June 12, 2025 • 36 mins
Pat McEvoy, manager of Rocco's Pizza and Cantina, joins us to share the incredible story of how he created the CWS Jell-O Shot Challenge that has taken the College World Series by storm and raised over $350,000 for food banks nationwide. Growing up in Omaha with a deep love for college baseball, Pat accidentally turned a simple bar competition into a charitable phenomenon that's now as much a part of the CWS experience as the games themselves.
• Omaha native who grew up attending the College World Series with his father
• Started tracking team-based shot sales in 2012, inspired by a dueling piano bar competition
• Transitioned to pre-packaged Jell-O shots in 2019, making it easier to track and serve
• Competition went viral on social media, growing from 17 Twitter followers to over 50,000
• Now donates $1 from each shot to team food banks, with 50¢ staying in Omaha
• LSU fans set the record with over 70,000 shots consumed during their championship run
• Kentucky fans intentionally stopped at 69,069 shots last year
• Partnered with a new Jell-O shot company with 120,000 shots ready for this year's tournament
• "Rocco's on the Road" initiative has brought the concept to college venues across the country
• Murray State makes their first CWS appearance this year as the ultimate underdog story
Visit Rocco's Pizza and Cantina right across from gate two at Charles Schwab Field during the College World Series to be part of the Jell-O Shot Challenge and help support food banks across the country.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
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Speaker 2 (01:01):
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(01:22):
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I am Sean Klesch, the host ofStories Inside the man Cave
Podcast.
So if you have never been toOmaha, nebraska, it is a
prideful city community.
They embrace the College WorldSeries.
This is year number 75.
(01:44):
Embrace the college worldseries.
This is year number 75 andwe're about to meet a guy who
really started a new tradition.
Uh, and I I can't believe Iadmitted this to him that I have
not been back as a fan sincethe last two years of rosenblatt
stadium, the old, venerable,leaky, historic girl you know.
(02:05):
And this guy, he is a part ofcharitable work, a manager of a
bar and jello shots.
You know those shots that weregretted back in college the
next day and very colorful.
Well, the College World Seriesand Jell-O Shots go hand in hand
.
And before we get to that,before we get this rolling.
(02:29):
Follow us on each of our socialmedia platforms Facebook, igx,
youtube and TikTok.
And the best part aboutsubscribing to YouTube it's free
.
With the way things are goingwith our economy, we need more
things free.
So, as I have teased, I want togive you a little shot of what
I'm talking about the cws jelloshot challenge.
(02:49):
Look at this rocco's pizza andcantina.
Those are not the officialjello shots at the right, that's
just some generic graphic thatI found and those are not in my
condo as we speak.
But but that board that dryerase board the gentleman you're
about to meet here shortly.
He fills that out as each teamclenches a spot in the College
(03:13):
World Series.
Well, the field of eight is set.
One team who plays in thestadium behind me is not there,
but has been there more thananybody.
But the CWS Jello ShotChallenge what a beautiful thing
.
And he will I've given him thego to make fun of me and give me
a hard time for notexperiencing this.
(03:35):
The CWS Jell-O Shot Challenge.
Let's talk about it.
Murray State first ever trip tothe promised land of college
(04:10):
baseball in Omaha.
The Murray State Racers has astadium that seats about 800
people.
It kind of resembles the wallof the old Rosenblatt, kind of
falling apart a little bit, butit's beautiful.
This is what's beautiful aboutcollege baseball and you know,
what's also great are sponsors,particularly Honest Plumbing and
(04:35):
Air Go.
Follow them on their socialmedia and give them a call,
including Jim Saxton, state FarmInsurance and Dirty Martin's
Place celebrating 99 years.
The food's not healthy, but itis absolutely delicious.
How about we bring in our guest?
It's time to transition to theguy who makes a lot of people
(04:57):
smile in Omaha and serves aS-ton of jello shots.
Let's ride.
Good morning, oh wait, goodevening.
Whatever time you're watchingthis, pat McAvoy of Rocco's
(05:20):
Pizza and Cantina.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's tough to tell I don't sleep this time of year,
so it's all the same to me.
You know, Morning evening, noonnight, I don't know.
