John Wooden is Gone

You can say he lived a long and wonderful life, but it still is hard to lose the heart and soul of our team.

From the LA Times.

John Wooden, the UCLA basketball coach who became an icon of American sports while guiding the Bruins to an unprecedented 10 national championships in the 1960s and '70s and remained in the spotlight during retirement with his "Pyramid of Success" motivational program, has died. He was 99.

Though his fame extended beyond the sports world, it was Wooden's achievements during 27 seasons at UCLA that put him in the company of such legendary coaches as the Green Bay Packers' Vince Lombardi and Notre Dame's Knute Rockne.

Wooden's string of championships began with back-to-back victories in 1964 and '65. Starting in 1967, his team ran off seven consecutive NCAA titles -- going 38 tournament games without a loss -- a feat unmatched before or since in men's college basketball.

What I'll Miss in DC: Ben's Chili Bowl

I will be moving back to Los Angeles this month. While I'm looking forward to it for so many reasons, many involving live UCLA sports, I am sad to say goodbye to my favorite food spots in Washington, DC.

Any person who lives in DC for a few months is nearly guaranteed to hear of Ben's Chili Bowl, an institution in our fair city. In my nearly nine years in DC, I have probably an average of a chili dog a month. It's heaven on a plate.

Yesterday I was at Ben's Next Door, the upscale restaurant and bar cousin restaurant where any Ben's lover goes when the line at Ben's is too long. Since President Obama visited Ben's in the week before his inauguration, Ben's Next Door is pretty much the only place to go if you want a quick chili dog and don't mind paying a buck or two more.

While in the restaurant, I spoke to one of the owners, Ben's son Nizam Ali. He told me so many insanely interesting things about BCB that I wanted to share with other rabid fans.

1. Mail order chili dogs: 18 dogs for about $40 via benschilibowl.com
2. Tomato paste in the chili recipe: Why would anyone care about this? They probably don't, it's pretty obvious there is tomato paste given the orange color of the chili. I'm allergic to tomatoes, but apparently not tomato paste. I say this because I've had hundreds of chili dogs at Ben's and never suffered any tomato allergy repercussions. Thinking of eating a pizza next!
3. Ben's Visitor Center: Second floor of Ben's Next Door has a hall of historical pictures.
4. Chicken and waffles: On the menu at Ben's Next Door. Yeah, you heard that right! It will be hard to go to Ben's and not get a chili dog, but I'm all over at least one meal of chicken and waffles.

I am definitely going to need to get a BCB t-shirt before I leave DC. Nizam and I also discussed losing our fathers and his increasing use of social media. Really good guy.