Detroit Lions Da’Shawn Hand claims he’s a snacks connoisseur and proves it

ALLEN PARK — Da’Shawn Hand may be a rookie, but the Lions defensive tackle knows his snacks. In fact, he considers himself a connoisseur.

Oddly enough, his locker is next to NFL veteran Damon “Snacks” Harrison who earned his reputation over the years.

“You can ask the whole D-line, they get mad at me because I can eat. But see, I got a good figure. Hey, listen. It’s hard to come by. I ain’t saying nothing about Snacks’ (figure),’’ said Hand who is 6-foot-3 and a svelte 297 pounds, compared to the original “Snacks” who weighs 353.

Either Hand can’t narrow down his favorite snacks, or he’s looking for a sponsor.

“See it depends on what I’m in the mood for. I can always do a good fruit snack. You’ve got different types of fruit snacks. You’ve got the Welch’s, you’ve got Scooby-Doo. Then like Mott’s it just depends. Welch’s is a solid universe everybody likes that. Mott’s I’ve got to be in the mood for, I get kind of tired. then you’ve got fruit-rollups, oh man,’’ said Hand who was just getting started.

“Then Danish, you’ve got little cakes  — you’ve got oatmeal cream pies, you’ve got zebra cakes, you’ve got little strawberry shortcake rolls. There’s just endless possibilities.’’

Onto salty snacks.

“Then as far as chips I like flaming-hot stuff. So you’ve got flaming-hot Funyuns (not regular Funyuns). You get that with a nice sandwich – ooohh.”

Then the understatement.

“I like eating. You opened up something,’’ Hand said.

“You know Italian subs — instead of ham you get turkey then everything else — pepperonis and all that stuff,’’ said Hand seemed to be enjoying his snacks soliloquy.

“How about Hand sandwich? Hands-on Club?” He’s right, so many possibilities.

Don’t forget candy.

“Chocolate, I’ll do Twix and maybe a KitKat, Butterfinger, Reese’s sometimes. When it comes to candy, I LOVE candy. Especially sour stuff — sour gummy worms, sour gummy bears, strawberry sour patches those are the best type for real,’’ Hand said. “If you’ve learned something today, I highly recommend you try it.’’

We’ve also learned that Hand knows his way around the snacks aisle at the grocery store.

Author: Paula Pasche

Paula Pasche, a veteran sports writer, covers the Detroit Lions for her Lions Lowdown blog. She has written two books, "Game of My Life Detroit Lions" and "100 Things Lions Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" which are available at bookstores and on Amazon.com. She won first place for column writing from the Society of Professional Journalists in Detroit (Class B) in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and was The Oakland Press 2010 Staffer of the Year. View all posts by Paula Pasche