I feel like I'm going to lose 10 pounds on this assignment. Never a
bad thing. But not so good for my neighborhood McDonald's
establishment.

Friday, Justin and I showed up to hang with the team during their
pregame meal. I'd already been warned by former player Dennis Keyes --
now the starting corner at UCLA -- that coach Croson is something of a
health nut. So I thought I'd try and be respectful of the team's
policies whenever I'm around them. Unfortunately I remembered that
after I ordered my 10-piece Chicken McNugget meal and medium diet
coke, which went into the trash bin, half-eaten, on my walk into
campus.

I have to say, the spread Birmingham's parents put out for the
pregame meal is pretty impressive. Every Friday, a group of about 10
parents meets around noon to cut and prepare enough fruit salad, green
salad and rotisserie chicken for the entire team and coaching staff.

It takes about two hours to get it done and it has to be done by 2
p.m. because once the players start filing into the multipurpose room,
you're best served by getting out of the way.

Most of the players seem to like the healthy eats if you judge by the
condition of their plates afterwards. But a closer inspection reveals
that it's an acquired taste.

"You get used to it, I guess," one player told me. (I'm omitting
the player's name to protect him from future windsprints) "I don't
really know if it makes me play better. But it couldn't hurt and I'm
used to it."

Still, it's pretty shocking to see a bunch of teenage boys eating
like this, without protest. For most kids their age, the only greens
they're willing to eat are green peanut M&Ms or sour apple flavored
gummy sticks.

But this just shows how much this team buys into Croson's message. It
may not always seem like it during team meetings, when at least two
guys are fidgeting with their iPods while he talks, but they're
hanging on his every word and seem to trust him implicitly.

I haven't been around long enough to completely understand the
dynamic, but Croson seems to have a Phil Jackson kind of quality about
him. He can talk about things that his players can't quite relate to,
and might even think are weird, like healthy eating and visualization,
but they trust him enough to give it a try and follow along.