Remember last season when UCONN's Shabazz Napier made waves by admitting there were nights he went to bed hungry? The NCAA, for once, was effectively shamed into action.
Fast forward almost a year later, and the game has done changed. After relaxing its draconian measures on feeding athletes — unlimited free snacks, y'all! — we now know what that looks like in action.
Dispatch.com ran an interesting look at Ohio State's two (a third is being built, natch) "fuel zones," a snack à la carte of sorts where Ohio State's athletes are free to stop by within 90 minutes of a practice's start or ending. The expansion cost the university $835,000 — the total food budget is now $1.5 million — which sounds like a lot of money until you remember the money being raked in the first place.
Now, you might say, "I would have killed a man for an unlimited free snack pantry in college." To which I'd say, "Only one man?" before reminding you that neither of us ran a 4.2 in college and would be embarrassed if we stepped foot on the women's field hockey pitch (and not just because of our grotesque genitalia).
Because this is the NCAA we're still dealing with, Ohio State keeps staffers at their closet oases to make sure athletes are not treating it as a free grocery store. Among some items available, according to Dispatch.com: Bananas, parfaits, energy bars, and sandwiches.
In other, somewhat-related news: My closet is filled with chunky peanut butter and Ramen noodles.
