Profesional Athletes and Their Restaurants

Many think that professional athletes are people living their dream. They are paid with huge amount of money (from salary and endorsements) to do something that they like. However, athletes' life isn't easy, as they must train hard everyday and keep a strict healthy lifestyle. Even with all of that, their career span is short, as we rarely seen athletes still in their peak performances when they're above 32-year-old.

For a reason to create a post-career business opportunity, many professional athletes started a business using their brand image, and restaurant is one of the most favorites choices. Those athlete-owned restaurants usually have a little-bit sport theme for the decoration, which added with some memorabilia of the athlete. However, most of them are just a generic restaurants, without any trademark or special dishes. Also, don't expect that you're gonna see your favorite sport stars in their restaurants, as they rarely, or even never, visited their business.

Greg Norman in his restaurant
(photo from www.gregnormansaustraliangrille.com)

Here are some example of athlete-owned restaurants in America:

Brett Favre's Steakhouse
Dishes: Steak
Location: Green Bay, WI
Owner: Brett Favre (NFL)

Wayne Gretzky's
Dishes: American bar food and Canadian food
Location: Toronto, ON
Owner: Wayne Gretzky (NHL)

Arnold Palmer's
Dishes: Seafood, steak, Arnie's favorites
Location: La Quinta, CA
Owner: Arnold Palmer (PGA/Golf)

Strawberry's Sports Grill
Dishes: Ballpark food, various variations of beer
Location: Queens, NY
Owner: Darryl Strawberry (MLB)

Yao Bar and Retaurant
Dishes: Chinese cuisine
Location: Houston, TX
Owner: Yao Ming (NBA)

Greg Norman's Australian Grille
Dishes: Australian grille
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC
Owner: Greg Norman (PGA/Golf)

Market Del Mar
Dishes: Californian fare
Location: Del Mar, CA
Owner: Tony Hawk (Skateboard)

Annie Laura’s Kitchen
Dishes: American
Location: River Dale, GA
Owner: Evander Holyfield (Boxing)

Unfortunately, even if the restaurants owned (or co-owned) by athletes and use their images, the fact is still many of them are unable to get enough customers and had to be closed. Besides don't have a winning menu, most of them are closed because the athletes didn't spend enough time in marketing efforts and promotional appearances.

Here are some athlete-owned restaurants that had to be closed:

D Wade's Sports Grill
Location: Boca Raton and Ft Lauderdale, FL
Athlete: Dwayne Wade (NBA)
Closed: 2008

Hulk Hogan's Pastamania
Location: The Mall of America in Bloomington, MN
Athlete: Hulk Hogan (Wrestling)
Closed: 1995

Larry Bird's Boston Connection Restaurant
Location: Terre Haute, IN
Athlete: Larry Bird (NBA)
Closed: 2000

Pete Rose's Ballpark Cafe
Location: Boynton Beach, FL
Athlete: Pete Rose (MLB)
Closed: 2009

Bernie Kosar's Steakhouse
Location: Miami, FL
Athlete: Bernie Kosar (NFL)
Closed: 2009

Michael Jordan's Restaurant
Location: Chicago, IL
Athlete: Michael Jordan (NBA)
Closed: 1999

According to a survey cited by Forbes, 60 percent of restaurants fail in three years. It's proven that the name alone won't make a restaurant's success, especially when those pro athletes agreed to put their name on restaurant and cafe business without controlling the menu, location, and service.

Kara Lang is Forced to Retire

It's really a sad news. Kara Lang, Canadian soccer player, just announced her retirement due to recurring knee and ACL injuries. Kara Lang is the youngest woman to be named to Canada National Women's Team, making her National Team debut on March 1 2002 at the Algarve Cup in Portugal at age 15. She retired on January 5, 2011 at the age of 24.

Kara Lang represented Canada in two FIFA World Cups (2003, 2007) and the 2008 Olympic Games. Before retired, she made 89 appearances and 34 goals for her national team. She's also the youngest player ever to score in international competition, when she netted a goal against Wales, just two days after making her inaugural appearance for Canada.

Kara Lang's last appearance for Canada happened in 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup qualifying tournament. She took part in her team's victory against Mexico in the final (1-0) on Nov 08, 2010. Canada was through to the 2011 FIFA World Cup, but Kara won't play in the big tournament.

Kara Lang made the official announcement at an Oakville Soccer Club Press Conference in front of young fans, coaches, soccer club affiliaties, and press. "I have gotten everything out of this sport, and I have given this sport all that I have," she said about her retirement.

Kara Lang Statistics:

Position: Forward
Jersey No. : 15
High school: St. Thomas Aquinas HS, Oakville, Ontario
College: UCLA
Club: Vancouver Whitecaps (W-League)
Height: 5'10" (1.78 m)
Weight: 155 lbs (70 Kg)
Born: October 22, 1986 in Calgary, Alberta
Nationality: Canadian
Junior Caps: 33 (12 goals)
Senior Caps: 89 (34)

Batigol Keeps Scoring on Horseback

Argentinian legendary football player, Gabriel Omar Batistuta, has been retired since 2005. Five years after, he is still enjoying his life away from football. Batigol, his nickname, dedicated his retirement days to his farming business and construction company in his home country.

Apparently, Batistuta still can't lose touch with sports, he still regularly plays golf and polo. He started his polo career around a year ago. He chose to learn from his compatriot, Adolfo Cambiaso, world's number one polo player. He tried to prove that he can scoring a goal on a horseback as better as he was with his feet.


The retired striker has his own polo horses and his own team, La Gloria. The team wears a purple shirt with a coat of arms like Fiorentina's, a tribute to the club where the Argentine made a name for himself in the Italian Serie A football league.

Gabriel Batistuta also has completed his football coaching badges in Argentina, but at this moment he still shows no interest for coming back in the football field. He expressed an interest in coaching Argentina's national team and his former club, Boca Juniors. He said that it would be an honor, but now is not the right moment yet.

Maybe with Argentina defeated so early in quarter-final of 2010 World Cup he will change his mind?

Gabriel Batistuta 1024 x 768 Wallpaper

As a national player, Gabriel Batistuta is the all-time highest scorer for Argentina's national team, with 78 caps and 56 goals. He also represented his country at three World Cups. In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100 list of the "125 Greatest Living Footballers".

Martina Navratilova Fights Cancer with Sports

The tennis legend, Martina Navratilova (53), was diagnosed having a breast cancer on last February. She made a public announcement about her illness on "Good Morning America" last month. She decided to speak publicly about her condition to encourage women to get tested.

"I'm this healthy person, I've been healthy all my life, and all of a sudden I have cancer. Are you kidding me?" - Martina Navratilova

As part of her treatment, she will undergo six weeks of radiation started this May. Still in her second week of the therapy she has prepared herself to swing her tennis racquet again. “I am in fact cancer free, that was taken out when I had the lumpectomy about six weeks ago. I just started radiation last week,” she said on a conference call.




Martina Navratilova, 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, has been practicing at Roland Garros with doubles partner Jana Novatna ahead of the four-team mini-tournament they’ll participate in during the second week of the French Open. The tournament will be started May 23 in Paris.

Navratilova said her condition and treatment won’t affect her busy schedule. In March, after the surgery, she completed a 25- mile bike leg of a triathlon in Hawaii. She’ll attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, in December.