September's Finally Here!... DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHEESEBURGERS ARE?

Anybody remember this guy?...

What does he mean there's no red meat in the fridge?... What does he consider red meat? A San Fransisco 49er? An Arizona Cardinal? Doesn't he realize that hamburger is red meat?... He must have a hard time giving it up... I can identify!...

Get well Holmy... "The Hawks are on the verge!"

Stress test: Holmgren focuses on his health

By
JIM MOORE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

How can anyone relate to Mike Holmgren?

He won Super Bowls in Green Bay and is trying to win another here as coach of the Seahawks. He also makes millions of dollars and lives in a waterfront
home.

On some levels, a few can relate, but most of us can't -- not until earlier this summer, anyway, when the headlines said Holmgren had health issues.

It's been three months since Holmgren publicly acknowledged that he suffered chest discomfort three times in a 10-day period, prompting a hospital visit
and a missed practice at minicamp.

They put dye in his arteries and found no blockages. They determined his heart was fine.

"Then what's wrong with me?" Holmgren asked.

"Well," the doctor asked, "can you relieve some stress in your life?"

"Do you know what I do?" Holmgren asked in disbelief, giving a roundabout response that basically said, no, as an NFL coach, he couldn't relieve the stress.

So Holmgren has cut back in other areas because he admits it was a little scary when he got that tightness in his chest a few weeks before his 57th birthday,
especially because his father died of a heart attack at 48 in 1974.

A teacher and coach at Sacred Heart Prep in San Francisco at the time, he was only 24 when he lost his dad.

Holmgren is trying to lose weight, trying not to eat late. He might have had two nightly glasses of wine before, but now has one.

"It's all common-sense stuff," Holmgren said.

He struggles with moderation like anyone else, admitting that common sense is sometimes forgotten when it's 1 a.m. and you're hungry on your flight home
from a preseason game in Kansas City.

"I was starving," Holmgren said. So he ate.

At home, Holmgren's wife Kathy cooks healthy meals. There is no red meat in the refrigerator, no candy in the pantry, no cookie jars on the counter, but
that's OK -- Holmgren doesn't care for sweets.

He's not into junk food, either. His food vice? Cheeseburgers. "I love 'em," he said. In the summer, he likes to barbecue them himself. When he buys them,
he is most likely at Burgermaster, down the hill from Seahawks headquarters in Kirkland, just off of 520.

A mountain of a man at 6 feet 5 and 285 pounds, Holmgren would like to be more of a foothill but says: "I've always been big."

He has lost 10 pounds, knows he needs to lose more and says he's "just kind of being careful."

The warning signs started in Green Bay about eight years ago when "minor plaque" was found in Holmgren's arteries, causing doctors to prescribe cholesterol
medicine that he still uses today.

In his profession, you'd think stress might cause weight loss, but if it does it's offset by hours in a room, seated, breaking down film while munching
on whatever's available, usually something high in fat and low in nutritional value.

Partly because of these film sessions, Holmgren said most coaches put on weight during the season.

When it comes to chest tightness, he has coaching company. Before the Chiefs game two weeks ago, Dick Vermeil told him he felt the same thing, and Green
Bay's Mike Sherman has, too.

In Green Bay, Holmgren used to get stomach pains that were so severe he would double over in pain. Those have gone away, and he's not sure why.

The weird chest feelings have, too; Holmgren said he hasn't had one since early June. But the games are about to start, the first Sunday in Jacksonville
followed by many more of increasing importance.

He can't do anything about the stress but fights back with a daily workout routine at home. He stretches and lifts, usually doing military bench presses
and lat pulls. While his wife is on the NordicTrack, he jogs or walks on the treadmill for 35 minutes.

"I'm feeling good now," Holmgren said. "The good Lord every once in a while says: 'Take a look at this. You need to keep things in order.'

"It absolutely gives you perspective."