Man, it has been a long week. I need to go out and grab some food and give my George Foreman grill a break. I just have this sudden hankering for chicken wings. That would really hit the spot right now.
You know what makes good chicken wings? Nine-year NBA pros from Kansas who are in the second year of a five-year, $32 million deal and averaging 11.9 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game for his career. That is who.
And if you are like me and live in Orlando, Drew Gooden’s poultry magnificence is coming to a fast food restaurant near you.
OK, so Drew Gooden is not actually going to be making the chicken (I am slightly disappointed by this). But Gooden is helping Wingstop, a Texas-based fast food chain, open up four stores in Central Florida, according to Anjali Fluker of the Orlando Business Journal. Gooden, who played two seasons with the Magic, said he hopes the chain will grow to be as big as Five Guys and Jimmy John’s in the Orlando area.
“I did lot of research on different franchises,” Gooden told the Orlando Business Journal.”Wingstop is where Five Guys was four years ago, and now it’s got 15-20 locations throughout Orlando.”
Gooden said he looked into getting a franchising deal with Five Guys Burgers and Fries, the extremely delicious hamburger chain, but that they were looking only to go internationally.
So Gooden found Wingstop and is helping them expand into Florida. The restaurant hopes to start opening these stores by the beginning of 2012.
Wingstop seems like your typical chicken wing restaurant — seems very similar to a place like Buffalo Wild Wings. I would say the quality of the food is about as good as the quality of the player, but their national spokesman is Troy Aikman. This is turning into quite an All Star team. I had never heard of Wingstop before seeing this piece of news. Maybe I will stop in when I am thinking of Drew Gooden refusing to play center during the Magic’s 21-61 season in 2003.
This seems though like a decent way to invest some money while the lockout continues. A Five Guys with chicken wings sure sounds like a moneymaking prospect. So Gooden might be making a good deal. We don’t know the specifics obviously.
But Gooden and chicken wings seem to go together.
Here me out:
Both players look really good when you think about them. Gooden was a top three pick in the 2002 NBA Draft and started off playing really well.
Then you get a basket of wings and you get really excited. Just like Gooden, who seemed to be progressing upwards and improving.
Then you take a bite and find the sauce good, but the chicken lacking a little bit. Gooden was always solid but never developed into the player everyone envisioned when he averaged more than 16.5 points per game in two of his first three seasons.
Then you realize what a horrible mistake you have made later in the evening. That beard when he was with the Cavaliers and Bulls is pretty legendary and nobody seemed to ever know exactly where his head was out. Now, he seems to be toiling in the bottoms of the NBA trying to find his lost potential. Just like those chicken wings.
Man, I can’t wait to go to Wingstop!
Photo via DayLife.com.