It's tough to tell I don'tsleep this time of year, so it's
all the same to me.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
you know, morning, evening, noon night, I don't.
It's tough to tell my brotherthis.
We reached out.
Uh, I reached out to you ontwitter.
I should have done it in person.
But let's get the criticism outof the way yeah, so you're
obviously scared of jello shots.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I mean, that's the only that's what I know about
you for in the, in the littleinteraction we've had.
I mean, I we have talked alittle bit now and I just know
you're scared to come to Omahaand throw back some jello shots.
Hey, once too many, 30 is notenough, and I know that it
happens.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, so you know how it is.
If you go back to our collegeyears, you have one bad
experience with a certainalcohol-related oh yeah.
You never do it again.
But then you find the momentthat you'll do it again.
So I'm thinking next year, 2026, maybe that time.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Listen, if you don't make it, then I'm going to come
down to Austin, we're going togo to Dirty's and we're going to
have some food and we're goingto have some Jell-O shots there.
If that's the case I mean, Iheard the food's phenomenal oh
my God, daniel Young does itright.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
That's somebody you need to meet, daniel Young, at
Dirty's and, while you're at it,meet Jim Saxton.
You know, while you're here,because you got to be insured
while you're in Austin.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Oh yeah, Well, especially me.
I mean, you know, if I'mbringing a bunch of jello
somewhere, I got to be insured.
That just makes sense.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Well, tell me a little bit about your story.
You're a Nebraska guy throughOmaha you grew up going to the
College World Series.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, so my dad and his best friend, they, they,
they went to, I think, 27championship games in a row.
You know, they, they were inOmaha and they, you know they,
they went to so many in a row,but every year my dad would,
would take me and it was one ofthose things where, like, you go
and you're, you know, you'refive, six, seven years old, and
(07:21):
you go down there and thespectacle of the thing is
massive.
Everybody, I mean, the crowdsare huge and the fan bases are
nuts and everybody's cheering oncollege baseball and it's
impossible to not fall in lovewith that right.
And so you become a collegebaseball fan immediately when
you see that thing.
And I'm fortunate enough to befrom Omaha and I've gotten to
(07:42):
experience it my whole life.
So you go and you do the thing,and you do it once, you do it
twice, you do it three times.
At no point in time Are youthinking, oh, someday I will be
a part of the lore.
You just say, like this is thecoolest thing in the world and I
hope it stays in Omaha forever.
And then, yeah, so you know, 20, uh, 2010, last year of old
Rosenblatt.
Um, and then you know, 2010,last year of old Rosenblatt.
(08:04):
And then you know 2011, theymove it to the new stadium and I
just happened to work at thebar across the street,
accidentally, we'll say.
You know, I accidentally got ajob across the street and the
first year that you know the2017 year was Florida, south
(08:25):
Carolina, and I'm a championshipand the Florida fans were down
and they wanted Ali shots.
So I said, ok, well, you know,my bar at the time was something
.
And and the Florida fans go, oh, what, what?
What are we going to call them?
I said, well, you're Floridafans, so we're going to call
them F.
You know, it was a bit of methbombs, you know.
And so South Carolina fans seethat and they're like, oh well,
(08:48):
we want our own shots too.
If the Florida fans haveF-bombs, what do we get?
I'm like, well, you're the guysF-bombs are flying all over the
bar at this point in time, andso people were buying each other
drinks and having a good time,and I realized that it was fun.
Everybody loved having theirown theme drink or theme, you
(09:10):
know, theme show.
I don't think anything of it.
And like, six months later,nebraska and Creighton are
playing, uh, basketball and andI'm in a dueling piano bar
watching it and the one guy'splaying go big red for Nebraska
and the other guy's playinglet's go jays and whoever has
more money in their tip jar.
That I mean, that's who.
That's who's playing.
So these Creighton and Omahait's controversial because
you're a Nebraska football fanbut you're a Creighton
(09:30):
basketball fan.
They call them Jayskers.
You know, like people, you knowthere's some people have real
strong opinions on the Jayskersand so people are, you know,
tripping over each other tothrow hundreds into these guys
tip jar.
And I was like these guys aregeniuses.
