Your favorite NBA team's logo, soon to be available on a pizza

I'm gearing up for Thursday night's playoff game between my beloved Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, and boy, I could go for a giant pepperoni pizza with my team's purple-and-gold logo seared into the middle! I'll have to wait, but eventually fans like me will be able to spend an extra $5 to have an edible NBA logo on some of our game-night snacks. (The term edible is used somewhat loosely, judging from the ingredients: sugar, starch and food coloring. Maybe with enough beer it'll be tolerable.) The NBA, reeling from a drop in licensed merchandise sales, has made a deal for about 1,200 independent pizza parlors to offer the colorful logos of 30 teams on their pies, starting next season. The league won't stop there, and is planning licensed toasters (already the province of Hello Kitty and tons of kid entertainment properties), panini sandwich presses and more. What, no vending machines?

—Posted by T.L. Stanley