The NBA and Your Fastfood

You're craving at night, what are you looking for?
You finally get it and you look at it with such intensity, devouring it, in all its entirety.
After, there's either a feeling of complete satisfaction, or utter sadness.

Now, if you ask me, there are two things that fit the bill perfectly here and that would be arguably my two most favorite things, the NBA and fast food.

With that said, here's the top fast food chains in our country, along with their NBA counterparts.

McDonald's : Los Angeles Lakers
You can never go wrong with McDonald's and same with the Lakers. There's just something for everyone here and personally, I believe that both McDonald's and the Lakers pack the most punch in terms of the menu and roster. If they can't get you with their burgers, then the fries will surely bring you to grease heaven. It's like Kobe and Gasol executing a pick and roll to perfection. Still not satisfied? A supporting cast of Lamar "ice cream sundae" Odom, Ron "Nuggets" Artest and Sasha "Apple Pie" Vujacic should do the trick. Plus, the sudden launch of the new extra large serving of fries reminds me of Bynum.


Jollibee : Boston Celtics
Local favorite Jollibee can without a doubt give McDonald's a run for their money. Jollibee is more in touch with the masses, more down to earth and they just understand what the people want. The same things can be said about the Celtics, whose supporters are far from the Hollywood stars and A-listers that litter Laker games. There's never a sense of boastfulness with Celtic teams, only an unmistakable sense of pride and intimidating intensity. Throughout the years, the Celtics have won with a tried and tested formula of pride, intensity and defense. Jollibee has done the same, sticking with the Chicken Joy recipe that has been unbeatable for decades now.

Burger King : Cleveland Cavaliers
Burger King, King James, do I really have to continue? Burger King thrives of course on their burgers, which I really believe is king in terms of burgers in the fast food industry. Cleveland obviously relies on Lebron James night in and night out, but the real comparison here is with the supporting cast. The upcoming season MIGHT be different, but for the most part of both King's reigns, the supporting casts have been inadequate, sure, they have a few hits here and there, but, it's really hard to see how these "followers" can give the Kings something to rave about.

Chowking : Houston Rockets
Fellow oriental brother, Yao Ming has turned the Toyota Center into an extension of Chinatown, nuff said.

KFC : Dallas Mavericks
Whenever I take a bite out of a piece of KFC's original recipe chicken, there's really just an explosion of flavor that cannot be matched anywhere else. Dallas has their version of the original recipe chicken in Dirk Nowitzki, an explosive scorer, won't let you down. However, a criticism of him is him not being able to deliver when it counts, reminds me of KFC's questionable portion sizes, they just don't deliver when you need that big bite.


Wendy's: Orlando Magic
As much as Wendy's is known for their burgers and the now defunct unlimited salad bar, they are also very much loved for their "Biggie" sizes. A "Biggie" meal would get you a huge burger, with an equally large serving of fries and your choice of drink. The Magic don't only have a big player in Dwight Howard, but, they have also been huge spenders these past years, not afraid to pay Rashard Lewis a crazy amount of money and most recently, acquiring Vince Carter's veteran services and at the same time taking in a lot of extra costs in terms of salaries.

Kenny Rogers : San Antonio Spurs
Slow roasted over a wooden flame, Kenny Rogers brings diners roasted chicken the way they used to roast it. Even the ever popular muffins have this rustic feel about them. Notice the words that I put there? "used" and "old" That's my point here actually, both Kenny Rogers and the Spurs use an "old" but, surely effective way of doing things. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili make up their core and this is arguably the oldest core in the NBA right now. Both the roasters and the Spurs have their critics, but, nobody can really discount the fact that both are winners, with Kenny Rogers being the only restaurant of its kind effectively alive in the market and the Spurs being one of the most winningest franchises in recent memory.

Tropical Hut : Utah Jazz
"May Tropical Hut pa ba?" might be the question running through some of your minds right now. Well.. the answer is, yes, Tropical Hut is still alive and kicking here in the metro and what really inspired me to compare them to the Jazz is there seemingly underground and forgotten location in Green Hills. I believe that the said location is under Mercury Drug beside Theater Mall and Music Museum. Anyways, is it not the same how people just "forget" about the Jazz year in and year out? It's true that the Jazz's style is not for everyone, same with Tropical Hut's burger that has a cut of pineapple in it, but, you can't really argue that there is quality here. A return trip to both Tropical Hut and the Jazz might bring one back to the good old days, especially since the modern version, is heavily alike past successful versions.

Popeye's Chicken : Oklahoma City Thunder
Both Popeye's Chicken and the Thunder are upstarts (at least in our country, as far as Popeye's is concerned) Both have huge upsides, having a stud and good supporting pieces. Simply put, stud = Popeye's Chicken and Kevin Durant. Good supporting pieces = good chips and Russell Westbrook/Jeff Green.

Tokyo Tokyo : Phoenix Suns
This might really be a stretch, but, it's the last fast food and NBA team combo, so bear with me here. Tokyo Tokyo is arguably the most unique fast food chain in our country, offering a wide and quality selection of Japanese dishes to the public. Also, they have an unlimited rice promo, which attracts a lot of people. The Suns, are of course unique, being the modern pioneers of the run and gun (with no defense) style of play. Of course, we all know that it's Mike D'Antoni who brought this style to the Suns, but, even if he's with the Knicks now, nobody can still fast break like Steve Nash and the gang. This style of play allows the Suns to score bucket after bucket after bucket. Same with a Tokyo Tokyo consumer consuming bowl after bowl after bowl of rice. Finally, and maybe, most importantly is the fact that the Suns are the only team to have a Japanese player to play for them. Yuta Tabuse, the 5'9 Japanese point guard played 4 games for the Suns in the 2004-2005 NBA season. Sadly, he was waived at the end of the season.

- Chinky Bench Warmer