Imagine paying 290 million to a guy and still giving them a per diem to eat.

[Kblaze8855]

Due to an arrangement Bob Cousy(head of the union at the time) came to with a he league in the 50s players still get a cash per diem to eat daily. The last year the total was confirmed was 2017 when it was 133 a day but it goes up with time.

How it works is when you go on a road trip a staffer has a bag of envelops and hands out the money as you board the plane. If you’re gone 10 days you get 1300 or so in cash. Every player gets one and most of the staff as well. The staff is generally poor(I’m talking video scouts and so on) so they pocket theirs and try to save it. But players apparently take it and go gamble on the plane. Not all of them of course but it’s a stack of cash they don’t need so they find a way to pass the time.

Obviously they don’t need the money(other than g league call ups) since it’s ostensibly for food and teams provide customized buffets after every game:


https://www.hostpic.org/images/2307052215380365.jpeg




as well as unlimited anytime sandwiches and little healthy snacks to hold them over.

I feel like as an owner I’d be petty about something like that and wanna abolish it….

But I’ve also read that owners don’t give a single **** about things like that because big picture wise it’s so insignificant, but players eat it up and see it as a real concession that they get to keep it. Owners “concede” on things like that and aspects of the locker room or plane rides or whatever to appear to make it a “give and take” thing when it’s “giving” something that is too minuscule to notice.

you look at all the money coming into the league and I’m sure that’s true but still…I just feel like maybe my petty side would show it’s head.

The team staffers are one thing. I’d gladly give $150 a day to a guy who works 19 hour days during the playoffs as like an assistant, assistant videographer or something for peanuts.

I gotta pay you 670,000 dollar per game, provide a buffet post game, transport you to a 800 dollar a night hotel and hand you 150 dollars to eat on top of it?

They’d catch me using a racial epithet discussing the issue and kick me out of the league like Sterling.

[LAL]

What a life..

[Norcaliblunt]

It’s all high level money laundering and tax write offs.

[iamgine]

Owners don’t give a single **** about things like that because they have people taking care of these small details. I wouldn't be surprised if many owners don't even know this stuff exists.

[Xiao Yao You]

forgetting who it was but he was a cheap skate who supposedly bought some Subway sandwiches and put them in the hotel fridge and pocketed most of his per diem

[Xiao Yao You]

they want them eating well these days. I know at the Jazz practice facility they have chefs that can make you whatever. Apparently Dallas doesn't have this at their facility looking at Donic. Must be a McDonalds across the street from theirs

[Kblaze8855]

I’m reading that the Mavericks provide local barbecue for every game, but when at home the players favor a local steak and seafood place for post game. I’ve also read that every NBA team provides the same nutritional list-based diets that a lot of the healthy players eat. So pretty much every team will provide grilled chicken and pasta and some kind of vegetable in addition to whatever the local delicacy is. I assume Luka might just pull a Charles Barkley and go get three legs and some mashed potatoes from KFC and skip the healthy food the team provides.

[Kblaze8855]

Seems the mavs place is popular around the league:



Other NBA (https://theathletic.com/nba/) teams such as the Celtics (https://theathletic.com/nba/team/celtics/) and the Nuggets (https://theathletic.com/nba/team/nuggets/) have catered Nick & Sam’s, too, and none more frequently than the Warriors (https://theathletic.com/nba/team/warriors/). After every road game, with help from Dhurandhar, Golden State’s director of team operations, Eric Housen, arranges a three-table spread of post-game dining. The Warriors seek out five-star dining experiences for their players on every road stop, a tradition that began after the 2010 ownership change and especially since Steve Kerr and general manager Bob Myers started running the team.

“The Mavs are really generous (and have) always supplied a barbecue spread in the locker room,” Housen explained, “but we just felt like, as a team, some of our dietary needs are a little more on the healthier side. That’s why we chose Nick & Sam’s.”.

It’s a misnomer to strictly call Nick & Sam’s a steakhouse, as it also serves – and might even be more popular for – every type of seafood imaginable. That’s the fare that most of the Mavericks copped to eating. Barea loves the sea bass, and Courtney Lee most frequently orders the salmon. Dorian Finney-Smith (https://theathletic.com/nba/player/dorian-finney-smith-CmoOD7Ery0D0ZoMJ/) has another seafood favorite. “Them fried lobster, baby,” he gleefully tells me. “That thing be bussin’.” Boban Marjanovic (https://theathletic.com/nba/player/boban-marjanovic-zSvTL2lK2s3m3ANW/), amazingly, eats sushi – God knows how many pieces – whenever he dines there. “If I go with something heavier, my stomach will hurt overnight, and I think I don’t sleep good,” he explains. And then there are some players who temporarily push aside conscious eating when they dine in. “I don’t go there to eat healthy,” Maxi Kleber (https://theathletic.com/nba/player/maxi-kleber-yLF22QB0J9VK3S0v/) admits. “I go there to eat good.”






Ill have to add that place to my Dallas list.

Also I remember when I was at Papi steak in Miami someone mentioned Luka might have been there. Guy just enjoys the finer things. Likes a good steak.

[rawimpact]

It's smart...