They just they incentivizedbeing a fan of a sport, like
they made it monetary.
And so, you know, in 2012, whenthe series rolled around, I was
(09:50):
like, hmm, what if I did that?
Only, I started keeping trackof how many shots we sell and at
the time it wasn't jello.
At the time I literally justhad a 20 ounce storm pour, but
each team had their own colorand their own like kind of
filthy shot name and we just ranit.
But there's no social mediabecause it was like Vanderbilt.
(10:10):
Yeah, well, in Vanderbilt, theCommodores, they were the salty
semen and not everybody wants todo it.
You have fun jokes and again,it's a local thing and the
people that knew about it knewabout it, but we were selling
maybe 200, 300, maybe 400 shots.
It wasn't crazy.
(10:33):
2018, good night's closed andRocco's opened, and so 2019,
kevin, the owner, said hey, man,how'd you do this?
It's a really cool idea.
So I explained it to him and hegoes what if we just make them
these prepackaged Jell-O shots?
That way you don't have toliterally pour 20 individual
shots or 40 individual shots orhowever many.
You can literally just handthem a bucket of 20 Jell-O shots
(10:54):
.
And I was like that's genius,bucket of 20 jello shots.
And I was like that's genius,because that way I don't have to
do that many dishes or throwthrow that many shots or you
know like.
So it's just it, it.
It made it a lot easier.
And so we that was that was thebirth of the the jello shot
challenges when Kev was like hey, this, this is going to be way
(11:16):
easier.
I said yeah, I was infayetteville two weeks ago for
the regionals and a guy showedme a video and he said hey, I
bet you weren't here for this.
And he shows me a video of mepouring the shots and he goes
you don't remember, rock goesback in these days.
I was like, dude, that's me onyour video pouring the shots.
And he looked at his video andhe looked at me.
He goes that's you.
(11:37):
I was like, yeah, man, I wasthe one who was free pouring a
hundred shots at a time becauseyou ran us out of jello.
That's.
That was that.
That was there, buddy, don'tworry about it.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So that's, that's I love that story because that's,
you know, the birth, how,something, the idea.
Because, let's face it, inbusiness, wherever any, we all
have ideas.
We come together, we make, weevolve and make the idea even
better.
This right here is from lastyear.
I don't think that's the finaltotals, that's just.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
That, that is.
That's the final total.
So that's yeah.
Tennessee.
Yeah, that's the.
The Kentucky number is funny,obviously the Kentucky number
that a guy literally stopped meand he goes hey, I want to buy
14 shots for Kentucky, but thenI want you to cut off Kentucky's
number.
And I was like no man, we gotlike three hours left is the
last day.
(12:29):
I was like that, we got likethree hours left, I can't just
cut anybody off.
He goes, all right, well, youtell me, like you know, when
you're going to, when you'regoing to cut it off.
I said, all right, when you seeme leave the Jell-O Shop bar,
that's going to be the lastupdate.
And so he stopped me and hegoes hey, man, where's Kentucky
at right now?
And I was like you guys are at69,058.
(12:50):
And he goes all right, let mebuy 11.
Then I was like all right.
So he specifically wanted tomake sure.
And even the newspaper inLexington was like Kentucky ends
on nice number for Jell-O shotchallenge.
Yeah, so those are the finals.
It was.
You know, the Tennessee fanswere like, they were
(13:10):
flabbergasted.
They were like how do we?
You know, even if you take out,you know, the LSU year, even if
you take out the donors, youhad Todd Graves come and buy
6,000.
And you know we had.
You know, even if you take outthe big, big purchases, lsu was
still over 50,000.
Yeah, the Tennessee fans werelike I don't get it, like how
(13:32):
are we not even close?
And I said, well, you know, thegame's going on, it's the
championship.
And I said, well, you know, thegame's going on, it's the, it's
the championship.
And I said, you know, there's75, 80 of you in the bar right
now.
I said if LSU was here, there'dbe 350 people in the bar right
now.
They, they, they show up.
They don't give a damn aboutgoing to the game, they
literally just show up for theparty.
(13:52):
I was like that's thedifference.
All of you came here, couldn'tget tickets, so you're hanging
out with me instead.
