The Carolina Panthers 16-1 season to this point has been fueled by an MVP season from Cam Newton, a lock down defense featuring all pros such as Luke Kuechly and Josh Norman and… Waffle House?

“Oh, it’s definitely an advantage,” said Panthers defensive end Mario Addison to the Wall Street Journal. His meal of choice? “Country ham, four eggs-scrambled—with cheese.”

It’s not just Addison who worships at the alter of the unofficial mascot of the South. Cam Newton is a regular visitor to the Charlotte location (no doubt influenced by his college coach Gus Malzahn who famously celebrates wins at Waffle House), and running backs Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert make it “appointment eating” during training camp.

As it turns out, players who are attached to these holes in the wall can go through withdrawal if their team’s location isn’t near any Waffle Houses.

“There are no Waffle Houses in the entire state of Washington,” said now Panthers receiver Kevin Norwood, who attended the University of Alabama and was drafted by the Seahawks. “All they had was Denny’s. What the heck? Where I’m from, there’s a Waffle House on every corner.” So he’s no doubt been motivated to keep playing better by the myriad of locations around Charlotte.

So why do these pokey wannabee diners motivate the Carolina Panthers? Offering breakfast at all hours of the day helps for sure, especially for football players that work odd hours, and the greasy offerings at Waffle Houses also offer an easy chance to consume calories at rapid rates, which football players need to replenish after a hard practice or two.

It’s also, of course, cheap. Which means even NFL players, most not usually wanting for cash, have their orders down to a science, such as safety Tre Boston. “You get the All-Star Special. But you go with the toast. Some people go with the biscuit, but if you go with the toast, you can take the bread, eggs, ham and hash browns and create a second sandwich. All of a sudden, you’ve got two meals in one. You can stretch it out.”

So if the Panthers hoist the Lombardi Trophy in less than a month, you can bet Waffle House won’t be lacking for free advertising. To each their own, I guess.

About Matt Lichtenstadter

Recent Maryland graduate. I've written for many sites including World Soccer Talk, GianlucaDiMarzio.com, Testudo Times, Yahoo's Puck Daddy Blog and more. Houndstooth is still cool, at least to me. Follow me @MattsMusings1 on Twitter, e-mail me about life and potential jobs at matthewaaron9 at Yahoo dot com.