Happy Friday! ::::Weekend warriors unite::::
Basketball is in full swing, as aforementioned… you can’t call yourself a Basketball Official sans an involuntary or voluntary leave of absence.; Otherwise, you’re working this weekend. Baseball and Lacrosse starts to creep into the mind, as rule books and association emails are being distributed, while Flag Football is still in full swing with a mild winter on Long Island, NY.
Here @RefereeRant, we will be posting a new pound sign project, humbly entitled #REFONTHEROAD , for the other major aspect of reffing – DOWNTIME. We’ll cover those gaps you have between games, when you’re on the road en-route, or finally headed in your car ready to relax, whether it be in-between or the end. These are, what we’ve come to find, bare essentials – precious possessions that make those gaps that much more bearable. If we aren’t getting paid for the sixty-minute-sabbatical, might as well make the most of it.
“It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.” Benjamin Franklin
#REFONTHEROAD ESSENTIAL 1 – WENDY’S CHILI + DOUBLE WALLED FOOD JAR
The weekend is here: that means multiple games are on your calendar, ready to get strike through’d. The very thought of banging out 6 consecutive game$ $ound very appealing…. until about an hour before. An hour before that hour, I start creating a work of art; moreover, an elixir, that has cured the common complexity of not being able to get food during back-to-back-to-back-to-back games. You don’t want to eat a protein shake, a bar (Those are essential, too). YOU. WANT. REAL. FOOD.
There’s this silent secret that is Wendy’s Chili. It’s really nasty – until it’s not. Enter the first Referee Rant food hack.
//::BACK TO THE FUTURE:://
I have this distinct memory of never wanting to touch it. It was junior year in high school, and we always had practice, as a basketball team, at 7pm. The interim from the final bell all the way to the beginning of basketball practice was unbearable. Half the team, including myself, would frequent Wendy’s, as it was round the block from school. The thing to get was the not-as-good-as-McNuggets nuggets and the that’ll do fries for $1.99 We always made fun of Wesley though, as Wes would always enjoy that soupy, blood-thinned chili. I don’t know why. I always thought of a thicker texture with deep taste. Wendy’s Chili tastes nothing of the sort.
“There is no sincere love than the love of food.” – George Bernard Shaw
//NOT ENOUGH ROAD === TO GET BACK ===TO 2005//
At 24, going out was so so savage, and hungover nights ensued. It was one of those days where I was rummaging through the refrigerator for Gatorade, when I found Wendy’s Chili? My cousin Ron told me it would be disgusting. For it was in the fridge for a few days. But in the midst of throwing it out, I noticed it wasn’t like that soupy sh*t Wes liked – it was face in the form of jello, as I turned the red container on its head. I THOUGHT:
If I stirred this in a pot, I might kill it with a skillet.
I figured it out; Wendy’s Chili is like wine – it gets better, with time.
And in this wine, or aged Wendy’s Chili that was chilling the same time as ground shipping , the once soupy muck, morphed into silky smooth textures that were like the relevant real deal Holyfield chili that somebody’s grandma other than mine made. It needed to marinate. The best part of it is that you not only had the bmx bike – you can add the mags, the pegs, and the gyro to the handlebars. Croutons, cheese, and hot sauce. Oh. My.
I always wished that you could take that chili like a genie and bottle it up. When it’s 1pm, and you have 6 more games, no stop at Chipotle is in sight. It makes me feel like this whole episode of Looney Tunes:
//SCARED OF THE FUTURE WHILE I HOP IN THE DOLOREAN
Enter, DOUBLE WALLED FOOD JAR. Think Swell (that’s next Friday, I didn’t think y’all were thirsty yet) Thermos is a trusted brand. I can speak of the quality, as I have an heirloom of a cooler is as sturdy and useful as it was 30 years ago. Simply put, you can use this as storage for hot food, and you can count on it to still be hot hours later – a good 4-6 hours.
Game at 1pm? No problem – 11am, you can catch me in the kitchen, letting that Wendy’s simmering, ready to be transferred into the Thermos Food Jar. Now after your 2pm game that ends at 3pm, but your next game is at 4pm, the complexion of the day done changed.
To all my weekend warriors! Blow the Whistle!
Until Monday.