You know the LSU folks willsleep in, they'll sleep on the
sidewalk if they have to just bepart of the party.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It's a party wherever they go.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Oh yeah, they, they try.
It's like I've never met I mean, the competition is fun I've
never met a fan base morecompetitive about the party Like
they.
They hold it in high esteem.
They try to drink you out ofbeers or they try to drink you
out of jello shots, like they'recoming for your throat.
As a fan base, they want you asa bar to have to tell them no,
(14:29):
like they're looking for thatreason and sometimes that
happens, I mean, two years ago,we literally we're like me and
and JD and Tucker, the who, whowere part owners of the bar, we,
we all get together and and youknow, we kind of look around
and we say, all right, it's 9 PM, how many of these people are
too drunk to be in public?
(14:51):
All right, probably only about20% of them, so we're good to go
.
And then 10 PMm comes and, allright, we're creeping up on 30
percent now, and now that 11 pmhits and we're like, ah, it's 50
, we got to call last call, likeonce we get toa certain point,
we just we know that that thosefans and again Tennessee A&M
didn't have as many problemsbecause they weren't waking up
and hammering a bottle ofEverclear at 7 am, like the LSU
(15:13):
fans were like that.
You know that's so.
Every fan base is a little bitdifferent, and but we, you know,
we, we try to do it right.
We try to make sure thateveryone's taken care of, and
some days we have to close earlybecause everyone's hammered and
someone pulls the fire alarm,and some days we can stay up at
all too.
It's tough to tell.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
When you look at the field of eight now you've got
some traditional.
I mean some traditional.
I mean, I hate that.
The two SEC teams.
You've got LSU and Arkansas.
They have to face off againsteach other in one bracket.
And then you've got CoastalCarolina great story.
They won the championship in2016,.
(15:49):
They're still classified as amid-major.
But then you've got MurrayState.
You've already heard from them,correct?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Then you've got Murray State.
You've already heard from them,correct?
I promise you that Omaha therecould be 50 Murray State fans.
I mean, the stadium holds 800.
If all 800 people that go to ahome game come to Omaha, they're
not going to touch the Jell-Oshot record, but Omaha is going
to jump on Murray State's back.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Omaha loves a good underdog story.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Omaha will represent Murray State.
The little-known fact the CBA,the semi-pro basketball team in
Omaha a back that used to playin an old ex-Arbin was the Omaha
Racers.
So a bunch of people have theold Racers jerseys and
everything.
You're going to see a lot ofold heads like walking around
with the racers stuff on, butit's the Omaha racers basketball
(16:40):
and not the Murray state racers.
So it's going to be.
It's going to be like kind of atime time machine for some of
those people, but no, it's.
There's such a good story, man,and, like I said, omaha when,
when Coastal did it in 16, youknow that was awesome and and
and and you know that that was aspecial story and I know we've
talked about this a little bit,but you know that, uh, their
pitching coach was in Rocco'sthree months before and and it
(17:03):
was cool to see.
You know I, you know, uh, sorry, three years before, and I was
like I didn't even know theChanticleer's logo.
I knew he's a coach fromsomewhere, but I didn't know the
Chanticleer's logo.
And I got to talking to him andI oh you're, you're going over
to the game Creighton's playingbaseball in the nineties.
No, I'm scouting a kid fromIowa Western oh that's cool,
it's cool, but you're not goingto go in there.
And he said, no, I'll never stepfoot in that stadium until I
(17:25):
earned my way into that stadiumand I think that that that just
shows you how much, how much,how much to everyone in in, in
all levels of baseball really.
But but definitely and and thenhe, he earned his way.
They've been 16, they beat LSUin the super and then and then
Barnstorm their way through thetournament on some, on some
(17:45):
great pitching and some clutchhitting and and it was, it was
fun, everybody.
Again, they only had 50 peoplein town.
It was all the players, parentsand family you know family and
stuff like that.
But that whole stadium was tealbecause everyone in Omaha was
rocking the Chanticleers and Ithink people will still be on
them.
But Murray State is such a goodstory.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
That's a wonderful story.
And then I've got to ask youknow, because Texas hasn't been
now in two or three years, texashasn't been in.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Texas has been here recently.
