Becoming a Mike Woicik Disciple and Syracuse Food Culture

Some of the best pancakes I ever had were at a old traditional dinner down on South Salina Street in Syracuse, not far from Syracuse University's Manley Field House and right off of US 81 South. It's worth the hunt!

I left fall ball in the fall of 1983 feeling like a failure. During the off season—which for college lacrosse players is November to January, I spent allot of time in the weight room, a habit that started while rehabbing from knee surgery. The trainers made it clear to me that my knees would get better as I strengthened my quads—the four muscles directly above the knee and hamstrings—the large muscle on the backside of the quads. In the weight room I struck up a friendship with then SU strength coach Mike Woicik, a former discus thrower at Boston College and real Englander who came to SU in 1980. Mike’s a great guy and at the time he had a great collection of oldies like Blue Magic, Marvin Gay, and Sam Cook which he loved to play. That year I became a fan of lifting weights and the Philadelphia sound of Blue Magic. Mike also turned me on to a throwback dinner down on South Salina Street not far the Blues Brother’s Barbershop, a place black male athletes from SU went to get a pregame cut and listen to the host of characters in the shop play the dozens. Both Blues Barbershop, a black space, and the dinner, a white space, represented the best of working class Syracuse culture. The dinner did a great breakfast that came on what seemed like platters instead of plates. For very little money, you could order more pancakes or French toast (with your choice of sausage or bacon) than a SU linemen could eat. Back in the weight room Mike wrote up a program designed to strengthen my legs and upper body. Mike’s mantra was “the upper body is for show [to show off], but legs are to go [power and speed]!” I became a Woicik disciple and religiously worked out four days per week: lower body Monday, upper body Tuesday, Wednesday off, and the same routine Thursday and Friday; weekends off. I still do a modified version at age 46. Mike would later move on to become an NFL strength coach. Mike Woicik holds the record for NFL coaches with most Super Bowl rings; 3 with the Dallas Cowboys and 3 with his current team the New England Patriots.