Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:35 pm EDT
By J.E. Skeets

Like Bullets Forever, I would've guessed that Washington Wizards forward Caron Butler(notes) had cut soda from his diet completely when team officials banned him from drinking Mountain Dew back in 2007.

As you might recall, Butler was so addicted to the "highly caffeinated neon-yellow liquid" that he claimed to have six refrigerators full of the Crab Juice-like beverage and was chugging two-liters of it per game.

But apparently, tricky, sticky "Tuff Juice" snuck in another 16 months or so of sweet Mountain Dews, Cokes and Tentacle Grapes, as he now tells the Washington Wizards Blog that he just quit last spring:

"I cut out soda this summer. I stopped drinking soda April 8th, so I have been away from soda basically the whole summer. No Mountain Dew, no grape soda, just water and juices. I got a nice juicer and I've been mixing a whole lot of things in there ... my body is feeling a lot better from not drinking the soda and sticking with just the juices."

You know, if Wiz teammate Gilbert Arenas(notes) can help push hibachis off the
shelf, I don't see any reason why a healthy Caron can't work out some sort of
endorsement deal with Jack LaLanne and his Power Juicer.
"That's the power of the juice! Tuff juice!"