You haven't, though I'm justputting that back there.
You haven't.
Texas has been here recently,you haven't, I'm just yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
That's a good, hey, he's not wrong.
But the city of Omaha, you knowyou go back, you know this.
Miami, the Arizona States,Texas, LSU, Cal.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
State Fullerton.
Fullerton, yeah, they haveembraced it.
Texas.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
LSU, alstead, fullerton, fullerton yeah, they
have embraced it, but it'ssomething I always know, because
have you met Mark Pena withOccupy Left Field?
Yeah, okay.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat group and what you're going
to miss not having that groupup.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
It's tough because you know, everyone always asks
like what's?
You know, what fan base do youwant to come, or what fan base?
And it's for us, we don't.
You know we're not.
We want to sell jello toeverybody and we want to give to
all the food banks.
Obviously we, you know thatwith the donations, so we don't
really pick a squad.
But there are teams that travelbetter and for me personally,
(19:24):
there are fans that are betterbaseball fans.
You know, like some of thepeople, you know some of the
people you meet, especially likethere's a lot of Texas fans
that are Texas baseball fans.
They're not Texas fans, they'renot, you know, they're not,
they're literally Texas baseballfans.
And that's what I love aboutthem is that they'll talk to you
(19:48):
about all in 76.
And we were there and this guywas on the mound and he hung the
curve and that loss is likethese guys are die hard.
And to hear that, hear thestories from before I was born
and about their experiences,omaha and and you know,
obviously Texas has been thereso many times but to hear them
and to hear them talk aboutbaseball and you know, obviously
Texas has been there so manytimes but to hear him and to
hear him talk about baseball andyou know, knowing a guy's, you
know wins above replacement in92 and like all these different
(20:11):
squads, and it's really cool tojust sit and soak up some of
that knowledge.
And there is a lot of Longhornsfans that are true-to-life
baseball aficionados and I doappreciate that about them.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I agree with that.
It's a well-educated collegebaseball fan base.
You know, I'd be remiss if Ididn't ask you how do you guys
plan to prep for all these jelloshots?
Because that's a lot of jelloshots, because you know, and I
hate to, you know, I definitelywant to promote people who may
(20:44):
be watching to go, becauseyou're right there at the
stadium.
It was TD Ameritrade, now it'sthe Charles the Swab.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You're literally right there.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Outside of gate two.
You walk out and the firstthing you see is our patio.
So it's, we literally are rightacross the street and you know
the team buses come in on 13th.
We're right on 13th is inbetween us and the street, and
you know the team buses come inon 13th.
We're right on we're.
13th is in between us and thestadium the team buses come in.
I hear I'm not positive this isgoing to happen or not.
I hear LSU is not going to showup in a team bus.
They're going to show up on aMardi Gras float this year.
(21:15):
I have no idea if that's trueor false.
I'm getting weird words and I'mlike, hey, that's cool with me,
but no, we're right there and sothat helps.
Obviously, the proximity iswhat's key, because people, you
know, the game gets over andthere's about a 30-second TV
delay, right, and so we have our.
(21:36):
You know, if it's nice, we havegarage doors and we open those,
so it's an indoor-outdoorsituation and you hear the
stadium go nuts and everybodyturns, turns the TV, and it's
like Vasquez winds up.
What's going on, what'shappening?
Oh boy, that ball is well hit,you know.
And then you see, there's, youhear it before you, before you
(21:59):
see it on TV, which is awesomebecause we're right there, like
we literally could throw abaseball into the stadium from
our patio.
You know, maybe in my youngeryears I probably couldn't, now I
don't know, but yeah, we'reright there.
So, and then you just see thestream, just an absolute river
of human bodies coming out ofthe stadium, and the first thing
(22:20):
you see is Rocco's in.
So it's pretty nuts, but it's,it's a lot of fun.
So how do you?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I mean, so there's different the different colors.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yeah, so how do you prep all that?
Yeah, so we, uh, we do it.
We've done it as many ways aswe have found feasible thus far.
The first couple of years weuse a prepackaged Jell company,
and then we had, we had someguys that came in and made.
They were on site making thejello shots and and making them
(22:53):
the the different team colorsand doing all that.
