The NBA is taking basketball abroad this week, as hoops fans in England will get the opportunity to watch the New York Knicks and the Washington Wizards square off in London on Thursday. It’s a really cool opportunity, not just for fans to get to watch two NBA teams face off, but also for those who make the trip across the pond who get to experience English culture.
For example, retired NBA-ers Caron Butler and Shawn Marion, who both traveled abroad, could have theoretically witnessed the most powerful piece of English culture that has been shared with Americans: Getting yelled at by Gordon Ramsay because you didn’t cook a dang steak the right way. That’s because the pair participated in a cooking contest, one which was judged by former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp and the guy who once had to eat chicken wrapped shrimp at a failing restaurant on Long Island for his hit television show Kitchen Nightmares.
The downside for those of us who like to watch Ramsay lose his mind is that both Butler and Marion are pretty good in the kitchen, as the pair had a steak cookoff in which Ramsay was rather impressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdiu4O-liKU
As a big fan of the shows that Ramsay has brought on our side of the pond, it is exceedingly rare that he’s legitimately happy with how a dish is prepared — both Butler and Marion took their time to develop flavors while getting a good sear on the outside of the steak and keeping it pink and juicy in the middle. This is something that Gordon Ramsay — who has been served things like an elk quesadilla before — values, because lord knows that man has ingested more vile dishes than a garbage disposal.
In the end, Butler came out on top, although both of those steaks look fantastic, something that was reinforced by Rasmsay saying that Marion lost by “a narrow, narrow, narrow margin.” Congrats to Caron Butler on the honor, and if there is anything good left in this world, we will get some cooking show that pits him against noted Chopped competitor Charles Oakley for the title of the best chef in basketball. Invite them to Kitchen Stadium to prepare a lovely five-course meal featuring shrimp as the secret ingredient and chocolate syrup as the culinary curveball, Alton Brown. I need this.
