The last time he saw anybody chugging salt tablets, Mark Mariakis and his teammates were partaking under the watchful eye of legendary East Ridge High School football coach Raymond James.
“I haven’t seen anybody do it since I started coaching,” said Mariakis, a veteran coach entering his first season in charge at Chattanooga Christian.
James also had a concoction the players called “bug juice” that probably still gives Mariakis shivers.
“It was Kool-Aid and a bag of salt mixed in water,” he recalled, “and probably stirred up with a manager’s or coach’s hand.”
In view of today’s technology, salt tablets and bug juice are like relics long ago relegated to the Smithsonian. They’ve been replaced with devices to measure the heat index, sports drinks intended to replace electrolytes, pickle juice, mustard and, of course, water.