This year we're we're going thisis a, this is a brand new shot
company.
So you know, on Thursday,whoever buys the first jello
shot on Thursday and we startselling, that's gonna be the
first ever Rocco's branded jelloshot.
So you know, on Thursday,whoever buys the first Jell-O
shot on Thursday and we startselling, that's going to be the
first ever Rocco's brandedJell-O shot.
So these guys, we got connectedwith them and they have.
(23:13):
We have one hundred and twentythousand Jell-O shots in Omaha,
ready, ready for us.
There's four different flavorsthis year, so they won't
necessarily be individual teamcolors like they have been in
the past.
We're working towards that inthe future.
But the team color thing isbrutal, because if you don't
like your flavor, you know, ifyou're, if you're North Carolina
(23:36):
and you don't like light blueGatorade, then you're going to.
You're going to hate the seriesbecause you're going to have to
do 50,000 of them.
Yeah, so it's.
You know it's thousand of them.
Yeah, so it's, you know it's.
It was kind of one of thosethings where we figured at this
point in time, the shots arewhat you know, the the number on
the board is is what matters,the donations to charity are
what matters, and so it's.
You know, we, we decided we'regoing to go.
These four flavors, we, wetaste tested them heavily, don't
(23:58):
get me wrong, they're all verygood, you do we made sure and,
and checked and rechecked andrechecked again.
But we, yeah, we, we made sureand checked and rechecked and
rechecked again, but we, yeah,we made sure they're, they taste
good and that they could workwith us.
They're, they're, they'recharitable folks as well and
they want us to do a bunch ofother events.
So, again, we, we have thisidea of Rocco's on the road and
(24:19):
it's really just my excuse to goand, and you know, to see other
baseball stadiums.
You know, we went to, we wentto Fayetteville, we went to
Baumwalker, we were in BatonRouge last year and got to see
three games from the suitesthere and raised another I think
it was about $7,000 while wewere down there.
We partnered with the bar and weraffled off Marucci spins us a
(24:40):
bat every year, the Jell-O Shotchampion bats, and so we raffled
off Repl replica, the LSU bat,down there, and, yeah, another
7,000 for greater Baton Rougefood bank, which is 21,000 meals
.
You know what I mean With thein-kind donations and stuff.
So it's, it's a, it's a cooldeal and, and you know, the
Rocco's on the road thing isneat, but it's just selfishly me
(25:00):
wanting to go places and youknow, and raise a little money,
but also see baseball and theseguys, these job shot guys, they
want to take it even bigger.
They want to, they want to sendus to a lot of other spots and
and really up the charitableaspect of it.
The competition may be less so,but the charitable aspect of it
is is cool and that's whatthey're really pushing.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
So that's, that's what drew us to them as well.
I've got a great idea.
I don't know if everything willalign, but you guys bring
Rockos on the road to Dish FalkField in Austin.
I'll connect you with BrittPeterson Pena, even Chris Del
Conte, the AD.
Get you a suite, get a foodtruck however it works inside
(25:41):
the stadium, and oneorganization, unless it's
strictly for food banks RBIAustin, it's, it's, it's a oh
goodness, it's mentorship andbaseball and softball programs
for inner city youth.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
So we, we, we generally leave it up to up to
the.
Wherever we go, we leave it upto them.
So when we were down in uh inFayetteville, they, uh, we, we
partnered with Foghorns downthere and they gave it to.
Parker Pack Nasi Charities,which is which is similar.
It's underprivileged youthbaseball mentorship and and
programming, and so uh, that'sthat's who they did, they
(26:19):
donated to, and we again, we'llgo down there and we'll, we'll
rep it and we'll, we'll wear theshirts and the hats and tell
all the stories and that's youknow, but the bar still has to
do it.
You know what I mean.
So the bar, it's whatever theywant to give to.
So I mean any any baseballrelated thing is great.
I mean we obviously being inthe food, 95 percent of the year
we're a restaurant and 5percent we're a bar, and it will
(26:41):
just happen to be the bar thatserves the jello.
You know so it's.
You know so we're.
We're big into, uh, into, intogetting people fed and food
insecurity.