Food is one of the cheapest ways to be happy. Imagine being traded to a team that gives you a stipend for food and is reminded you of that each time you get off a plane. Then to be traded to a team where you're on your own.

Yes every NBA player can afford food, but this is a nice incentive and I'm sure to a certain extent it's protecting your assets (players and their health). If they miss a single game due to food poisoning or whatever, that in itself is atleast a years worth of food in terms of money gone.

[Kblaze8855]

The health aspect is taken care of by guys like this:



https://youtu.be/ezCSRmmJXN0


Team chefs who provide the food that’s largely good for you.


The money is for whatever else they want.

[highwhey]

yeah not surprised. a lot of the higher end employers (in particular tech industry) provide free catered meals and free snacks/drinks. these engineers/coders earn like 200k+ a year in salary alone (and even more in shares+bonuses) so it's not like they're low paid employees. when i worked at Uber in Tempe, they had free catered lunch everyday and a snackbar with chips, soda, redbulls, etc all for free. when i visited the Uber in Pittsburgh, they had the same thing but with a much nicer facility and a full-time coffee shop that made whatever type of coffee, expresso you wanted for free. they also gave us like $200 a month in free uber eats spending along with discounts on uber rides. we were spoiled af tbh. i would think billion dollar sports teams would do the same but with even better perks.

[Kblaze8855]

Best I ever did was a small per diem(might have been 50 bucks) and travel expenses but I never had to travel much. Most of my jobs if employees were provided for it was me doing it out of my pocket. And get this….I was asked to stop at my last one before I quit. I bought a coffee machine for my warehouse area guys since it was a long walk to the break room and would get catering now and then on nights I knew they wouldn’t be busy. I was asked to expense such things not do it out of pocket…but when I got dinner for my guys once they said it was too much to expense and to just wait till the designated holiday meals they provided.

I was hot. And that was before covid which they used as an excuse to eliminate all in office meals since it got people too close together. I quit and never looked back.

[highwhey]

Best I ever did was a small per diem(might have been 50 bucks) and travel expenses but I never had to travel much. Most of my jobs if employees were provided for it was me doing it out of my pocket. And get this….I was asked to stop at my last one before I quit. I bought a coffee machine for my warehouse area guys since it was a long walk to the break room and would get catering now and then on nights I knew they wouldn’t be busy. I was asked to expense such things not do it out of pocket…but when I got dinner for my guys once they said it was too much to expense and to just wait till the designated holiday meals they provided.

I was hot. And that was before covid which they used as an excuse to eliminate all in office meals since it got people too close together. I quit and never looked back.

I can see why they would not like you doing it out of your own pocket , probably some grey area where you could later claim they owe you compensation for those things. but it's shitty that they didn't appreciate it and just adopt that as a standard. i try to buy my guys lunch once a week, it's a quick and easy way to get on their good side especially during summer when they're busting their ass all day. i just dropped off some ice and water bottles bc they're working downtown in a new tower with no a/c since it's still being erected, at least they're in the shade but it still hot af...

[Kblaze8855]

It was essentially that. And the matter of who owned any appliances on the premises after the coffee machine(s) I got. I had a k cup machine and an old school drip one since I’d buy nice coffee for me and whoever wanted it and some random k cup packs for people who didn’t care. Just bullshit to me but I was always for my guys who I knew worked hard and didn’t get paid what they could elsewhere but stayed for the environment and liking what they did.

Company would buy some pizza and shit that adults aren’t gonna be excited for. I’m buying bang bang shrimp because my old guy of the team liked it. I’m getting catering. If we had nothing to do and I didn’t feel like sitting in my office watching Boardwalk Empire or something I’d come tell everyone to just make the place look spotless then they could either all leave…or stay and we would play cards, get some food, and watch tv. We had a nice job site radio and I’d let the kids play their bullshit music. I remember once they had never heard Illmatic so I had to play that.

We spent the night listening to music and eating a Moe’s catering setup I ordered. People who wanted to leave left.

After I quit they would call me asking why the crew stopped being so flexible. Nobody came in early or stayed late for the new guy who was over the building at night. Several people left.

Id be under hours(letting people leave), with everyone happy to come to work, bullshit my way through the night barely interacting with my people…

So it’s not that I don’t get treating people well at work.

But….if we pay you 200 million and provide a custom buffet nightly? I feel like I don’t owe you a per diem.

[highwhey]

It was essentially that. And the matter of who owned any appliances on the premises after the coffee machine(s) I got. I had a k cup machine and an old school drip one since I’d buy nice coffee for me and whoever wanted it and some random k cup packs for people who didn’t care. Just bullshit to me but I was always for my guys who I knew worked hard and didn’t get paid what they could elsewhere but stayed for the environment and liking what they did.

Company would buy some pizza and shit that adults aren’t gonna be excited for. I’m buying bang bang shrimp because my old guy of the team liked it. I’m getting catering. If we had nothing to do and I didn’t feel like sitting in my office watching Boardwalk Empire or something I’d come tell everyone to just make the place look spotless then they could either all leave…or stay and we would play cards, get some food, and watch tv. We had a nice job site radio and I’d let the kids play their bullshit music. I remember once they had never heard Illmatic so I had to play that.

