Darren Rovell's Gatorade blog

Gatorade Finally Revises Web site

I can't tell you how many times I've been frustrated at the Gatorade.com Web site over the years. It had this annoying pop-up that was unique to the brand -- and believe me, it wasn't pretty. Well, it looks much better today. On the front of the site they have "There are 40 years of science fueling Peyton Manning's 60 minutes." On the athletes page, it has the first look of Dwyane Wade in a Gatorade ad. They've also updated the flavors -- including the Rain sub-line. It also looks like they've updated the look of the "Fierce" line -- seems like a different font to me. There's also a cool video on how Gatorade helps re-hydrate NASCAR drivers. There are still some issues. When you go to some of the other sites it links to, it still goes to the old page. But definitely an improvement.

Should We Expect Gatorade "Peak?"

One thing we know about Gatorade's relationship with PepsiCo is that big brother is going to try to milk Gatorade for all it can. In reality, they're supposed to do that for their stockholders. That's one of the reasons for the development of Gatorade's new sub-lines from "X-Factor" to the latest, "Rain." With that in mind, I'm always trying to think, "What's Next?" Well, in order for Gatorade to have rights to the names they will use in the future, they obviously have to file trademark requests to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and fortunately this information is public. Reader Brad Klink, whose occupation often has him culling these databases, comes up with gem: Gatorade Peak. It was registered on April 7, 2005, to be used on non-alcoholic and non-carbonated fruit flavored drinks. It was filed under "1B" status. Here's Brad: "From looking at their history of filing, it appears they file an application for some of their lines prior to releasing the product on a 1B, or intent to use basis, and then when they release the product link and/or have a mark that is in a non-standard character from (such as the new "Rain" logo filed this month), submit another filing." I obviously have no clue what Gatorade Peak might be, but I'd to hear your ideas of what you think it should be.

Carmelo Anthony To Endorse Energy Drink

With all these athletes drinking energy drinks in the locker room, it was only a matter of time before a high profile star had his own energy drink. Well, Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets now has his own energy drink. It's called "C1.5 Energy," even though it should be called "Carmelo Yello!" It will first be distributed in Asia before potentially hitting the United States. The deal was structured by Anthony's agents at BDA Sports. It should be interesting to see what happens if this becomes the new endorsement. It will make it harder for Gatorade to stay on their message points about the inconclusive data about caffeine and the importance of salt in a replenishing drink.

Gatorade at Arby's?

Earlier this week, Arby's announced that it has signed an agreement to serve PepsiCo products at its nearly 3,500 restaurants. The announcement mentioned Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, Mug Root Beer and Tropicana Lemonade. I was interested in seeing if Gatorade was part of the portfolio since PepsiCo obviously owns the brand. I expected to hear a flat out "No" because the sports drink usually isn't offered at places that don't count as points of sweat. But Arby's spokeswoman Cathie Koch told me that Gatorade will be available on a franchise-by-franchise basis. It is not known whether Gatorade would be available by fountain or by bottle.

Spiking The Gatorade?

"Spiking The Gatorade" -- it's a common expression that has been used by sportswriters for years. The phrase is normally used when a team has a good or bad performance out of nowhere, so the spiking of something that they are drinking is used to explain it. But what happens if someone really spikes another athlete's Gatorade, or sports drink? This acutally happened in China recently. The country's star distance runner Sun Yingjie lives with her coach Wang Dexian. On the morning of Oct. 15, Sun and some other athletes, coached by Wang and his brother Wang Deming had breakfast together before the Beijing International Marathon. Sun drank her sports drink of choice -- gooseberry juice -- and went on to finish third in the marathon. She passed a drug test later that day. She went back to the house and finished up the gooseberry juice before flying on to Nanjing, where she finished second in the 10,000 meters the next day. That's where she tested positive for androsterone. She denied that she took the drug, but was thrown out of the tournament. Well, it turns out that one of the athletes who had breakfast with her that day -- spiked her gooseberry juice sometime in between the marathon and when she returned back to the house. On Monday, Yu Haijang, who had breakfast with Sun that morning, was found by a court to have spiked her gooseberry juice. Unfortunately for Sun, on Tuesday, the Chinese Athletics Association said that her two-year ban will hold up. "Whether she was set up or not, she should be responsible for what she drinks, which is clearly stated in the anti-doping rules?" Oh really? I understand that athletes should be responsible for what is originally in the bottle that they are drinking, but when it is tampered with, how can they be? That's absurd. I'd just love to see how this would be dealt with in this country. Now, onto the subject of gooseberry juice. It's thought to be good for lowering blood sugar and preventing heart disease and aging. Its origins date back to 16th century England where plague victims received a gooseberry potion. The fruit is native to the northeastern and north-central parts of the United States and the adjacent parts in Canada. it is related to the black currant. The picture in the upper left is a chinese gooseberry.

