The Golden State Warriors Have Successfully Ended a Controversial PB&J Ban

After winning the NBA Championships last year, the Golden State Warriors are currently racking up the best season in NBA history. They're blowing teams out every other night, and are sitting at 44–4, poised to break Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls' 1995-96 record season, when they went 72–10.

Given that ongoing excellence, you'd think that support staff for the Golden State Warriors wouldn't want to mess with a finely tuned machine firing on all cylinders. But in the never-ending pursuit of perfection in professional sports, the Warriors' strength and conditioning team (also known as the "fun police") decided to axe peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches from the team snack supply this season in the name of health.

Big mistake.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the team was fine giving up soda, cookies, and candy on the team's private plane, and they were OK with sacrificing post-game pizza and replacing Gatorade with water laced with Himalayan rock salt. The training staff wanted the team and coaches, who will travel a league-leading 50,000 miles this year, to eat clean, so they eliminated sugar. And to be fair, given the team's record record, it looks like they may have been onto something. But the PB&J ban didn't sit so well, and after a prolonged protest, the Warriors won back their sandwiches.

"We had to get those [sandwiches] back," Warriors guard Shaun Livingston told the Wall Street Journal.

In the pantheon of bad eating, a PB&J is hardly a bad actor. As one Journal commenter noted, a PB&J is essentially a mixed meal on a plate, with protein, fats, and carbohydrates in a sandwich that can comfortably fit in your palm, or maybe two in your palm if you play in the NBA. For NBA players, the PB&J is something of a cult snack. The Journal reports that the Warriors' PB&J set-up consists of whole-wheat and 12-grain bread, Smuckers strawberry, and the option of Skippy crunchy or creamy peanut butter.

The opposition started with assistant coach Luke Walton, who told the Journal, "If you believe in something, you gotta fight for it." Walton apparently bugged everyone from flight attendants to coaches to repeal the ban.

He wasn't alone, and players willingly joined in the opposition. He also got the Warriors' General Manager Bob Myers, who lists PB&J as his desert island meal, on board. But when the sandwiches suddenly reappeared, players suspected someone else had intervened: Stephen Curry, the reigning NBA MVP who produces a highlight reel seemingly every night. He also likes the lunchbox favorite.

Even if you're not a Golden State fan, this is a win we can all get behind.