We spent the night listening to music and eating a Moe’s catering setup I ordered. People who wanted to leave left.

After I quit they would call me asking why the crew stopped being so flexible. Nobody came in early or stayed late for the new guy who was over the building at night. Several people left.

Id be under hours(letting people leave), with everyone happy to come to work, bullshit my way through the night barely interacting with my people…

So it’s not that I don’t get treating people well at work.

But….if we pay you 200 million and provide a custom buffet nightly? I feel like I don’t owe you a per diem.

shocking. sucks but its common for companies to not give a fvck about the workers down in the trenches. they view them as all too expendable. one thing i like about doing work for some of the larger general contractors is they actually do get it...not all of them, but a handful of them will buy pallets of water bottles, put shade stations to relax on your break, put industrial sized fans, bring food trucks to the jobsite, etc. it's little things like that make a big difference when you're working in 110 degree weather and already working a physically demanding job.

[rmt]

forgetting who it was but he was a cheap skate who supposedly bought some Subway sandwiches and put them in the hotel fridge and pocketed most of his per diem

Probably Spurs' Matt Bonner.

[tpols]

I would prefer one of Trumps 5 star spreads at the Whitehouse.


https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5c3e10b2f92c694343cc71b9/4:3/w_1424,h_1068,c_limit/Rosner-Fast-Food-Trump.jpg

[Kblaze8855]

So I having looked into this a bit more it turns out athletes are just stupid. The MLB in the early 2000s managed to make a trade with players during CBA negotiations. They agreed to give players approval over the clubhouse/locker room food and chef selection in exchange…for pension benefits for players with under 5 years of service. The person explained it was a team president involved in negotiations, and said the league was happy to do it, because the players are stepping over dollars to get to pennies. They trade serious benefits for convenience.

Not like that trade got them meals. It just got them the right to veto the team selections and choose their own. And for this, they ****ed over all the players who only made the league for a few years and got hurt. They let the league bump up minimum time to reach a pension for better post game food.

Someone should have been fired for that trade.

[Norcaliblunt]

Imagine having a billion dollars and tripping on chump change. Lmao.

[Dbrog]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2023/03/01/nflpa-report-cards-8-most-alarming-findings/11375436002/

This was a big thing in the NFL this past offseason as some of the things you're talking about were big knocks to certain teams. Namely the Bangles don't provide an easy way to get food somedays which wasn't something I had even thought about teams doing until I heard it. Some shit is cray though...like Washington not even having hot water and having rats n shit. How could that even be a professional NFL team facility? :lol

[Kblaze8855]

Yea the Bengals are cheap as ****


The Bengals were given the lowest possible grade, an F-, for food service and nutrition. The quality of food ranked 31st, and Cincinnati was one of only three NFL teams to not offer dinner to players, one of only two to not provide vitamins and the only one that did not offer supplements. Players responded that they are encouraged to come in on their days off to train and prepare themselves for that week's game, "however, the cafeteria is not open on those days, so players can’t even grab a banana before working out.".

[Im so nba'd out]

If you work for the nba you get a per diem for food from the top(Adam silver) to the bottom ( nba e league video gamers)


Shit I won a contest for the nba and even I got a per diem for the event

[Kblaze8855]

Yeah, it’s everyone. The person I initially heard talking about it was a former video scout, who eventually became an assistant GM. Everybody going on the road trip gets the same amount in an envelope with your name on it.

[eliteballer]

Blaze, you should watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqLurQQ8DN8

[highwhey]

Yeah, it’s everyone. The person I initially heard talking about it was a former video scout, who eventually became an assistant GM. Everybody going on the road trip gets the same amount in an envelope with your name on it.

whats the hooker budget look like?

[tpols]

I used to work for a company where there'd be an All Hands type meeting where the bigwigs would hop out on stage and pop up their power points and their charts and their graphs etc. and boast how well we were doing.

There was chicken marsala, chicken francese, chicken Murphy you name it served with roasted potatoes and a full salad bar.

If a pleb like me got that imagine what multi millionarries would get.

[Kblaze8855]

Seems the mavs place is popular around the league:

.


Ill have to add that place to my Dallas list.

Also I remember when I was at Papi steak in Miami someone mentioned Luka might have been there. Guy just enjoys the finer things. Likes a good steak.



Update…I did add it to my Dallas list and I’m going tonight

[Kblaze8855]

Tobias Harris is in here and a group of people apparently from the mavs.

[Jasper]

oh shit u found out.

For 5+ years I have 3 teams ap. 15 players sending me the money to supplement my liberal income.

1500 x 15 = 22,500 sounds pretty good for a Wisconsin farmer every 10 days.

[Kblaze8855]

So I’m going back to Dallas in November specifically to go to Nick and Sam’s because it’s now a top 3 restaurant my girlfriend loves for her birthday and she’s decided that’s the move.

They have a Dirk and a Luka meal I want but it’s probably too much food. I’ll just let her get her Kobe beef and keep it basic. The Suns will be in town that night. I feel like Bol Bol might stop in. Just strikes me as the type. Maybe Booker. KD is a nice restaurant guy as well I believe.

Having absolutely nothing better to do I may well rank the best restaurants in every nba city in here later. There aren’t many I’ve not been to since I quit working. And I don’t think it’s worth a whole new topic.

