Got MILK?

While out in the yard the other day talking to the neighbors about yard work, summer, gardens, and weather, we started on the subject of pumpkins. I told them about Shaq, and how he's going to win the contest. Landon, who's 10, asked if I was going to feed Shaq milk so he would grow big.
Me: "Milk"?
Landon: "Yeah, all of the 'top growers' are feeding their pumpkins milk".
Landon's Mom,(shaking her head in disbelief) : "Landon, where do you come up with this stuff"
Landon: "It's true!, all the 'top growers' are doing it".

Landon got me thinking. I once heard that Michael Jordan would eat steak and potatoes before each home game. Each and every home game. Probably some type of superstition, or maybe just his favorite? Steak and potatoes would be my choice too. It's pretty American right? Who wouldn't want steak and potatoes if they could have anything they wanted at the snap of a finger? I'd probably mix it up with some greasy pizza or a honkin huge cheeseburger every now and then, but for the most part, I'd choose steak,,,.....rib eye, medium rare. The thing that stood out most in my mind was the steak was always 23ounces! I've had some big steaks in my life, and I've seen even bigger steaks on that "man vs food" show where that dude eats whatever anyone dares him to. I had a roommate once who would buy those London Broils that you can get dirt cheap. They would fill up the whole plate. I don't know how many ounces they were, but they were huge. A Twenty three ounce steak for MJ is probably no big deal, but before a game? Then it hit me. Maybe Jordan wasn't eating steak and potatoes because it was his favorite. Maybe he was eating it because he was the best player in the game who scored more points than the next 400 players combined, and he needed that type of food, and that amount of food to power him through the game. Let's face it, the dude was unbelievable, and exerted much more energy than a Brett Farve, or Ben Roethlisberger who both get to rest for 5 minutes before each play. Jordan needed to eat like a king because that's what he was.
If Michael Jordan, the greatest player of all-time (for now), made sure to get the calories and nutrition he needed, maybe Landon's "got milk?" question wasn't that bad of an idea.
I actually googled the milk idea and found numerous links telling exactly how to do it. One way was to make a slit in the vine just up from the pumpkin and insert a string to act as a wick. The other end of the string would be placed in a pan filled with milk. In some foreign country they spray the leaves with milk, claiming it makes the leaves stronger. I thought wind was what made them stronger? After researching the idea, I'm thinking it's a superstition, just like MJ eating steak and potatoes before each game, and just like Josh thinking the wind will make pumpkins stronger. For now, Shaq will be drinking nothing but water, and eating nothing but the best soil that surrounds him.