The Washington Nationals are paying Adam LaRoche $10 million this year, and what are they getting in return?

Thirty runs, 52 hits, and about 400 pounds of beef -- every month.

In an outstanding profile in the Washington Times, Nathan Fenno writes that Nationals team chef Faisal Sultani gets a huge assist every month from LaRoche.

The 33-year-old infielder owns a ranch in southeast Kansas, and every two months he has 800 pounds of hormone-and-antibiotic-free Black Angus beef (roughly two cows) sent to Sultani.

The beef is especially helpful on days when Sultani makes beef stroganoff. In order to feed 50 professional baseball players and coaches, Sultani needs about 100 pounds of beef.

It's not clear whether LaRoche gives the Nationals a discount on the beef, although with that salary, he certainly could afford to.

Sultani has visisted the ranch. LaRoche brought him there to cook for five weeks before spring training.

"Nothing against my wife," LaRoche told the Times, "but she doesn't compare to a professional chef’s cooking."

(H/T to For The Win)

Full Story >>

We know just how superstitious baseball players can be. So perhaps it's not entirely surprising when they rally around an inanimate object. A hat, for example. Or a plantain. Or a piece of lingerie. Well, you get the idea.

But the latest bizarre object to serve as a good luck charm is one of the weirdest.

The Kansas City Royals have attributed their recent six-game winning streak to, you guessed it, a lucky brand of barbecue sauce. And this isn't just any condiment. This is Billy Butler's special Hit It A Ton barbecue sauce, which benefits Butler's eponymous charity. The sauce was released in April, but ever since the Royals received a shipment of bottles to their dugout, they've been unbeatable.

Coincidence? Probably. But don't tell that to Kansas City pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, who has been one of the main proponents of the sauce.


Naturally, the Royals have embraced the hashtag #RallySauce, and it probably hasn't hurt the condiment's sales. But with the proceeds from Hit It A Ton going to charity, it's hard to not embrace the movement.

Related Story: Healthy BBQ Tips For Your Summer Cookouts

Full Story >>

Roy Hibbert struggled against the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, but he did dominate one thing.

During a break in the action late in the third quarter, the cameras caught Hibbert downing a 20 ounce bottle of Gatorade. And when we say "downing," we mean absolutely dominating. He took that thing down in about six seconds:

Naturally, some impressed writers over at For The Win wanted to see if they could match Hibbert's feat. While they each put in valiant efforts, none of them came even close.

In expressing his disappointment, USA Today's Michael Katz caught the eye of the big man himself.


Hibbert loved the idea of a competition, and he said he would buy a Gatorade so he could repeat the feat. He even issued challenges to Pistons center Andre Drummond, Celtics forward Jeff Green and stand-up comic Chelsea Peretti.




Lots of people have tried to pull off the chug, but few have succeeded. Here's a clip of one of the more impressive performances:


Related Story: Kobayashi And The 42 Cups Of Coffee

Full Story >>

As schools wind down and summer break begins for children across the country, many parents will be looking for fun, productive and cheap ways to fill their kids' time.

Throw in the words "ice cream," and many children will be interested at a moment's notice.

After a particularly delicious ice-cream outing with his young son, J.M. Hirsch of the Associated Press was inspired to think up a simple and tasteful ice cream recipe. What he came up with is both inexpensive and brilliant: Doctored ice cream. This involves buying a pint from the store, softening it and adding mix-ins.

"The beauty of this approach," Hirsch writes, "is that it lets you focus on the fun part. You also can turn it into a fun family activity in which everyone makes a flavor, then everyone can share and compare."

For Rice Krispies Treat Ice Cream, all one needs are one pint of vanilla ice cream, 1/2 cup of Marshmallow Fluff and three Rice Krispies treats. After softening the ice cream (either by leaving it out at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes or by putting it in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds), Hirsch suggests scooping the pint into a bowl. Mix the Marshmallow Fluff with the ice cream, then cut the Rice Krispies treats into small chunks and mix those with the ice cream.

After all the mixing is done, move the Rice Krispies concoction to a quart-sized storage container. Put plastic wrap on the surface and place in the freezer until it becomes firm (about one hour).

For two more quick and delicious recipes from Hirsch, see here.

Full Story >>

No matter what happens to Jack Sock during the rest of the French Open, the young American has already won.

That's because Sock, who has been hailed by many as the next American male tennis star, has spurned fine French cuisine for fast food. That's right. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Sock admitted to eating at Chipotle "six or seven nights" during the 10 nights he's been in Paris. Making Sock's feat all the more impressive is that there is only one Chipotle in the entire city of Paris.

Bravo, Sock.


Amazingly, this isn't some kind of record for Sock, a 20-year-old native of Nebraska. A few years ago the fast food chain became good luck for the youngster, and so he went there for dinner 18 nights in a row. Seriously. It seems Sock is still getting good vibes from the burritos, as he pulled off an impressive straight-sets victory in his first match this week.