[Carbine]

You're too young to be retired.

When the money runs out don't say I didn't warn you.

[Real Men Wear Green]

You're too young to be retired.

When the money runs out don't say I didn't warn you.

The last year I've started to learn about investing. If he made the right decisions when he was younger his passive income could be more than what most people get working 40 hours a week. Capitalist economies like ours really don't make workers wealthy unless you're an NBA talent or something. Your money has to make the money.

[Kblaze8855]

Im retired in that I don’t have to go to a job but I still generate income. Got a good infusion when the home prices went through the roof and I still had the pieces of shit I bought during the recession and fixed up. No more kids or nieces to look after. My mom prefers her apartment to the house I had her in. I had homes I bought for 45 and 70K in like 08. Just free money at that point.

I’m gradually getting my real estate license in a couple states and helping people I know repair credit and get into homes but not for money yet. I’m gonna have to “work” under someone for a while and go through some other shit but I’ll do it eventually and shoot for being a broker.

Ive just been chilling for almost 4 years of travel and excess. Which is why I can say this….Lebrons restaurant of choice Carbone?



https://www.hostpic.org/images/2409021857220349.jpeg




Overrated.

Dont take food advice from someone who orders well done steak.



I was recently on a double date and my cousins date ordered not only a sirloin but a very well done one. We gave her a little shit for it, but I was unprepared for how dry it would actually appear. It actually looked like splintered wood, but she ate it. I understand that well done may have been necessary in the past for health reasons but today?

I read that embed demands his steaks be extremely extremely well done. Like the chef needs to cook what he thinks is well done then leave it on the grill the whole time he cooks somebody elses properly.

And I believe it. He plays like someone of low character.

[Kblaze8855]

https://www.hostpic.org/images/2409032147410348.jpeg



Ive been. Nothing special. Everything is made to be taken pictures of so you kinda have to look like an idiot eating. Some of the shit I got….


https://www.hostpic.org/images/2409032146200358.jpeg


https://www.hostpic.org/images/2409032144040353.jpeg

[Kblaze8855]

Regular Food out of a fryer plus desserts that look like a little girls dream and a few equally ridiculous mixed drinks. You go if you’re with a woman or some kids who just want a memory and to take a picture or two for social media. That should not be the favorite restaurant of an adult. At least not an adult male who has been around the world like Dennis. This far he has comfortably the worst favorite restaurant of an nba player. Lebrons isn’t a bad restaurant…it just isn’t amazing.

i’ve got pictures of that as well, but I’m sure you’ve seen a big ass salad, a charcuterie board, and regular ass Italian food before. Portions were generous. But I won’t be going back. That said I’m not sure I’ve ever had Italian that was mind blowing so maybe it’s a me problem.

[tpols]

You have to go to NY or north Jersey local spot to get good italian food. It won't even be that expensive.

[Kblaze8855]

I believe it. I eat a lot of “fancy” meals because best of lists tend to point me that way but I’m just as happy at a food truck in an abandoned Atlanta parking lot or eating pit beef in a strip club parking lot in Baltimore or a hole in the wall Ramen spot in Dallas. These were the entrees we had in the spot Lebron reps







https://www.hostpic.org/images/2409032218000333.jpeg






https://www.hostpic.org/images/2409032220530339.jpeg



That shit went into boxes and barely got nibbled. We weren’t starving to begin with and the apps and salads were huge but a great entree draws you in. They didn’t.

Maybe I just ordered poorly but it was among the worse dinners I had that particular run in Miami. Maybe I should go back and get the porterhouse Lebron recommend but I rarely get steak at Italian places.

[Kblaze8855]

https://i.ibb.co/QQ1dvwx/IMG-9843.jpg

[Kblaze8855]

Heat player favorite places in Miami. I’ve been to 3 of them. Komodo was a valentines dinner once and as a special occasion place it left a lot to be desired. It is absolutely beautiful inside…but the open roof that gives you a view from the top floor means you hear all the traffic outside. So the whole dinner was car horns and police sirens. Food was ok not great. The best Asian meal I’ve ever had was actually in Hakkasan Miami inside the same hotel Club Liv is in. Wasn’t fancy for the sake of fancy. Just really ****ing good.


https://i.ibb.co/Y2SdFg6/IMG-3024.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/C0g43gz/IMG-3022.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YZ3qqDv/IMG-3023.jpg

[Kblaze8855]

Bams place Ikrave was a favorite of a friend of mine who went down there with me. All I have is a chicken and waffle we got for breakfast


https://i.ibb.co/VwQ63m6/IMG-9847.jpg

Nothing special to me but whatever he got has him talking about it years later. It literally came up last night talking about Jamaican and Haitian food. He’s determined to get back to Ikrave

[Kblaze8855]

Spo listing Papa John’s is….something. It’s fine. I had papa John’s a couple days ago in fact. But that feels weird. I bet he was slaughtering large meat lovers working late when he was a video scout. Hanging out with Riley and Wade I’m sure he knows his way around Miami fine dining. Some people just love the basics though. Only pizza of note in all my travels was a 5-6 kind of mushroom pizza called “The Fungi” in some Italian place on the riverwalk in San Antonio.