Put Caffeine On Labels

I really haven't paid too much attention to caffeine in my lifetime. I was never a coffee drinker and I'm not a big fan of soda or energy drinks. It was only until recently -- when I had to ask to find out how much caffeine was in POWERade ADVANCE -- that I became aware of the fact that caffeine information is not required to be on nutritional labels. I was confused as to why this was the case. So I started to look into it and found out that although there have been many people urging the Food & Drug Administration over the past seven years or so, the organization doesn't even have recommended guidelines for caffeine consumption. So here's my message to the FDA. If you really care about this country and the people that live in it, figure out a "Daily Value" just like you'd figured it out with fat, sodium, carbs and protein, and get it on the labels.

Gatorade Rain Hits Shelves

It hasn't even been posted on Gatorade.com, but Gatorade's new sub-line "Rain" is already on shelves -- at least here in Connecticut. On Tuesday, while I was doing my usual check of the sports drinks in the supermarket (don't worry, I was shopping as well), I did a double-take as I saw Lime and Tangerine flavors of "Rain." So here's my outlook on the flavor. If you someone who waters down your Gatorade because it's too strong, now you can essentially get the same formula as Gatorade without putting water in it. As promised, it's lighter tasting and reminds me of the taste profile of Vitaminwater. I also had a chance to try Berry (pictured left) and I'm making that my current favorite. It's worth a try.

Gatorade As A Murder Weapon?

Last month, I wrote about James Keown who was arrested for his wife's murder. He allegedly killed her by putting antifreeze in her Gatorade. Well, today I learned of another Gatorade poisoning. A 37-year-old man named Charles Fleming died after drinking a Gatorade. His wife says it was a homemade Gatorade-creatine concoction, but the coroner ruled that he died from ingesting windshield wiper fluid. In February 2002, Diane Fleming was tried and convicted to serve 30 years for murder. Diane -- through a recently put out news release -- claims she doesn't know how the windshield wiper fluid got in the Gatorade, but thinks that its possible that there was never any in the drink to begin with. She claims her husband usually put aspartame in his drinks and that has the same chemical makeup as windshield wiper fluid. Diane has recently petitioned the Superior Court in Chesterfield, Va., to have a motion hearing, which could then give her a chance at a new trial. There is also a petition online to free her: http://www.petitiononline.com/wnhodfp/petition.html. Why the Gatorade murders? Well, it's something that every major brand has to face -- bad product placement that is not in their control.

RU-dy, RU-dy, RU-dy

A couple days ago, I was amused to find out that Rudy Ruettiger of "Rudy" fame announced that he was taking Gatorade and POWERade head on, so it was only a matter of time before this piece of news hit my desk: "Rudy drinks chosen over Gatorade and POWERade in double blind taste test." The Rudy Beverage Group provides very little data in the release, only saying that a group of 16 children, ages 6-8, and a group of 22 teenagers preferred his Flying Colors drink over the sports drink giants. Rudy, you have a long way to go.

New Gatorade Drink: "Gatoritas"

There's not much substance to this post, other than to say that I found out about a new alcoholic concoction that seems to be making the rounds. It's called a "Gatorita" and it's just Gatorade and tequila. I'm not sure of the exact ratio since I'm not really a drinker, but if I try it, I'll let you know how it tastes.

UPDATE: I just heard about something called a Gator Booger. It's 1 ounce of vodka, 1 ounce of Gatorade, 1 ounce of Five Alive and the rest of the glass topped with cranberry juice. Please, if you know of any drinks that include Gatorade (and yes, I've already included "Urban Meyer's Hot Mother") please write in on the comments below.