The Dallas Cowboys are the richest franchise in professional sports, as we are all too often reminded. A recent valuation of $15.5 billion, up sharply from becoming the first team to cross the $10 billion mark just two years ago. An annual profit that some observers believe is in the $500 million range.
But are you really rich if you don't have an industrial-sized hot dog fridge? That's a question Klayton Adams has the world asking.
"It's something that I'm working on here," the club's offensive coordinator said at training camp on Wednesday.
Just as teams refuel players with snacks and protein shakes between weight lifting sessions and meetings, coaches need hot dogs for optimal performance between meals during long days of practice, film study, and meetings.
"How can you really have a break room if you don't have a hot dog fridge? And if you're going to have a hot dog fridge, you've got to have high quality hot dogs in it. And if you're going to have high quality hot dogs, we've got to (have) brioche buns, and maybe some pretzel buns. These are all things that we're working on. Maybe an industrial-sized 7Eleven hot dog roller, I don't know."
Despite cultivating the image of the NFL's ultimate high-roller (pun intended), Jerry Jones does not historically spend big on his coaching staff. Arguably, that's the entire reason Adams is in Dallas in the first place; Brian Schottenheimer, a non-play-calling coordinator upon his promotion to head coach, is believed to be one of the lowest paid head coaches in the NFL. But whether intentional or not, Adams did not something smart in his public plea for a hot dog fridge: he name-dropped a Cowboys sponsor.
"These are just things that I roll around in the back of my mind," Adams said.
And while we're on the subject of hot dogs, Adams dropped a little knowledge free of charge, courtesy of an unnamed Disneyland vendor. The foil wrapping covering dogs served at minor league ballparks and high school sporting events across America is not only an economical and efficient way to store hot dogs, it's also the proper bun-cooking vessel. "One of the things I learned from going to Disneyland with my kids -- I was trying to steam the bun, I was trying to toast the bun, and the guy at Disneyland goes, 'No, man. Put it in the bun and wrap it in foil and let the hot dog steam the bun.' It's been revolutionary."