I don’t tend to have much pizza when I’m out and about but it was a last minute “Tired of walking” stop that paid off.

One thing Barkley is right about…there is little in San Antonio but the riverwalk…but the riverwalk is nice.

[tpols]

Yea I wouldnt trust lebron on Italian food being raised in Cleveland. :roll:

Was that an egg on top of some rigatoni? And is that brown stuff mushrooms?

:biggums:

That looks diabolical.

[Kblaze8855]

I believe it was chicken Marsala so yes it would be mushrooms. And like I said it wasn’t….bad. And I’m not one to bitch about the cost of food. If I wanted to be cheap I’d go to checkers. But I also expect a 250-300 dollar meal to have something to talk about going back for.

Going down this rabbit hole of player favorites one thing does stand out. These are teenagers and young adults who just got rich and a lot of them will probably have their tastes develop a lot. Harden eats the **** outta Chipotle


https://i.ibb.co/pbS5RhF/IMG-9848.jpg

I know he could find better Mexican style food in Houston and growing up in I think Arizona. But when you’re young and the type to be doing shit like this….


https://i.ibb.co/WF37T3z/IMG-9849.jpg



I can’t expect a very refined palate.


i’m sure I was eating almost exclusively chain restaurants, and bullshit when I was 22.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Bams place Ikrave was a favorite of a friend of mine who went down there with me. All I have is a chicken and waffle we got for breakfast


https://i.ibb.co/VwQ63m6/IMG-9847.jpg

Nothing special to me but whatever he got has him talking about it years later. It literally came up last night talking about Jamaican and Haitian food. He’s determined to get back to Ikrave

Hopefully I don't sound too bigoted but **** Haitian food. They just put way too much pepper on everything and think that's great cooking. Spice is good but everything shouldn't be the ****ing nuclear wings you order wheen you're in your twenties trying to impress your equally stupid friends.

[tpols]

That's insane for that chicken marsala dish to be 300 dollars. They didn't even cook the chicken in the brown gravy sauce. Just lumped it on top of some mushrooms. These places are tourist traps who know these young millionaire athletes don't know quality food and basically use predatory pricing on them. Plus I assume it's about the atmosphere and flexing with a lot of those high end places. Reminds me of the scene in American Pyscho.


https://youtu.be/63eZ4xvsPA8?si=QSBHWkZkZ8jP4bnX

[Kblaze8855]

Oh hell no I meant the whole meal. Though you have me wondering what made it even that much. I have pictures of it all and it was just what I showed, an antipasto platter, a shared Caesar salad and some bread.

[Kblaze8855]

Hopefully I don't sound too bigoted but **** Haitian food. They just put way too much pepper on everything and think that's great cooking. Spice is good but everything shouldn't be the ****ing nuclear wings you order wheen you're in your twenties trying to impress your equally stupid friends.


Over reliance on scotch bonnet peppers I assume. Like south Asians and the native chili peppers they abuse. I can’t say I’ve had enough to notice it being a theme. I’m rarely in Haitian areas.

[Kblaze8855]

The Luka and Dirk meals I mentioned earlier in here. Shitty pic I took trying not to look like I was taking it.



https://i.ibb.co/M9YV4W7/IMG-9850.jpg


Not sure which I’ll get. They say market price, but the waiter tells you. The owners let them choose their own prices and Dirk made it damn near cost so people could afford it (it’s still like 241 I think. 200 plus his jersey). Luka’s meal is damn near 400.

I wasn’t gonna get one but I likely will just for the largely useless content

[tpols]

A 77oz steak being called the Luka is making me realize how he got so fat. That's some my 600lb life TLC shit.

[Charlie Sheen]

I know he could find better Mexican style food in Houston and growing up in I think Arizona.

Maybe he does not like Mexican food?

Grilled protein, rice and beans is no more Mexican than orange chicken is Chinese. The appeal of these American chains is their consistency. Chipotle does what it does well. The only knock I have against it is portions are way too large for me as I have grown older.

Authentic Mexican food recommendation is going to have wild swings in variance because those are tailored to a single person's ideal.

[Kblaze8855]

I didn’t mean as far as authenticity. I’ve never cared much for what’s authentic myself. Only what’s good. And chipotle is very good at times. Not the best of its variety, but it’s fine. And it is what an athlete would eat. Half of them seem to eat nothing but broccoli meat and rice. But I have absolutely had grilled meat, rice, and beans in real Mexican places. Of course, if you want something you can get everywhere that obviously limits you to chains.

[Kblaze8855]

A 77oz steak being called the Luka is making me realize how he got so fat. That's some my 600lb life TLC shit.

i’m actually wondering what would be more unhealthy. Eating almost 5 pounds of steak with very little else…. Or drinking 2 two liter Fantas in one night. I’ve never seen someone eat that much meat but I’ve known people who like…drank exclusively Dr Pepper or Mr Dew. If I had to do one or the other at this point in life? I might try to tackle the steak.

Im at a point I get inflammation all over my body when I eat a lot of sugar. I don’t think too much steak would do anything to me other than make me incredibly full.