The owners, kevin and Bonnie,have been given to food bank of
the Heartland for for a numberof years before.
Yeah, when, when it got big,and you know, and, like I said,
I, I started it, kevin made itjello.
(27:02):
I started the Twitter accountand I had 17 followers.
On Monday this is the, this isthe old miss here and I had 17
followers.
I was like no one's going tocare about this thing, like it's
, like some people were talkingabout it on Friday at 17,000 and
now I have 50,000 or somethinglike that Well, people really
care about this.
And so, you know, once it gotbig and once we started, you
(27:23):
know, like ESPN was talkingabout us and all these other
things, kevin and Bonnie Donorswere like we got to, we can't,
we got to do something with it.
And they sat down and they heliterally he's like, he's
texting me, like 4 am.
I'm like why are you awake, man, Like you're going to?
That year Ole Miss and Arkansaswere neck and neck.
(27:50):
It's a little bit like thisyear, honestly, with the.
They were in the same bracket,which we wish they would have
had the championship.
But you know they should reseedthe damn thing.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I'm all for that, Pat .
I really am.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me, but I get it.
It's a bracket, just like inMarch Madness and yada, yada,
yada.
But it would be a lot cooler ifthose two but Arkansas and Ole
Miss are going back and forthand whoever won that, it pushed
the if-necessary game and OleMiss won it, and whoever won
that game to go to thechampionship was going to win
(28:23):
the jealous shots and they, sothey decided all right, we're
just going to give.
Those two teams have bothbought 8,000 plus shots.
We're going to donate, you know, two bucks from every shot to
those two food banks.
Well then, the next year wedecided, dollar from every team
goes to the food banks and 50cents stays local.
You know, and and to date it'swe've given over $350,000 in the
(28:43):
last, you know, three, fouryears, whatever it is, I haven't
, to be fair, I haven't.
Kevin and Bonnie have.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
They're the ones.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, I don't, yeah, I, I don't.
I donate mine to localbartenders when I'm done, I
guess.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
That's what I donate my money to.
No, I love that you know givingback and it's.
It's so fun, it's friendlycompetition.
It's another element whichmakes that great event even
better.
I call baseball's promised landOmaha, nebraska.
Pat, since you're here, wecan't let you go until you take
part in stories inside the manCave tradition.
(29:20):
All right, the the man cavestory.
There have been some legendaryones, some that still comical
thinking about them, but isthere one story tied to rocco's
(29:43):
and you and your love for theCollege World Series?
That's just as amusing today asit was when it happened, I
think there's a lot of them.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Certainly, I've seen a lot of weird things over the
years, maybe the greatestmistake I've ever made in my
entire life.
I started a Snapchat just forthe gel.
I started the Twitter just forthe gel, you know.
I started the Twitter, startedInstagram, I started a Snapchat
and I, like, three days into theseries, I checked the Snapchat
because I'm not, you know, I'mnot not on my phone much because
(30:15):
I'm working.
And three days in, I check andthere's about 40 pictures of
boobs on my Snapchat.
Girls from hey, put you on theboard for Ole Miss.
And I'm like, oh, my God, I'man idiot, right.
And so I.
I I make a post and say, hey,as nice as all these are, I
can't put, can't put any shotson the board if you just cause
(30:37):
you're sending me these.
So I stopped getting them.
I'm the dumbest guy in theworld.
I could have just kept going.
Yeah, I know.
And I was like, hey, no amountof sultry snaps are going to get
you points on the board with me.
That was one of the ones whereI think about that and every
year I just kind of kick myselfin the ass.
(30:57):
I'm like God, you could havejust been.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You're missing out on areolas.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I know it was a tough game Every day that and
everybody found out andeveryone's like was that really
happening?
I was like, oh, it's still likeit's.
It's crazy.
The owner's wife was like areyou serious?
She's like you got it.
I was like, yeah, she's likehey, good for you.
I was like she's like are theynice?
It's like, oh, they're great.
Yeah, good, miss midwesternboobs, right.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Oh, they're great yeah they're good Midwestern
boobs right.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Oh, they're all over the country.
Like well, I said all over thecountry and I mean, when you
open up my snap map, there'snothing west of Omaha, it's all
southeast of Omaha.
