TMI: What does Adrian Tracy love more – his dog or food?

I’m honestly not sure.

I mean, Hamilton Tiger-Cat Adrian Tracy loves his dog, Zeus, a lot. He says Zeus is like his child – he takes him to the dog park and encourages him to make friends (awww!)

When I talked to Adrian during training camp, he said it had been four days since he’d seen his dog and he really, really missed him (I can totally relate!)

But when Adrian started talking about food? His eyes lit up. No joke!

When he told me his favourite restaurant and I admitted I hadn’t gone there before, he told me how amazing their food was and went on to list the best places for food in Hamilton he’d been to.

You tell me which he loves more.

Which Ticats teammate would he want to be stranded on a deserted island and which show does Adrian watch that made him say, “I can’t believe I’m telling you this…”?

For being pretty intimidating on the field, Adrian is really funny off of it. Find out for yourself in this edition of TMI!:


Kristina Costabile: Tell me something no one really knows about you.

Adrian Tracy: I’m a big food buff. I like watching the Food Network and then trying to emulate the recipes that they cook in my apartment. Sometimes not too well but other times, I think once or twice, I’ve nailed it and it’s actually edible for people other than myself. (Editors note: You can check out Adrian baking cookies here.)

KC: Which food shows do you watch?

AT: Top chef, Chopped, Master Chef, Cut Throat Kitchen, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and then Ginormous Food – the guy that just travels around and goes to food places that specialize in extremely ridiculously sized entrees.

KC: Other than cooking, what do you like to do in your spare time?

AT: I’m big on family. I’ve got my brother up here (in Hamilton), who just got accepted to McMaster, so we spend time together. My mom is in town right now so I’m spending time with her. I’ve got a dog, so just getting him out here and making sure he’s friendly and interacting with other dogs.

I treat him like my kid so at the dog park I’m like, ‘okay, go make friends! Oh wait a minute, don’t be mean to that dog!’ Or just sometimes he’s over in the corner by himself and I’m like, ‘aww, alright, I’ll play with you.’ His name is Zeus and he’s all black with a white patch on his chest. I’ve had him for a year and a half, I adopted him from a family up the mountain.

KC: What’s on your pregame playlist?

AT: To be honest, right now, I’ve been listening to a lot of motivational speaking so I haven’t been listening to music. Last year I was on mixtapes I had Ace Hood’s mixtape, Starvation 5. I was listening to Chance the Rapper’s Colouring Book. Sometimes if we’re out anywhere, whether it’ll be on the radio or in a restaurant and I hear a song I like, I Shazam it. I’m literally the guy in the restaurant that stands by the closest speaker with his phone in the air so you get the best reception and the best sound. I’ll get that song and then I’ll just go through Shazam and whatever song it is that I Shazamed I’ll play. Sometimes I have no clue what the title is or who the artist but it was just in that moment the vibe touched me and I need to have that song. I just listen to everything. I listen to country, I listen to rock, I listen to jazz, classical, R&B, hip hop, you name it, I listen to it.

KC: If you were stranded on a deserted island, which teammates would you want with you?

AT: (John) Chick. He’s going to go out there and he’s going to kill stuff so we’re not going to starve. I feel like we have a good comradery where we’ll be entertaining and we’ll be good for each other but not to the point where you annoy that person. And it’s not dull to the point where you’re like, ‘okay, I might as well just be here by myself.’ I feel like we have that good chemistry, that good mix to where we can survive and have fun.

KC: What are three things you would bring with you to that deserted island?

AT: First I’m bringing the bible because I’m gonna need Jesus. Two, I’m gonna need sunblock, that’s 100 per cent. Can I have unlimited water? (I said yes because technically that’s one thing.. right?) Okay, so unlimited water.

KC: If you weren’t a football player, what would you be doing?

AT: I’d be in med school. My degree was in sports medicine and up until my second to last year in university that’s what I was going towards and then the opportunity for football opened up. I didn’t put it (school) on the back burner but I was juggling both but definitely looking into that once football ends as far as pursuing it to become a medical doctor.

KC: What kind of doctor?

AT: I think I’d have to be around sports. I think I’d like to come back and try to be a team doctor for a professional franchise.

KC: What is your favourite football memory?

AT: My first interception. It was here against Saskatchewan at home versus (Darian) Durant, one of the best quarterbacks in the CFL and it was my first career interception. It was a great game for us and it was exciting. It was something I hadn’t done before and I was able to do it front of a home crowd.

Fast forward to the 2:06 minute mark to see his pick!

 

KC: If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

AT: Hamburger and French fries (Editors note: Just want to point out there was absolutely no hesitation from Adrian with this answer.)

KC: From where?

AT: If it’s not my mom’s, definitely HAMBRGR off of King William (in Hamilton). I could live off of their sweet potato fries and their hamburgers all day long. The HamOnt burger? Ooh, yep.

KC: Do you have any superstitions or routines you have to do before a game?

AT: I have this thing with vitamin water. Since I was in university, I’ve had a certain amount of vitamin waters that I drink in a certain order before a game. I’m not going to disclose that information because that’s my little mojo.


If you’re looking for a good laugh, here’s Adrian and two other Ticats – Ted Laurent and John Chick – go-karting. Hilarity ensues.


KC: Are you binge watching anything on Netflix right now?

AT: Okay, everybody likes Netflix but I’m going to put you on something. I don’t know if it’s available in Canada but in the States it’s called Plex, and what it is is an app that you can upload movies, any music, any TV show after it’s been released. So it’s kind of like Hulu but you can store all of them on your app on your Apple TV.

So my friend back home (in the states) and he added me to his account so he loads that with everything. I can’t believe I’m telling you this but I watch Million Dollar Listing. It’s in different cities. So I watch Million Dollar Listing L.A. So it’s pretty much just realtors going out there and get the highest priced houses and try to flip it and it’s kind of a competition because everybody in that group knows everybody. Billions. All of the food shows that I miss are always on there. I tried to get Ted (Laurent) to give me some good ones and he put me on Luke Cage. He’s on the super hero stuff like Spiderman and Iron Man and Captain America and I can watch it but I have to be in a mood for it. Although, Arrow is a good TV show, my little brother put me on that one.

OH! How could I forget about The Carmicheal Show? That one too! I’m open to any and all suggestions.

KC: You should try Master of None. I just finished the second season. I binged watched it in a day..

AT: I’ve done that before. When Breaking Bad started I literally sat there, I think it was for four days, because they’re like hour long shows and watched it all the way through!

KC: If you could have any super power, what would it be?

AT: The funny thing is we have this debate all the time in the locker room, I just never pay attention because I’m not a super hero guy. But if I had any power I would want to fly. I have dreams where I’m flying around and it seems cool to actually do that.