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Alamo Bowl

Alamo Bowl to Iowa State fans: We know you love Busch Light, and we're here for it

Danny Lawhon
The Des Moines Register
Iowa State fans were out in full force Saturday in Ames before the Cyclones played their final home game of the season against rival Kansas State.

Whether you are someone who'd chug it or chuck it, Busch Light fits comfortably in many an Iowa State sports fan's cooler.

It appears that anybody associated with rolling out the cardinal carpet is catching on. 

Both the Valero Alamo Bowl and the producer of the ninth-most popular beer in America are openly winking at this Cyclones phenomenon in the leadup to the team's football game against Washington State in San Antonio on Dec. 28.

And there might be something more in store.

The bowl's social media arm probably thought it was just playing along when it commented on a request from a popular Iowa State fan site Sunday night.

... Then the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned beer chimed in.

The rest of this is a modern social media suds story. The commitment is redoubled ...

... Before it's taken to biblical proportions.

Busch, for its part, knew that the state does not discriminate in its appreciation.  

And that's how we end up with the surreal picture of Alamo Bowl CEO Derrick Fox sporting a big grin with a can of the stuff in his hand.

"Some of (Iowa State's) people were here, and there was some Busch Light in our office. Someone said, 'Do you mind taking a picture?' And I said, 'Absolutely,'" Fox recalled in a phone interview with the Des Moines Register on Wednesday. "We’re in the business of fun, when you get down to it, and you embrace what people are doing. You're celebrating a great season and reinforcing their level of enthusiasm.

"... Hopefully the Anheuser-Busch stock hasn't already taken a hit (from my picture)."

What a world, huh?

Now, this is usually where these cute little stories end. Fox, however, isn't done looking into options to make sure the taps run dry.

Because look, central Iowans really are serious about this 4.1-percent ABV entry into the market of mass-produced light beer. Just ask WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler, or anyone else who unsuccessfully tried to keep the supply flowing in Memphis last December for the Liberty Bowl.

Or take a peek at any number of researched maps basically painting a Busch bull's-eye over the state of Iowa.

So it's not ridiculous for Fox to talk with San Antonio's local Anheuser-Busch distributor and discuss creative opportunities.

Nor is it obsessive-compulsive to call up the Alamodome, the site of the 8 p.m. ESPN contest, and check on the concessions.

"There are a variety of beverage options in the building, and we have inquired to make sure and see an additional complement (of Busch Light) available," he said.

... Give the people what they want.

It certainly isn't a foolish idea, as Iowa State is going gaga over this particular bowl appearance. Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard announced Wednesday that the Cyclones have gobbled up their allotment of tickets 12,000 tickets (the stadium seats 64,000 for football) and are craving more.

Lots of college-town fans will think they are schools with attachments to adult beverages, but Washington State is no slouch on the Busch Light front, either.

In eastern Washington, the stuff is apparently called "Pullman Water." 

There's an urban legend that one of the city's grocery stores, Dissmores, at one point sold a statistically significant portion of the entire country's stock of Busch Light.

And when ESPN's "College GameDay" made its maiden voyage to Pullman this past season, fans were flying the proper colors.

 

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