Green Bay Packers fans will have new concessions choices when they visit Lambeau Field this season.
The team's concessionaire unveiled a hot doughnut ice cream sandwich Thursday and a 22-inch-long kielbasa called the "Horse Collar."
“He plays the game like his hair is on fire. Now that he knows what he’s doing, he can still play with his hair on fire and actually be in the right positions to make plays.”
— Arkansas linebacker Braylon Mitchell, on teammate Martrell Spaight
"There's definitely a foodie trend going on," Heath Barbato, executive chef for Delaware North, told ESPN.com's Darren Rovell. "People are watching the Food Network and the creative throwdowns. Some fans are good with a standard brat and a beer, but many want something different."
The "Horse Collar" is shaped like a horseshoe and fits on a roll made at Lambeau Field, then drenched in beer cheese and fried sauerkraut. Barbato said it's made for two people and will sell for $20.
"If you can tackle this one alone, you're a champ," Barbato said.
Barbato thought the idea of a doughnut ice cream sandwich would be intriguing, but he said it would only work if the doughnut remained warm and the ice cream remained cold. That issue was resolved by a company called PreGel, which makes a panini press of sorts that can do just that.
Barbato also looked at teams putting their own local spin on nachos and came up with "Bratchos," which is a cup filled with pieces of bratwurst, cheese and fried chips that will be sold for $12.
"It's basically Wisconsin in a bucket," Barbato said.
High praise?
Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated wrote a cover story recently on Kobe Bryant, which is full of stories about the Los Angeles Lakers guard.
In one of the best, the director of Bryant's upcoming Showtime documentary, Gotham Chopra, asked some of Bryant's teammates to describe Bryant in three words.
The best answer came from fellow guard Steve Nash.
"After each interview Kobe would text Chopra, eager to hear what people said," Ballard wrote. "Most answered with some variation of 'the ultimate competitor' or 'killer instinct.'
"But when Chopra asked Steve Nash, he said something different. After thinking for a moment, Nash answered, slowly, in three beats: 'Mother ... f*** ... a***.'
"Kobe thought this was awesome."
Pay to play
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, the NFL has made an unusual request of the musical acts that have been selected as finalists to perform during halftime at the Super Bowl.
The league is reportedly asking the artists to pay money in order to perform.
"The NFL has narrowed down the list of potential performers ... to three candidates: Rihanna, Katy Perry and Coldplay," Hannah Karp wrote for the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. "While notifying the artists' camps of their candidacy, league representatives also asked at least some of the acts if they would be willing to contribute a portion of their post-Super Bowl tour income to the league, or if they would make some other type of financial contribution, in exchange for the halftime gig."
The NFL typically covers the halftime performers' travel and production expenses, which can run well into the millions according to Karp, but Tom Ley of Deadspin.com didn't like the idea of paying to perform.
"There's a lot going on here, but I think the fact it looks like only 'some' of the acts were asked to fork over cash is worth noting," Ley wrote. "There is a 99 percent chance that the NFL was too chicken**** to ask Rihanna for a cut."
Sports quiz
How many times has Kobe Bryant been named an NBA All-Star?
Answer
Bryant has been named an All-Star 16 times (1998, 2000-2014) and has been the All-Star MVP four times (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011).
Sports on 08/24/2014