In Omaha this past week, a new record was set, and the way it was achieved — and why — is all the better.
Monday night, a new champion was crowned at the College World Series, and I am not referring to the result of the game. Louisiana State University was not only crowned the new champion in one contest, but the school obliterated a record. The students and alumni came to Nebraska intending to set new marks for the competition and they achieved their goal in an impressive fashion.
LSU is the new Jell-O shot champion of 2023!
To explain: The NCAA College World Series is held each year in Omaha, Nebraska, at Charles Schwab Field. Directly across the street is the now famed watering hole, Rocco’s Pizza. Over the years, the various teams that come into town have had a variety of drinking competitions on-site during the weeks of the series, when eight schools that won regional tournaments arrive to play for the national title.
Initially, for one contest, school-themed shots were created by Rocco’s owner, and he then decided in the ensuing years to create elixirs for the teams in the competition. A few years ago, he settled on the idea of making up Jell-O shots for each school, and this led to a secondary competition evolving during the World Series. The schools would compete to see who would consume the most Jell-O drinks on behalf of their team.
Rocco’s keeps a running tally each day, and the competition has developed to such a degree that updates on the progress have become news items, especially in the hometown press of the schools in the series. There is even a Twitter account with tens of thousands of followers that delivers the running totals and other regular updates.
Last year, Ole Miss set the record for consumption during a tournament, with 18,777. In 2023, the Tiger faithful left New Orleans with two goals in mind: winning the College World Series and setting a new mark for Jello-O shots. Well, they succeeded in winning both. By Monday, June 19, it seemed a foregone conclusion that LSU could surpass the record, but then things turned crazy.
The owner of New Orleans chicken joint Raisin’ Canes, Todd Graves, made the record official when he bought 6,000 shots in one…well, shot. He also set a Guinness Book of World Records for the largest round of drinks purchased.
Records are meant to be broken! All time team total ✅ All time overall total ✅ Guinness Book of World Record for shots purchased by one person ✅. @ToddGraves head fry cook from @raisingcanes out here supporting @LSUbaseball. Congrats on the new record. #RoccosOmaha #Cws2023 pic.twitter.com/jKi2aWEj4S
— CWS Jello Shot Challenge (@CWSShotBoard) June 19, 2023
That did not last a week. Lawyer and Tiger fan Gordon McKernan ponied up for 8,888 shots in one order totaling just about $45,000. (McKernan also had some Raisin’ Canes chicken shipped in to feed the Rocco’s staff.) Lest anyone blanch at the amount of funds dropped on gelled cocktails, what Rocco’s does is use the proceeds from the sales to donate to local food banks either on campus or in the areas of each school.
New Record! 8,888 Rally Shots on @getGordon at Rocco's today with proceeds supporting local food banks. Records are meant to be broken, especially those that support charities! In the meantime, remember to drink responsibly and #GetItDone Tigers! #geauxtigers #cws2023 pic.twitter.com/lkLnwH91RB
— CWS Jello Shot Challenge (@CWSShotBoard) June 26, 2023
But these figures started to defy my sense of logic regarding this enterprise. I had to figure out the logistics of doling out this many shots in this fashion. Rocco’s has a dedicated refrigerator that can hold up to 3,000 shots at one time. On the highest volume day, Rocco’s served 11,000. While having staffers dedicated to just making these was certain, I wanted to find out how. The answer is Jevo.
This is a Jello-O shot-making device that operates not unlike a Keurig coffee maker. The company has a variety of flavored gelatin packages that you can load into their proprietary shot-making machine. After dropping down the plunger you then fill the reservoir with the appropriate liquor. At the bottom, you slide in a tray with 20 of the serving cups, then program the process on the touchscreen interface at the front. It mixes the liquor, gelatin, and water and then shows the progress bar as they are then filled. The ingredients will then be firm to serve in roughly 20-30 minutes.
This has been a fun university competition, but this year — as happens in collegiate endeavors — the boosters got involved and completely altered the premise. By the end of things, over 90,000 shots were served in total, and LSU became dual champions on Monday as the school was credited with just under 69,000 shots dispensed in their honor. That will lead to well over $60,000 raised for the LSU food bank.
