Summer is finally in full swing, and for those of us in D.C., that means frequent stops at Sticky Fingers bakery. All vegan goodies, from cupcakes to chili cheese dogs, and that summer fave—soft-serve ice cream! No, to answer the obvious question, life does not get any better. So, it is as I enjoy some sugary ice cream goodness that I settle into rifling through the Internet for fun, animal-related items to share with you.

• I feel guilty for laughing so hard at this.
• Not even kidding, it's a boxing feline!
• Vegan food delivered to my doorstep? Yes, please!
• Where'd the kitty go? Too cute!
• "Check returned due to insufficient ethics." Go NARN!
• Vegan cage fighter Mac Danzig will now kick ass in your living room!
• Check out momma bird's ingenuity.
• Who doesn't love a good chimp chuckle?

All fun and happy stuff for this edition. See you next time.

Posted by Missy Lane

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As a lifelong vegetarian, Jake Shields is no stranger to sticking up for the little guys. Maybe that's why the XC welterweight champion agreed to appear in a recent episode of MTV's Bully Beatdown, a show that puts teenage bullies in the ring with professional fighters to give them a taste of how miserable it feels to be the underdog.

In an interview with our friends at The Discerning Brute, Jake said, "Well I'm a life-long vegetarian and the diet obviously works. I also have two brothers that are strong and healthy. But you do have to have a good balanced diet and eat healthy foods. There's plenty of ways to get protein other than eating meat."

Awesome athletes like Jake and his fellow fighter Mac Danzig are evidence that not only is a vegetarian diet a possible diet for athletes, it might even be the best diet.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

So did y'all see the game last night? The one where my Boston Celtics took apart the Los Angeles Lakers like they were made out of Legos and won their first NBA title since 1986? If you did, you might have caught an interview where my man Kevin Garnett talked about how he transferred (he actually said "transcended," which was awesome) his tradition of eating a whole mess of PB&Js before every game over to his Celtic teammates when he was traded there in the offseason.

Professional athletes? Eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches?

[Wait for it …]

WHERE DO THEY GET THEIR PROTEIN!?!?!?!?!?!?!?1/1/1

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getwiththeprogram / CC

I found this fascinating. The reaction to the interview was pretty much: "Look at KG and his wholesome, nutritious pre-game snack. It's so wholesome! And nutritious!" But PB&J is as much of a vegetarian staple as the Boca burger—I think I ate it for lunch every day for my first eight years as a vegan. So why do I feel that if KG had said, "I eat a vegan meal before every big game," the reaction would have been … different? It's like everyone is cool with eating healthy, but for some reason, eating vegan has this whole different connotation for some people—even though it's exactly the same thing.

I read an article on ESPN.com yesterday (while I was, uh, totally working hard and not on the interwebs), where Prince Fielder, Tony Gonzalez, Mac Danzig, and a bunch of other vegetarian athletes were talking about how being vegetarian has affected their game. No surprises: Gonzalez talks about having more energy in the fourth quarter of games and being able to blow by tired, meat-eating defenders, and Danzig talks about recovering faster from workouts. You can't argue with results. I figure that if a vegetarian diet is good enough for some of the top athletes on the planet, it's good enough for everyone.

So, note to the Lakers: Maybe some PB&J will help next time. Although grabbing a few offensive boards wouldn't hurt either. Just sayin'.

—Dan

Posted by Dan Shannon

Mac Danzig, for those of you unfamiliar with his work, is a Mixed Martial Arts King of the Cage Champion, and—as of two days ago—the winner of Spike TV’s Ultimate Fighter 6. I’m not going to go into too much detail about what these things mean, as the key point here should be evident from the titles themselves. The dude is a serious badass.

He also happens to be an outspoken animal rights activist, who speaks up about the health benefits and the ethics of a vegan diet at pretty much every opportunity he gets. Mac’s Spike TV victory means that he’s going to be debuting on the big stage—the Ultimate Fighting Championship—next month, and all of our best wishes go with him. Here’s an interview Mac Danzig did with those trendsetting scene-hoppers over at peta2 last year, and the following is a highlight reel of Mac’s fights that should give you an idea of what happens to dudes who get in the ring with a vegan.

Congratulations, Mac—we’re looking forward to seeing more of you in the future.

Keep It Reel Productions