Not since Joey Chestnut's victory on July 4 at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest has the sports world experienced such a frankfurter fixation.
Nerlens Noel had a halftime hankering for a hot dog during Saturday's game between the Mavericks and Clippers. Noel addressed the "incident" with reporters Sunday, saying he was hungry from a hard pregame workout.
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Nerlens Noel visited the media dining room at halftime to get a hot dog. pic.twitter.com/mKYrB63e1J
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 2, 2017
"It was a different schedule," Noel said. "The last thing I did not want to do is eat, so I just wanted to take in as many calories as I can. But I just got to be smarter about that and send a ballboy or something."
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle then took the questions about Noel's eating habits and turned the incident into a marketing opportunity.
"So look, I'm representing him," Carlisle said. "I'm going to talk to [Dallas area restaurant] Wild About Harry's over on Knox [Street]. It's a hot dog place. And we're going to see if they'll do 'The Nerlens,' which is relish only, right? Relish or nothing at all."
.@NerlensNoel3 and Head Coach Rick Carlisle address the media about hot dogs. 🌭🌭🌭 pic.twitter.com/qWi8Hs8NrZ
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) December 3, 2017
The real question here: why only relish? Poor choice, Nerlens. How about some ketchup or mustard in the mix? A cheese dog?
If we're going to give Noel his own hot dog, we've got to do this right.
