"The Straw Man"

YouTube - The Straw Guru- Caron Butler Here's a video (click the You Tube link) of former University of Connecticut (UCONN) and current NBA Dallas Maverick basketball star Caron Butler and his blindfolded test to see if he can pick out his favorite straw (McDonald's of course) out of a selection of fifteen straws. Caron prefers chewing on a straw while resting on the bench instead of chewing gum. Recently, I believe, the NBA has banned straw chewing during a game while sitting on the bench. I wonder if the chewing gum lobby influenced the NBA front office to reach their decision. Maybe the hamburger and other fast food companies not named McDonald's had an influence in this decision as the distinctive size,shape, texture, and colors of the McDonald's straw could be viewed as an advertisement. I know that professional basketball players are not allowed to sew advertisements on to their NBA basketball uniforms or wear headbands with advertisements on them. Another potential influence to the "straw ban" may be the stadium owners who want people to buy their $8.00 beers and expensive ice filled soft drinks as this business could be curtailed if everybody started to chew on straws instead of buying gum, or the variety of refreshments offered by the stadium vendors. Maybe the stadium owners were concerned that too many children and adults might starting running around with straws in their mouth and risking either choking on the straws or running into someone while having a straw sticking out of their mouth and accidentally poking out someone's eye.

As a freshman at Marietta College back in 1972; I had a roommate named Chris G. that was a "Coca-Cola expert". I remember that he claimed that he could distinguish the taste difference between "Coke" from a glass bottle, versus "Coke" from a can, or plastic bottle. We set up a "Coca-Cola" challenge for Chris and sure enough he could taste the difference and correctly report which soda came from which type of container. Maybe Caron and Chris should take their respective skills on the road together as straws do sometimes go with drinking soft drinks.