Bud Bowl: The Grandaddy (or at least Drunk Uncle) of Them All

In an odd twist of history and / or math this Sunday will mark the 25^th anniversary of Bud Bowl and the 10^th anniversary of nipplegate. I have to admit that I missed the latter because I had changed the channel to, ok to be honest I have no idea what I changed the channel to. It could have been the Puppy Bowl, it could have been some random show on MTV, or I could have just left the room for a while because I had no desire to see Janet Jackson or Justin Timberlake. In fact, it wasn’t until the next day that I knew that anything noteworthy had happened. And let’s face it, there was a lot more flesh on display at the Puppy Bowl that year anyway.

But Bud Bowl, now that is something that I could look back on fondly. Who can forget the yearly battle between Budweiser (the beer of choice when you are out of all other options) and Bud Light (the beer that is best described as having sex in a canoe.) You had the legendary Budway Joe at quarterback, the heroic Budsky as the kicker and the later addition of Bud Dry. If they played today they would also have to include Bud Platinum though I don’t know how you would bring Bud Platinum into the game without making some very off color remark.

(Truth be told, Kim and I actually tried Bud Platinum when it first came out. Between the two of us we were unable to finish a bottle. Remember that we met in a bar, had most of our first conversations in a bar, had our first date in a bar in the French Quarter and combined we have the high score on bar trivia machines in something like seven states. If we can’t finish a bottle that tells you something about the quality.)

There are people who now talk about how horrible that ad campaign was but I was precisely the right age for a beer commercial (fifteen) at the time and it worked perfectly. For years we were always focused on the Bud Bowl. One year I lost money betting on the Bud Bowl. I’m pretty sure that the Bills lost to Bud Light in Bud Bowl IV. There were times when we cared more about the Bud Bowl than we did the actual game. If there was ever an advertising campaign with staying power it is the Bud Bowl, which is up there with the Hamm’s Bear in terms of marketing alcohol to people who are technically not old enough to purchase it.

I can’t say that it turned me into a Budweiser drinker though and I will end with one of my fun bar stories from my past. I was in Lawrence, KS one night sitting in I think Buffalo Wild Wings burning time before heading to a concert. The only reason I was in BW3 was that it was October and I wanted to watch the baseball playoffs. Anyway, I’m sitting at the end of the bar and this woman in a Budweiser jacket starts talking to the bartender about Budweiser products and whatever new beer they were pitching at the time. I’m the only other person at the bar and somehow I got drawn into the conversation and she offers to buy me a beer and I decline. She just stares at me and asks why and I respond. “I don’t drink Budweiser.” That got her all flustered so she went, “Why don’t you drink Budweiser? You’re drinking a Miller Lite and you know they are foreign owned now so why don’t you support an American brand?” My response said it all.

“Because I hate St. Louis.”