MCWS 2023 - How a Jell-O shot challenge became the second-biggest event in Omaha - ESPN

OMAHA, Neb. — Rocco's Pizza and Cantina, which sits about 50 steps across the street from the site of the Men's College World Series, was predictably busy Sunday when manager Pat McEvoy was called to the patio to meet a guy interested in placing a large order. The man looked like an average fan, wearing an LSU cap and a green T-shirt with a logo for Murphy's, a now-defunct Baton Rouge bar.

When someone told McEvoy that the man was the founder and CEO of Raising Cane's chicken, McEvoy was skeptical.

«This time of year,» McEvoy said, «everybody's somebody. I had no idea if he was telling the truth or if he was just messing with us.»

But this wasn't a joke. Todd Graves, a Baton Rouge resident and entrepreneur, bought $30,000 worth of Jell-O shots — 6,000 total drinks. He wanted to give LSU the MCWS Jell-O Shot Challenge record and fire up the fan base Monday right before the Tigers played No. 1 Wake Forest at the Men's College World Series.

LSU lost that night's baseball game but claimed the Jell-O shot record, and on Thursday ended up beating Wake Forest for the second time in two days to advance to the MCWS championship series.

The Jell-O Shot Challenge, in its fourth year, has become the second-most talked-about event in Omaha. Fan bases from the eight teams in the MCWS compete over who can ingest the most shots, which are color-coded for each squad. Stanford fans consumed wild-cherry red; Florida fans downed green apple. «We couldn't really get a good blue color,» McEvoy said.

One dollar from each of the $5 shots will be donated to the shot-drinking team's local food bank, owner Kevin Culjat said, and another 50 cents will go to the Heartland Food Bank in Omaha.

McEvoy updates the totals four times a day, weaving his