KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before dawn on a fall Friday, Steve Spagnuolo enters the Kansas City Chiefs facility with a large aluminum pan. The defensive coordinator finds a place for it in the defensive line meeting room, returns to his car and comes back with another pan, this one for the linebackers room. Then he does it again, delivering the final pan to the defensive backs room.
In each pan, there are 15 generous portions of banana pudding. Chiefs defenders will find the pans waiting for them when they come off the field after a light practice. They will have to move quickly to get their highly coveted treat lest invasive offensive linemen move in.
Four days earlier, Steve’s wife, Maria, bought eggs, butter and other ingredients. Then she went on a banana hunt. She needed 25, starting at Aldi and taking only the ones that met her requirements for size and ripeness. She found more at Price Chopper and the rest at Cosentino’s Market. Some were a bit too green, but she put them in the oven or in plastic bags to expedite ripening. Freshness matters, so Maria waited until Wednesday to start the two-day cooking process.
Steve delivers Maria’s desserts every week during the NFL season. Of course, he’s more famous for devising blitzes so bold that no other coach would dare imagine…
