vegansaurus!

The News You Need: Dog steals golfball, is hilarious  »

What a rascal! A funny dog totally stole golfer Paul Casey’s golfball, mid-game. 

The Englishman was 20 feet from the cup on his third hole Friday at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship when a dog ran onto the green and ran off with his ball.

OMG that is too hilarious. I love how he’s totally like, “Yoink! Got my ball! Later dudes!” and he’s out of there. Apparently, a spectator was able to catch the dog and retrieve the ball. Casey wasn’t penalized and they continued the game with that same ball (why?). That’s all for the News You Need!

Veg Olympians have a fine history of athletic ass-kicking  »

London 2012 Olympic cycling road race silver medalist and vegetarian Lizzie Armistead (far left)

Are you guys watching the Olympics? This sports unenthusiast loves the Olympics, despite NBC’s U.S. ATHLETES OR GTFO approach to coverage.

My parents have super-cable, which means Olympics-viewing at their house is all-HD, with a heavy emphasis on cycling. Consequently, I saw Briton Lizzie Armistead win silver in the cycling road race on Sunday, which was tremendous. Then I read this Guardian article on veg Olympians, by Adharanand Finn, and found out that Armistead has been a vegetarian since age 10 and she became my total favorite.

The list is pretty great. Did you know that Australian swimmer Murray Rose was called “the Seaweed Streak” because of his diet? Finn says that Rose ate a vegan diet, but the delightful 1961 Sports Illustrated article he links to mentions Rose enjoying unpasteurized milk, but no other animal products.

[Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus.com!]

You know super-runner Carl Lewis is a longtime vegan, right? Love this guy.

One Olympian Finn doesn’t mention is Venus Williams, who had made it to the third round of Olympic play as of Tuesday afternoon.

Athletics and a cruelty-free diet are an excellent match; just check out all the non-Olympic super-people going vegan! They are the mightiest, and we are proud of them. Learn more about veg Olympians through history at the Guardian.

[photo by anMarton via Flickr]

Please welcome new vegan athletes Arian Foster and Venus Williams!  »

You’ve heard the news, right? Arian Foster, running back for the Houston Texans, has gone vegan! You should read his Twitter, he’s being totally chill about it, just like any other person on earth who might choose to adopt a vegan diet—except he’s a famous athlete and lots of people are invested in his entire life. So it’s exciting! Welcome to the club, dude, it’s pretty great over here.

Even more exciting news: Venus Williams has adopted a raw vegan diet! Good for you, lady! Remember how Venus and Serena were planning to go raw at the beginning of the year? Of course you do, you love Jenny Bradley’s vegan celebrity news. Recently, Venus has said that she started eating raw vegan after being diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Sjogren’s syndrome. We are sincerely sorry about that, as she is a tremendous athlete, and we hope this diet helps alleviate her symptoms. Still, it’s a big week for ass-kicking in the vegan-eating world, and we’re proud to welcome another member.

Team Vegan is going to win so many more events at the next Veg vs. Meatmouth Olympics.

[Arian Foster photo by AJ Guel, Venus Williams photo by Pete Edgeler, both via Flickr]

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay!

Wow, a lot’s happened since the last email update. Oscar Mayer, Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s and Baja Fresh all announced that after working with HSUS they’re going to be ending gestation crate confinement of pigs in their supply chains. The progress is so dramatic that Meatingplace magazine (a meat industry trade journal) commented, “The progression of this issue exemplifies how quickly the Humane Society of the United States can affect change.”

Even more, the Des Moines Register reported on a pork producer who wants to obtain gestation crates, but doesn’t because of “the possibility that the retailers and the Humane Society will make a crate ban stick.”

Want to know what the future holds for meat alternatives? Great guy and New Harvest founder Jason Matheny offers his insights to WorldWatch in this fascinating interview. (On a related topic, don’t miss Mark Bittman’s new NYT piece on his experience curing his illness by cutting dairy.)

And hey, there’s still hope for me to play in the NFL!

P.S. Video of the week: If I can play in the NFL, cats can play patty-cake:

Field Roast Frankfurters to be served at AT&T Park! Go Giants!  »

Extra! Extra! Field Roast Frankfurters have passed the taste test and will now be served at AT&T Park for this season’s Giants games! Huzzah!

I’ve had many of these vegan frankfurters and they are hella good. They smell so much like oldschool ballpark hotdogs, those omnis will just need to catch a whiff and the line will form! What a happy springtime announcement! 

Next, I want to see this at Phillies games! Come on, Phils!

It’s time for Puppy Bowl VIII!  »

Let’s get ready to PUPPIES!

This year, Brandy of the Pennsylvania SPCA is my MVP!

With Aberdeen of the Sullivan County SPCA

and Friday of SRL, Inc. as close runners-up. I love a maltipoo!

All the players in Puppy Bowl VII are both totally adorable and totally adoptable. Who are your picks for MVP? Does anyone else dream about being the ref? PUPPIES I LOVE YOU. See you in two weeks!

Jerk soccer player kills owl  »

God, somebody hold me. This is THE WORST: Soccer player Luis Moreno KICKS the injured owl mascot of the opposing team in this Colombian league game. The owl ultimately died. Here’s the video:

[Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus.com]

You can hear the crowd—they’re pissed. Dude, he kicks it like it’s a piece of trash on the field! WTF? It’s a living, breathing being! And the owl doesn’t just get kicked, it gets kicked by a professional soccer player. Like getting punched by a boxer! This makes me so mad. At least he’s getting in trouble: “Moreno could now be facing a spell of several months in jail and a fine.” Of course this is just a “could” but at least people are angry about it. I hope he gets benched—in hell!

I always thought soccer was the sport for the anti-jock. I asked my soccer-enthusiast brother, WTF? Here’s what he had to say: “In the rest of the world, soccer players are the meatheads. Sorry to break it to you. In the U.S., it’s more the alternative sport but in Europe and stuff it’s like all the football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, hockey dudes in one!” GROSS!

Silver lining: Moreno’s team LOST. Ha. I like what this player on the other team had to say: “‘It made me very angry that he kicked the little animal,’ said Atletico Junior player Luia Paez, who scored one of the goals in Atletico’s 2-1 victory. “It was already injured by being struck by the ball. I said a bunch of awful things to him (Moreno). I was really angry.’” That makes me feel slightly better just because I hate when something like this happens and everyone is apathetic. The fact that people are upset gives me a tiny bit of hope that people aren’t all awful. Moreno es un coño! Lo odio!