2018's Super Bowl LII finds the Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots, who've won the last four world championships and most clearly dominate this year's game.
In the spirit of the Super Bowl, football fans and the like become steadily enraptured in the weeks leading up to game day. People start throwing out outrageous and regrettable promises as some sort of superstitious precaution perhaps to "speak" to the Football Gods that be (or maybe the football players themselves) using the power of self-imposed subjugation.
"I'll chug jar of pickle juice if Nick Foles outperforms Tom Brady," and "I'll do the laundry, wash the dishes, and clean the toilet for a whole month if the first offensive play of the game is a pass made by Dion Lewis," and "If the Eagles win, I'll give each of my three kids a new iPhone." Well, some bets are better left hedged.
For example, Bud Light's latest dopamine tease: If the Philadelphia Eagles managed to beat Tom Brady's team, the Anheuser-Busch brand will give free beer to all of Philadelphia. The risk-to-reward ratio is far more difficult to stomach than, as Grub Street put it, "beer-flavored water." But Philadelphians, who have nothing to lose from Bud Light's marketing opportunity, are psyched at the idea of a paid bar tab on one of the biggest drinking days of the year.
Lane Johnson, Eagles right tackle, first suggested a free beer offer in 2017 at the beginning of the season when he told an ESPN reporter that he had a lot to prove to Philadelphia citizens. "If we win a Super Bowl, I'm giving out beer to everybody," Johnson said.
Bud Light quickly scooped up the suggestion, tweeting the next day, "Let's make a bet. Win it all and the party is on us. Deal?"
To spare the team from an unintentional jinx, the company has not yet said explicitly what a well-deserved victory by the Eagles would mean for thirsty Philadelphia fans. The company announced on Twitter on Jan. 22 that they intend to "keep things under wraps until the winner of the Super Bowl is determined." You know, no pressure, Eagles.