The German national team went to the Waffle House on the Peter Creek Parkway at 1 AM. They had been told about Waffle House as a  distinct American phenomenon worth experiencing firsthand but didn’t quite know what to believe in advance of their arrival. They had shown up at 1AM not because of a lack of discipline, but because of jet lag. One of the nutritionists — one Ole Wallner from Hohenheim — had said that carbo-loading at a time like this would be a great way to combat jet lag. 

“But,” Jamal Musiala said, pausing over his pancakes, the black of the night hanging out the window behind him, intermittently interrupted by passing cars. “What about just …  exercise or exposure to the sun?”

“It’s one am, Jamal,” Ole replied. “What would be open for exercise? 

“I’ll tell you what’ll be open for exercise,” a man said in broken German, pushing himself to his feet. “These hands.“