Unable to eat green in the Verizon Center

WASHINGTON – After taking a look at the lack of green items in the Staples Center in Los Angeles last week, my trip to the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. to cover the Arizona men’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament provided the perfect opportunity to see how things compared on the East Coast.

The verdict: things aren’t any greener on the other side of the country.

I took a walk around the main concourse of the stadium for lunch Thursday to see if any green options existed, but all I found were the same types of stadium food at Staples and on a smaller scale McKale Center.

Maybe UA concessions manager Brett Brestel was right, fans just don’t care about eating healthy.

I certainly didn’t mind chowing down on a delicious beef sandwich, but what about those trying to eat green?

Smithfield BBQ hit the spot for me with a piping hot beef on a bun and other stations offered carved meat, but that’s not going to do much for anybody trying to eat green.

I saw a “power grill,” but all the power it was serving up comes in the form of the calories from its burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers and fries.

I also passed by plenty of places offering hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, pretzels and other assorted junk food at station after station, with one sign even saying, “Fill up, Buster!” above pictures of four hot dogs surrounded by popcorn and nachos.

The only thing you’ll be filling up is the bathroom with that kind of a diet.

The Verizon Center also has a Chinese concession stand that seemed like a glorified version of Panda Express with orange chicken as one of the featured entrees, but again, there’s nothing green about that.

In my previous article, Brestel basically explained to me that fans go to games to get away from their normal diet and just want to eat food that will get them back to their seats as soon as possible.

That’s really a shame, because by not offering these types of healthy options arenas are giving fans no choice but to eat junk food. As I learned when I interviewed a few students in McKale Center, the public would likely respond to healthier choices.

It also seems like it would create an economic boost for the arena’s concession stands. When I go to a game as a fan, I try to avoid the concessions altogether and eat either before or after the game because I know what kind of food is generally offered, not to mention the jacked up prices.

Offering healthier foods would likely attract a larger concessions audience and thus more dollars.

And we all know what dollars mean in the world of sports.