I remember when I was a kid, my Aunt, the one who always took to me to the White Sox games I earned (By earned, I mean free and later half price ticket vouchers were distributed to southwest suburban schools to kids who had straight As and/or perfect attendance. Since I used to routinely fake being sick in order to stay home and watch 1980s game shows, you know I got the rewards for my grades) told me something disturbing: that the vendors at Old Comiskey Park would take hot dogs and pizzas that fell on the disgusting ground and sell them.
At the time, it seemed like such a haunting truth. Then as an adult I learn about how even the healthiest of somehow consume mass quantities of bugs and excrement through our food each year.
Yet still what we learned today about the Chicago Cubs and their concession stands, is a new level of disturbing.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure The Cell hides a lot of awful, repugnant truths as well.
From With Leather
Big League Stew has a complete rundown of Wrigley’s violations, including an hilarious TV segment where a reporter has to ask someone if goddamn black slime growing in a vending machine is good or bad, and a “food safety expert” has to use their lifetime of experience to confirm that it is bad. In case you ever wanted to have a hot dog again, other violations included
• Food being cooked at temperatures not hot enough to kill bacteria.
• Workers serving food with the same unclean hands that touch germ-ridden money.
• More than 24 pounds of hamburgers, hot dogs and sausages that had to be thrown away because they were unsafe to eat.
Uhm yeah, again this is why Wrigley is surrounded by so many great restaurant, you don’t have to eat there. And after hearing this, who’d want to? The rooftops which serve as the stadium’s true luxury boxes, have the actually edible food. It should also be noted that a few years ago, Hi-Tops one of those sports bar and grilles across the street from Wrigley was found to have served food that had rat droppings in it.
That establishment has since closed and been replaced. This begs the question which Chicago team is suffering more on the field and with negative news, the Cubs or Notre Dame? You know how bad both teams are attempting to win, but the off-the-field disasters generate discussion? Is it worse to be serving your fans disgusting, horribly tainted food, or to have the face of your Catholic program called out by Catholic institutions for completely losing his mind/cursing at a kid who’s dad died a few months ago on national television?
Food for thought.
Just not food for consumption.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
He does regular weekly radio spots in Chicago and Cleveland and has appeared on live shows all across the world from Houston to New Zealand. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too