Its time to get a little bit sciency in the lab of the Gatorade. It all started in the summer of 1965 when a University of Florida assistant coach sat down with a team of university physicians and asked them to determine why so many of his players were being affected by heat and heat related illnesses.The researchers — Dr. Robert Cade, Dr. Dana Shires, Dr. H. James Free and Dr. Alejandro de Quesada — soon discovered two key factors that were causing the Gator players to 'wilt': the fluids and electrolytes the players lost through sweat were not being replaced, and the large amounts of carbohydrates the players' bodies used for energy were not being replenished.They soon took their findings into the lab, and scientifically formulated a new, precisely balanced carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage that would adequately replace the key components lost by Gator players through sweating and exercise. They called their concoction ‘Gatorade'.I'm not quite sure how they came up with the name though.
After the gator players were introduced to the new invention they certainly showed some improvement. They actually began winning. GO GATORS! Word about Gatorade began to spread outside of the state of Florida, and both the University of Richmond and Miami of Ohio, began ordering batches of Gatorade for their football teams. Orders from other college football programs across the country soon followed, as playing without Gatorade on your sidelines began to be likened to playing with just ten men on the field.
In the summer of 1969, Coach Ray Graves of the Florida Gators suggested to the Kansas City Chiefs that they use Gatorade to combat the staggering effects of a blistering Missouri sun during training camp. The Chiefs were so impressed with the “Gator coach's aid” that they kept it on their sidelines throughout the entire season… which concluded with a stunning victory over the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. In the years that followed, more and more NFL teams began placing Gatorade on the sidelines of their games and practices, and in 1983, Gatorade became the official sports drink of the NFL—a title it holds to this day. Lets go forward with the story of the powderade.
Powerade was first introduced in 1988 to compete with Gatorade in sports drink sales. During that same year, Powerade became the official sports drink of the Olympics. In July 2002, The Coca-Cola Company created new bottles for Powerade which had a sport-like grip. Powerade Option was introduced in the same year to compete with Pepsico’s Propel. Option was colorless and advertised as being a “low calorie sports drink.” A new version of Powerade, called Powerade Zero, was released in 2008. It is a zero-calorie sports drink with no carbohydrates, although it does contain electrolytes. Powerade’s main competition is Gatorade, which brings me to why I am blogging about this.
Since it was first introduced in 1988, Powerade has become the official sports drink of the Australian, New Zealand, and Ireland rugby teams, the AFL, PGA Tour, NASCAR, NHRA, NCAA, the U.S. Olympic Team (excluding basketball and soccer, which have deals with Gatorade) and several other leagues and organizations around the world. Over the year the years there have been many deiscontinued flavors here are a list of discontinued flavors for powerade and some original Gatorade flavors. What turned out to be your favorite?
Discontinued Flavors of powerade:
•Arctic Shatter
•Green Squall
•Belly Burst
•Orange Tangerine
•Dark Downburst
•Jagged Ice
•Black Cherry Lime
•Infrared Freeze
•Cherry Apple
•Flava 23 Sour Berry
•Flava 23 Sour Melon
Different Gatorade flavors:
Lemon Lime (green)
* Orange (orange possibly inspired by the Gators' Orange Bowl win.)
Fruit Punch (red)
Iced Tea Cooler (brown, discontinued in 1995)
* Grape (dark purple, discontinued, replaced by Fierce Grape)
Frost Glacier Freeze (light blue)
* Frost Riptide Rush (purple)
* Frost Alpine Snow (white, discontinued.)
* Frost Whitewater Splash (green, discontinued)
* Frost Clear Melon (colorless, discontinued)
* Lemon Ice (colorless, discontinued)