[tpols]

Doing some math, a double quarter pounder w/ cheese is 8oz of meat. And would leave any of us stuffed. The fact that Lukas meal is 10x that is crazy. I doubt that anybody here would be able to finish it. The soda I could get down and maybe go into a diabetic coma afterwards. Ive drank a case of beer in a day and that's far more liquid and carbs. I wouldn't be able to digest that much meat though.

[Charlie Sheen]

But I have absolutely had grilled meat, rice, and beans in real Mexican places.

You are right. I misspoke because I just heard some guy on the bus talk down to his friend for eating chipotle as if it were a crime against his people. :lol

I stayed out of their conversation but the residual frustration landed on you. I apologize for that. :cheers:


I didn’t mean as far as authenticity. I’ve never cared much for what’s authentic myself.

I'm with you on this.

I have had a lot more bad than good experiences with Mexican joints someone endorsed as the best ever. One example... If I am at someone's home eating dinner and they serve me with a big hunk of fat in the meat, I am going to eat it. However that is not the taste I am looking for anymore when I go out to eat.

[BarberSchool]

I wonder if Luka stays late after games just maxing out at the free buffet ?

[BarberSchool]

The Luka and Dirk meals I mentioned earlier in here. Shitty pic I took trying not to look like I was taking it.



https://i.ibb.co/M9YV4W7/IMG-9850.jpg


Not sure which I’ll get. They say market price, but the waiter tells you. The owners let them choose their own prices and Dirk made it damn near cost so people could afford it (it’s still like 241 I think. 200 plus his jersey). Luka’s meal is damn near 400.

I wasn’t gonna get one but I likely will just for the largely useless contentIf I ever visit Dallas again, no question I’m getting both on separate nights.

[Kblaze8855]

Now that I see a pic the Luka wouldn’t be bad for the table.


https://www.hostpic.org/images/2409120207530339.jpeg

[bison]

I feel like as an owner I’d be petty about something like that and wanna abolish it…..

So kblaze has no problem with teams giving a $100mil a year to scrubs but draws the line at giving players hundred bucks to eat/gamble :oldlol:

[Kblaze8855]

Salaries are just percentage of revenue and NBA teams have small rosters so there is nothing you can do to avoid giant contracts. Math doesn’t bother me. With the percentage of revenue players get you now have to break up $75 billion a year and there are only 150 starters and may be 100 players people call good. Theyre all gonna be incredibly well paid. No avoiding that.

But paying a guy $72 million a year, providing him with a buffet and unlimited snacks and drinks and supplements….

Then 130 bucks a day for food?

Just a little…off putting.

Id be happy paying the same money but make it only go to players yet to sign an extension of any kind and just increase the little peoples salary with the savings. Let the video scout make an extra 30K or whatever a year. Spread the love.

[Kblaze8855]

Watching the NFL last Sunday, I saw that someone tracked it and found that the Denver Broncos eat 700 uncrustables every game day. I ended up down a pretty ridiculous rabbit hole and it appears the entire sports World is fueled by peanut butter and jelly.

[Kblaze8855]

This is going to be considerably more information about the subject than you need or desire…but you know I’m weird about such things. I find a rabbit hole. I must explore it and I’m bringing you as far down as you will go. I expect most of you to head for fresh air pretty quick But this is for the sickos




The legend has been passed down by NBA generations, chronicled like a Homeric odyssey. The tale they tell is of Kevin Garnett and the 2007-08 Celtics, and the seminal moment of a revolution. Bryan Doo, Celtics strength and conditioning coach, recalls it as if it were yesterday, how before a game in December of that season, an unnamed Celtic -- his identity lost to history, like the other horsemen on Paul Revere's midnight ride -- complained to Doo of incipient hunger pangs.
"Man, I could go for a PB&J," the player said.
And then Garnett, in an act with historical reverberations, uttered the now-fabled words: "Yeah, let's get on that."


Garnett had not, to that point, made the PB&J a part of his pregame routine. But on that night in Boston, as Doo recalls, Garnett partook, then played ... and played well. Afterward, from his perch as the Celtics' fiery leader, Garnett issued the following commandment: "We're going to need PB&J in here every game now."
And so a sandwich revolution was born.


At the time, Doo notes, the Celtics not only didn't provide lavish pregame spreads, they didn't offer much food at all. But he soon found himself slapping together 20 PB&J's about three hours before every tip-off, the finished products placed in bags and labeled with Sharpie in a secret code: "S" for strawberry, "G" for grape, "C" for crunchy. Of vital import: Garnett was an "S" man, and woe unto he who did not deliver him two S's before every game. "If Kevin didn't get his routine down, he'd be pissed," Doo says.

"Even if he didn't eat them, he needed them to be there."
From Doo's perspective, PB&J's were a far better option than players seeking out, say, greasy junk food from arena concessions. "It was a win-win for everybody," he says. But as the Garnett-Paul Pierce-Ray Allen Celtics steamrolled to a 66-win season and an NBA title, the secret to their success, so cleverly disguised between two pieces of white bread, was eventually leaked. "Boston was doing it at a mass-produced level earlier on than I noticed other people doing it, for sure," says Tim DiFrancesco, the Lakers' strength and conditioning coach since 2011. "They were really on the forefront of this revolution."

