A bar in Gainesville is offering a clever promotion for Saturday’s Alabama-Florida SEC Championship Game (4 p.m. ET, CBS). The bar, 101 Cantina, is handing out apparently free shots of liquor whenever Florida scores — field goal, touchdown, or safety.
Florida bar offers shots for every Gators score on Alabama, which ... is actually not that dangerous
This is probably a good way to not get all that drunk.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Here it is, from the bar’s Facebook page:
Seems pretty good! College students like alcohol, so offering it up for free is a smart way to get them in the door.
But the rub here (as the bar alludes to itself) is obvious: Florida is Florida, and Alabama is Alabama. The Gators scored 24 points per game this season, 104th in the country. The Tide’s defense, at 11.4 points allowed on average, leads the nation.
Not counting extra points, which don’t compel the bar to give out free shots, Florida had 49 scoring plays in 12 games. That would be a pace of four free shots per game, per person, if the bar were running this promotion all year. Hey, that’d be nice!
But Florida is playing Alabama, which hasn’t given up a touchdown since October. The Tide have allowed a total of 29 free shot-qualifying plays all season: 13 touchdowns, 16 field goals. That’s two shots per game, under these rules, and in three of the last four weeks, the number would have been one.
So credit to you, 101 Cantina. You get to tell everyone you’re ready to give them many free shots, but the overwhelming evidence suggests you won’t actually have to give them more than one or two free shots.
This is doing it better than the Ann Arbor steakhouse that offered a margin-of-victory discount right before Michigan played Rutgers, then had to cap the discount at 50 percent when Michigan won, 78-0. The bar apparently can use it. It’s reportedly been in an eviction fight recently. (I’m told by sources that the bar is quite fun and has a nice patio, although it’s liable to charge cover on game days and can get expensive.)
If Florida fans truly want to get rowdy, they should find a bar that will serve them rails for every Gators first down. And if that doesn’t do the job, perhaps “a shot for every Florida offensive yard gained” will be enough. There are no guarantees.
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