A Visit to Red Sox Favorite Popeyes Chicken

Do the Boston Red Sox know that Popeyes Chicken is celebrating its 40th anniversary?

We found that out (it's printed on the box) when we visited a local Popeyes franchise for the first time in honor of MLB pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training this week.

It came out afterwards that Red Sox starting pitchers spent a lot time chowing down on Popeyes fried chicken, swilling beer, and playing video games in the clubhouse while the team imploded on the field last September.

Okay, the Louisiana-style chicken wasn't bad (and the cole slaw was tasty), but everyone knows that fried food should only be an occasional thing.

At the time, we wondered why no "journalist" who followed the team every day ever wrote about clubhouse gluttony until after the fact:

Who is more lazy--those Boston Red Sox players responsible for the team's historic implosion or the sports "reporters" who only got around to writing about clubhouse dysfunction (including in-game boozing) after the season ended?

In a separate but related issue, Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas recently caught hell for declining to go to the White House ceremony honoring the team for winning the Stanley Cup. Yet Bush-bashing former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein never got any grief for no-showing at the presidential residence after the team won the World Series twice.

Here's what Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr said about this double standard:

Hey Tim, if you want to be left alone by the PC Posse, next time you have a hankering to express your opinion, just bring a bucket of Popeye’s fried chicken and a six-pack of Bud Light onto the bench. The Knights of the Keyboard won’t even notice it until the season’s over.

There's also been no reporting about whether the Sox pitchers, when placing their Popeyes chicken order, prefer spicy or mild.

Addendum: New manager Bobby Valentine just announced a ban on beer in the clubhouse and on plane flights home after a road trip. Chicken is still probably okay, but team nutritionists would likely frown on the fried variety.