In time, as visiting teams swung through Boston, opposing players caught wind that a new day had dawned. DiFrancesco recalls hearing from his troops during a visit: "Wait a minute, there's PB&J's in the Celtics' locker room? Can we get some?" Doo's colleagues around the league were less effusive. "B-Doo, I can't believe you did this for the guys," one told him. "Now you got me making them."
There was no putting the jelly back in the jar. Over the course of the following seasons, as that Celtics championship run ran its course, the pieces of that team would be spread far and wide: Pierce and Garnett migrating the PB&J down I-95 to Brooklyn; Glen "Big Baby" Davis converting the Orlando Magic; Tony Allen spreading the bug to Memphis; coach Doc Rivers bringing it across the country to the Clippers.
And nothing would ever be the same.

[Kblaze8855]

THE TRAIL BLAZERS offer 20 crustless, halved PB&J's pregame -- 10 of them toasted, a mandate ever since an opposing arena prepared them as such and Blazers guard Damian Lillard approved. They're composed of organic fixings, save for white bread, which Portland's assistant performance coach Ben Kenyon notes is a high-glycemic carb that easily digests to provide a quick energy jolt. Typically, all 20 vanish well before tip-off; sometimes the Blazers double their order.


The Rockets make sure the PB&J is available in their kitchen at all times, in all varieties -- white and wheat bread, toasted, untoasted, Smucker's strawberry and grape, Jif creamy and chunky -- and offer 12 to 15 sandwiches pregame, with PB&J reinforcements provided at halftime and on postgame flights.


The secretive Spurs, it has been confirmed, indulge in their own pregame PB&J's. The Clippers, at home and on the road, go through two loaves of bread, almond and peanut butters, and assorted jellies from Whole Foods. The Pelicans offer PB&J everywhere: hotel rooms, flights, locker rooms. The Wizards had some "minor uprisings" from players, one source says, when management tried to upgrade team PB&J's with organic peanut butter on whole grain bread -- but peace was restored when each side compromised to include all options.


The Bucks might boast the NBA's most elaborate PB&J operation: a pregame buffet featuring smooth, crunchy and almond butters, an assortment of jellies (raspberry, strawberry, grape, blueberry, apricot), three breads from a local bakery (white, wheat and gluten-free) and Nutella. The team scarfs 20 to 30 PB&J's per game and travels with the ingredients, which rookies prepare on the plane and in visiting locker rooms. They've even offered their players PB&J-flavored oatmeal, PB&J recovery shakes, PB&J waffles and PB&J pancakes. Bucks team chef/dietitian Shawn Zell won't rule out one day making a PB&J burger.



It's a tale of two diets in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, where the Cavs, courtesy of a partnership with fellow Ohio-based outfit Smucker's, foist about a dozen of the company's prepackaged Uncrustables PB&J's on opposing teams every game night. (Both the Lakers' and Celtics' strength and conditioning coaches tell their players to avoid those processed, once-frozen snacks.) But the Cavs fare far better with their fare, serving themselves 20 artisanal PB&J's prior to tip-off, with homemade grape and raspberry jelly, as well as almond butter-and-banana and peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches -- the power of the PB&J being wielded as a form of asymmetric nutritional warfare.



No matter how you slice it, it's hard to swallow: The NBA is covered in experts, obsessed with peak performance -- and still this pillar of grade-school cafeteria lunches is the staple snack of the league. An exorbitantly wealthy microclique, backed by an army of personal chefs, swears by a sandwich whose standard ingredients boast a street value of roughly 69 cents.

[Kblaze8855]

Theres a truly ridiculous number of peanut butter and jelly related NBA stories, but I’ll just give you this one from 2015. The Warriors got a new nutritionist and health nut in the building who decided they weren’t eating more sugar….


Penfold arrived in the Bay Area with a simple vision: less sugar, healthier food. The Warriors, in turn, had willingly parted with candy, cookies and soda. But now, on this charter flight, they found nary a PB&J. Concerned glances were exchanged. "Just the fact that it wasn't there shook me a little bit," Stephen Curry told ESPN at the time. Clearly, Penfold had made a mistake, yes? No. "Sorry, mate," Penfold explained then. "We're not doing sugar." History records this sinister act as the first shot fired in the Great PB&J War of 2015.

Walton, at the time the interim coach for an injured Steve Kerr, decided to lead the revolt. Perhaps in an effort to ingratiate himself with his new charges, whenever Walton was asked by flight attendants in the coming weeks, "Coach, what can we get you?" he'd reply, without fail, in a voice loud enough that Penfold and his players could all hear, "Peanut butter and jelly!" Walton would be duly informed that no such option was available. But his message was clear. This would not stand. Said Penfold at the time: "I haven't heard [complaining] like that since my youngest daughter was about 3 years of age."


As the Warriors' PB&J ban persisted, Walton upped the stakes: He began telling flight attendants he wanted PB&J ... or nothing. Then on Dec. 11, after the Warriors beat the Celtics in double overtime to improve to an NBA-record 24-0, players again asked for PB&J for the flight to Milwaukee on the second night of a back-to-back. Again, Penfold said no. "Who needs peanut butter and jelly when you've got Vegemite?" Penfold joked at the time, referencing a famously distasteful Australian food spread. The following night, the Warriors lost to the Bucks. "I have to believe we lost a game because of it," Warriors GM Bob Myers said then, tongue firmly in cheek -- perhaps stuck to the roof of his mouth. "I think you can trace it to the peanut butter."


