy straight out of the saucer? Athletes, like Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and recently signed Newcastle center back Sol Campbell, come into training camp in horrible shape and should be ashamed of themselves for putting their team’s season in jeopardy due to their love for chicken wings.
But in both cases the flabby athletes aren’t necessarily as much to blame as the inept management is. What do you think happens to a 300 plus pound man when you guarantee him around 100 million dollars regardless of his sack total? And in Campbell’s case the Englishman was just signed while in horrible shape and his excuse for his poor fitness was not exactly the most comforting reason for fans of the newboys.
Campbell fires back at all the haters out there regarding why he looked chunky in a recent photo taken during training:
It’s pathetic. I had been training for three days – just three days! I am three weeks behind everyone else in pre-season. Don’t they know I have just got married and been on honeymoon? I accept that the picture wasn’t flattering, and I do need to catch up on my level of fitness, but the training kit was not very flattering, and showed up all sorts of things.
It seems to me as if the dumpy defender has it all backwards. Just three days of training? What did you do all off season then? Oh, you were on you’re honeymoon. I don’t think anyone in Newcastle really cares considering it apparently made you out of shape. Why not take the honeymoon earlier in the break then so that you could have some time to get back in shape before the start of next season? You would think as a free agent that getting fit would be a main priority to your upcoming season.
But apparently Campbell is going the route that many large, insecure women decide to go too. Campbell is blaming the unflattering kit as the reason why his disgusting body was revealed during practice. And perhaps such a way of going about business was one of the reasons why Arsenal wasn’t quick to respond to the portly former England national team defender this off season.
But Newcastle trusts that Campbell will be able to get fit in time to have an excellent season and apparently they do not mind the fact that Campbell will need a few extra weeks to be 100% ready for the long 2010 campaign.
Campbell speaks about when he should be able to return to the pitch in full, athletic form:
I am a naturally big guy, but I cannot rush my conditioning, otherwise trying too much too quickly could result in injuries. Of course I can understand the manager wants me to be in the side, but the season starts in just two weeks and I really need three to four weeks to get back to peak fitness.
