SUPPLEMENTAL STUPIDITY FROM THE NCAA

We love supplements. Some of our own dietary supplements keeping us in top shape:

--Zybrowka Vodka. Drink of the gods. We could drink a half a bottle and run a 5K through the middle of Dekalb Avenue during rush hour IN the variable lane. Scratch that--"have" run a 5K through the middle of Dekalb Avenue during rush hour. With the police "pacing" us.

--Coffee. Jamaica Blue Mountain, Waffle House swill poured into a human skull straight off the crack of Mario Batali's sweaty ass crack...whatever. Caffeine buzz GIMME GIMME GIMME.

--Japanese bar mix. Oooh, god-kissed little soy sauce-encrusted soulfuckers, we will inhale you like you were strapped to our face in a feed bag.

--Pure Protein Shakes. You only think we drink these for healthy reasons, made with the mix, ice, buffalo milk yogurt (because buffalo are hardcore and cows aren't, bitches) and whatever fruit/meat/spare postal packaging is lying on the counter. In truth, it's for when you're too lazy to actually fix a meal, much less going to the trouble of chewing one.

Which one of these Swindle staples does the NCAA ban? If you threw a few steak nuggests in, the protein shake might be out of the running as something a strength coach could give to an athlete. Coffee, too, thanks to the caffeine. (Zybrowka's out too, along with hero-...wait. What fucking genius said we couldn't give the kids heroin anymore? Jesus, these people...)

Demon java! Our second favorite Colombian import and NCAA bugbear. The first is Shakira, you devious, devious people...

Via the Fanhouse:

"The NCAA came out with rules which say that we can't give muscle-building products.

"If we give [the athletes] weight-gain products, there must be a limit of 30 percent protein. That means all the rest, 70 percent, is bad stuff like sugar. Really, we couldn't give them peanut butter or milk. I've never understood that rule."

Again, when faced with the hydra of writing coherent policy, the NCAA swung its dull broadsword and beheaded itself in the process. (Which means the score is hydra, 20 or so heads, you, NCAA member institution, none.) Athletes seek out supplements on their own now, usually doing so with the expertise one can expect from an untrained 18 year old doing anything complex and difficult: shoddily, haphazardly, and often purchasing supplements prohibited by the NCAA's banned substances list.

This list includes caffeine down to trace amounts in tests, meaning coaches might not be able to give players so much as a strong cup of coffee pre-game. Deacon Jones, for one, would be appalled. The L.A. Rams legend's pregame ritual before every game: two cups of black coffee on an empty stomach.

(Throw a donut on top of that, and that'll make you want to skin a troop of Boy Scouts alive for so much as breathing in your direction.)