Finally, Walton called in the heavy artillery: Curry, the MVP guard. The sharpshooter had become a PB&J devotee during the 2014-15 season, when, during one halftime, Curry complained of hunger and the team's strength and conditioning coach whipped one up. From then on, Curry's PB&J (for the record: Smucker's strawberry, Skippy creamy) became his go-to pregame meal. "If you look at Steph's warm-up, some of it is sensical, some of it doesn't make sense," Myers said. "But if peanut butter and jelly are part of our routine, to take that away from him, it was actually an irresponsible thing to do from the outset." It was time for Walton to fire back: He explained to Curry that if the guard entered the fray, they'd win this war. "Once Steph got on board," Walton says, "we got them back pretty quickly after that."


Penfold relented: "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich every now and again wouldn't kill them. I wouldn't eat it, but you know, whatever turns you on, you know?"
"Catastrophe avoided," Myers said.
Today, Penfold is no longer employed by the Warriors.

[Kblaze8855]

Fighting that sandwich is costing nutritional experts their jobs. There are stories of Kristaps Porziņģis becoming addicted when he first had one. Apparently, they didn’t have them where he was from. Branden Ingram is pretty obsessive about it.

I haven’t had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and what must be 15 years, but apparently they are fueling the entire NBA and NFL. 700 uncrustables a week for the Broncos. 700.

Athletes must be a loadbearing wall of the Smuckers empire.

I do have random nice jams and jellies, but I keep them for douche bag purposes like charcuterie boards. I don’t think I’ve had peanut butter In months. I grind some fresh at organic stores now and then when they have honey roasted peanuts available to do it. But it never occurs to me to make a sandwich.

I don’t think I work out hard enough at the gym to bother with a specific pre workout meal. I’ve become the old guy who just warms up then hops on the weights. I’m not breathing hard in there.

I don’t even bother with creatine anymore. Not about to make a ****ing sandwich.

[tpols]

Peanut butter and jelly are GOAT sandwiches. Shout out to George Washington Carver. When I was in rehab / jail they used to give us a PBJ at 10 o clock every night. I would ask for a small cup of peanut butter at dinner in the cafeteria and smuggle it to my quarters for later to make my sandwich extra thick because they did skimp on the peanut butter.

[Kblaze8855]

I feel like if we’re gonna make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich the ingredient Id want to be skimped on would be the peanut butter. Though I have been somewhat anti-sugar the last couple years and have noticed things I used to love tasting too sweet now.

I may actually make one today if I get to fresh market. I’m not about to eat pre ground peanut butter from a jar like a savage. I must select and grind my own.

Unless I come across some Reese’s peanut butter. I’ve seen it many times but as I said…I never buy peanut butter. It may be worthy to buy pre made. I do love a Reese’s cup, but I also feel like it’s a little more chalky than I would want it to be in a jar. I’m guessing they address that.

It looking like my day is going to involve a peanut butter search now.

I’ve never even seen an uncrustable outside of the box in the store. Apparently they are being eaten by the millions, just not by the kind of people I’m around. And I am around the fair number of kids for the record.

[tpols]

The PBJ hierarchy goes:

Peanut butter
Bread
Jelly

For me. Nobody would ever eat a jelly sandwich. The peanut butter is crucial.

[Kblaze8855]

I wouldnt set out to eat a jelly sandwich, but the idea doesn’t seem offputting. A peanut butter sandwich with no jelly feels weird to me. I feel like I would have to have it with a big glass of milk to clear the residue and I’m not just gonna sit down and drink a glass of milk. I’ll sit down and drink a glass happy cow strawberry milk, I suppose. It’s a local dairy a few miles from me that has these giant lush fields of grass and the cows walking around and it’s their whole gimmick. They make some pretty ridiculous flavored milks.

Ok. I’m committed. Let me go get some ****ing peanut butter….

Maybe jelly as well. My jam and jelly don’t feel right for this. My favorite jam right now has raspberry and bacon in it and I use it To glaze ribs and such. I don’t just eat it. I think I also have a mango pineapple thing in there. I might have some kind of 4 berry thing from Costco. I’ll have to investigate, but I think classic strawberry is best for this.

Ill see if the sports world is onto something and plan some physical activity for after said sandwich.

[Hey Yo]

The PBJ hierarchy goes:

Peanut butter
Bread
Jelly

For me. Nobody would ever eat a jelly sandwich. The peanut butter is crucial.

*crunchy PB

[Kblaze8855]

Looks like I missed my shot trying the Luka. No chance they leave it on the menu right?

I ended up going to Philly instead of Texas last time I was going to get away. But I was choosing between Tampa and Dallas for next time because we always have a nice dinner on Valentines somewhere and Bern’s in Tampa doesn’t have any reservations. Nick and Sam’s is her second choice.

That shit might be the Finley when I go back in there.

[eliteballer]

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/presents18931717/the-nba-secret-addiction