At this rate, Sock will join Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper in Chipotle's secretive, free burrito society in no time.

Full Story >>

From his upcoming cameo in the Grown Ups sequel to his skills as a broadcaster displayed during the TNT NBA halftime show, Shaq is one of those players who never managed to settle quietly into retirement. Now to add to his list, he's launching his own soda line.

Shaq signed a deal with Arizona Iced Tea to put his own cans in stores beginning in June. On Tuesday, he tweeted out a picture of the cans -- which we can say, we'll be thrilled to see everywhere.


Perhaps in keeping with Shaq's personality, the soda flavors are not exactly the standard selections with Blueberry Cream, Strawberry Cream, Orange Cream and Vanilla Cream. Shaq will receive "a small percentage of wholesale sales," according to Fortune magazine. It also reported that Arizona's initial release will be 50 million cans of Shaq Soda.

Full Story >>

The Yankees are facing some scrutiny after local website DNAinfo.com found that they are mislabeling domestic beer Goose Island as an "import." And according to the article, it's the second time this season they've committed such a sudsy sin in their stadium.

Goose Island began as a Chicago-based brewery and is now in the Anheuser-Busch family. It has never been brewed outside the U.S. A spokesperson for Legends' Hospitality, which operates the stadium's concessions, told DNAinfo they were in the process of switching out the signs on the carts that were mislabeled. He said an Anheuser-Busch import had been expected but Goose Island arrived instead.

On the import cart sign, Goose Island shares billing three other Anheuser-Busch products: Beck's, originally from Germany but now brewed in the U.S, and Stella Artois and Hoegaarden, both from Belgium.

“It’s a situation where, quite literally, the cart came before the horse,” the spokesman told the website.

But for a stadium that was already caught with its pants down on another beer snafu last month, when it mislabeled non-craft beers as craft beers, it seems like an embarrassing one to make again.



Full Story >>

The former Rutgers assistant basketball coach whose videotaped compilation of practices started an investigation and eventual firing of head coach Mike Rice seems to have found a new calling: A restaurant.

Eric Murdock told USA Today that he and a business partner plan on opening Stapleton's Restaurant & Lounge in time for Memorial Day.

"It's something that's a great transition for me from playing and coaching to the rest of my life," he told the newspaper. "This is something I'll be hands-on with. I'll be here meeting and greeting people."

The restaurant is located in a strip mall in Raritan, N.J., which is about a half hour drive from the Rutgers campus. Murdock said it is named after his high school coach, Vaughn Stapleton and will reportedly specialize in seafood.

Full Story >>

Normally, Kobe Bryant is busy at this time of the year.

Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers have made it to the second round of the NBA playoffs in five of the past six years. But this season Bryant suffered a season-ending Achilles injury and his Lakers got swept in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs. So Bryant has a lot more time on his hands, and that's not such a bad thing.

Bryant's wife Vanessa's birthday is May 5, and while Kobe would usually be too busy to have an elaborate celebration, he made sure to do it big this year.

Bryant flew in Fabrizio de Togni, the head chef at Vanessa's favorite restaurant in Milan, to cook for the family. Bryant, of course, spent some of his childhood in Italy and is fluent in Italian.

"He's a friend," Bryant wrote of de Togni, "and agreed to fly in for Vanessa's bday dinner and prepare her fav dishes."

By the looks of it, the dinner included eggplant parmesan and penne arrabbiata.

While it's hard to believe that all the restaurants in Los Angeles weren't good enough for the Bryants, when you make $30 million a year, you can do things like this. Plus, one look at Paper Moon's mouth-watering menu and it's not hard to see why this is the Bryants' restaurant of choice.

Make It Yourself: Beer-Infused Pizza

Full Story >>

Suffice it to say none of the Cincinnati Reds will ever go hungry during one of the team's charter flights.

Dallas Latos, the wife of Cincinnati pitcher Mat Latos, tweeted the team's menu for the flight from Chicago to Cincinnati over the weekend. And it is something else. It includes pre-departure snacks, dinner, snacks and beverages. All for a roughly one hour flight.

Here's a recap:

Pre-Departure Snacks: Individual personal pizzas, California sushi rolls, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, assorted chips, shrimp cocktail, fresh fruit cups.
Dinner selections: Carrot cake, Fried shrimp with macaroni and cheese and sauteed haricot verts, chicken stir fry with jasmine rice and stir fried vegetables, baked lasagna, bleu cheese and spinach entree salad with a grilled beef fillet on top of a salad, angus beef burgers
Snacks: Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars, caramel popcorn, fresh fruit and cheese, assorted candy bars, mixed nuts.


If this is the menu for a trip from Chicago to Cincinnati, you've got to wonder: What's the menu for the Reds' flight to San Diego?

(H/T to For The Win)

Full Story >>

Syndicate content