It's only right that the hometown hero, Derrick Brooks, be crowned as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers greatest player to date. Ok, so, Brooks might not exactly be from Tampa Bay, but he was born in Pensacola, Florida and he did spend his collegiate football years as a member of the Florida State University Seminoles. So, close enough. Derrick Brooks was one of those linebackers that had superior vision and would always find himself at the right place at the right time to make the right play. His aggressive style of play and smothering effect on receivers and running backs caused dysfunction for his opposition.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded multiple second round picks to the Dallas Cowboys in order to select Derrick Brooks 28th overall in the 1995 NFL Draft. Tampa Bay would be the only destination where Brooks would play professional football for fourteen seasons. Within that decade and a half, he was the centerpiece to the team's championship defense that defeated the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII. The 11x Pro Bowler never missed a single regular-season game throughout his Hall of Fame career.
Chefs made their way into celebrity land a while ago. But how many celebrities that weren’t trained as professional cooks are actually whizzes in the kitchen? Here are several that come to mind.
Actress Julia Roberts is confident about her cooking skills. “I’m quite a good cook,” she told E! News. “I’m like a closet home ec teacher…I can really cook anything.” Roberts has said she often cooks fish for herself and her kids. And speaking of her three children, “They think that I’m a good cook,” Roberts told People. “They actually told me that I should open a restaurant.” She also relishes cooking for the holidays, particularly shredded Brussel sprouts. Roberts hasn’t published a cookbook, but we did find recipes attributed to her for peach crisp and banana hemp muffins. Or you can make the same summer salad the actress supposedly eats.
Chrissy Teigen started off as a supermodel. Then her love of cooking filtered into her professional life too. At this point, she’s created recipes for a limited Blue Apron release and also just launched her own home and cooking line at Target named “Cravings,” after the two cookbooks she’s released. Teigen describes cooking as “a time of peace” for herself. So maybe peace out to her tuna melt sandwich or the fried chicken wings that are a favorite of her husband, John Legend.
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, comes from a cooking Italian family. Her father started his own restaurant in New York and also published a cookbook. And apparently, Lady Gaga has inherited the family’s cooking genes. Her Instagram account occasionally features photos of her culinary activities. Sure, sometimes it’s topless cooking. But other times it’s more poignant like in the post she shared about her bringing food to the family of her dear friend who passed away. Want to try a Gaga/Germanotta family favorite? Check out her recipe for whole wheat pasta with a sweet fennel sauce.