What Do Nfl Linemen Eat?

Eagles DT Hollis Thomas (6 feet, 330 pounds) met Thurmond at Philadelphia?s Capital Grille at 4:00 p.m. on Nov. 30.

[FIRST COURSE: Double portion of cheesecake; strawberry sauce; graham cracker crust.]

SI: Cheesecake first, huh?

THOMAS: You got to eat dessert first to see if the food is any good. You want any? I ordered two slices, but they?re for me.

SI: That?s all right. So what will you get, the porterhouse?

THOMAS: No. Since I normally get so many appetizers, I get the filet mignon. I try to stay away from the pastas. I?ve got to watch my weight.

SI: I see. So I hear your parents were both cooks.

THOMAS: My mom, Carolyn, can bake and cook, but my dad, Jerome, is a real chef. He worked in the restaurant where I used to work in high school and during summers I was in college, Kirkwood Ice and Fuel in St. Louis. They have the best nachos I ever had. And they have this Snicker cheesecake and Reese?s Key Lime pie. Delicioso! That?s where I learned some of the finer points of cooking. I was a food prep and a dishwasher extraordinaire.

[SECOND COURSE: A half-dozen shrimp and a half-dozen oysters; cocktail sauce.]

THOMAS: You gonna watch me eat these oysters? They?re a sexual aphrodisiac, you know.