It's the SEC, a lot of SECboobs.
That's a lot for that squad,and that's again.
If there's another conferencethat has more beautiful women
(31:47):
than the SEC, I don't know it.
So I was perfectly comfortablewith that.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Absolutely Texas to the east.
Oh, absolutely Heavilyconcentrated, Brother.
Let's end this thing on somepositivity.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Hey Ben.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Tell me something good.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Pat McAvoy.
He has graced us with hispresence.
Another lie I lied to him.
I said, man, this is going totake 20 minutes.
We've told some good stories,you've told some great stories,
but we like to end on positivity.
Pat, is there anything youwould love to?
Well, tell me something good,my brother, about you, omaha
College World Series and Rocco's.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Yeah, and I think that the heart of the thing is
like this is fun for us and I'mnot saying that this hasn't been
awesome for the business, butthe thing that made it cool, the
thing that makes this lasting,isn't you know me writing on a
whiteboard?
It isn't you know, it isn't itisn't you know?
Oh, this shot is this color?
(32:50):
This shot is this color.
It's not that, it's jello.
It's a fact that we're givenback.
And the stories you hear, youknow, a week, two weeks, three
weeks after the series, when youknow when someone goes to their
, you know, pick up their mailat a food bank and gets a
$38,000 check and they're youknow that doubles or triples
their year intake.
You know, and it, and whatpeople don't understand about
(33:13):
that too, is that a lot of like,it's not like.
Oh, the kids at this university, they can afford their own food
.
It's the workers, it's thepeople, you know, in the
community, it's all of thesedifferent folks that are using
these things.
So the fact that we've been ableto to give back and to do that,
you know I've already gottentexts from from all these
schools already being like, hey,it's been a really rough year.
(33:35):
There's been cuts andeverything, and so we're we're
struggling, we're struggling,we're struggling, we're
struggling.
We hope you guys have a goodyear, because you know that
means that they'll have a goodyear too, and I think that's
that's what's cool about it, isthat we're we're able to do this
thing and to have thistradition, but make make use of
(33:56):
it in a way that that that doesgood for people.
You know, and that's what makesus happy is is again, I'm not
sad about having 400 peoplejammed in the bar, you know, but
, but the thing that makes itworthwhile and all the long
hours and the long days and allthe other stuff is is the fact
that we we know we've made itinto something cool that we can
do good for.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And you guys have done amazing things, and it's
always good when you give backto your community.
There's no better feeling thanthat, while you're enjoying
something that you love.
That's, first of all, yourmission and your joy of being
the GM of Rocko's in Omaha, andyou're right there for what I
think is one of the top threesporting events in the world the
(34:37):
College World Series.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
It's tough to deny that and I've traveled a lot of
places.
I was in 16.
I was in Chicago for the WorldSeries and they're like, oh, pat
, pat, you're the college worldseries guy.
I'm like, hey, you know, likewe got to, we got to sort of uh,
bond over our trauma of workinga giant event like that.
So you meet other people thathave done a super bowl or what
(34:58):
done, whatever like, and again,every time I go to a new place,
the first place I go is going tobe a bar and talk to the
bartenders about what I shouldsee.
So I, you know I love beingthat for the people.
You know that come in for Omahaas well.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
I love it and he's a man of the people.
He has relationships withcollege baseball fan bases
across the country.
So when, if you're in Omaha,man, go stop by, introduce
yourself to Pat at Rocco's.
It's right there.
Everything's convenient at thatnewer stadium.
So, brother, I appreciate you.
Thanks for making time for us.
(35:30):
Absolutely, man.
Thank you so much.
Hey, whenever you have a chanceto talk about Pat McAvoy,
rocco's and Omaha, jello shotsgalore for a great cause and for
the love of this great game,college baseball.
And whenever you have anopportunity and the subject is
about the College, for a greatcause and for the love of this
great game, college baseball.
(35:51):
And whenever you have anopportunity and the subject is
about the College World Seriesyou know what?
Speaker 1 (35:58):
It's always good to talk about it.
honest is a strong word and we all need honesty
when it comes to plumbing, andhvac needs somebody who will
take care of the repairsefficiently and with quality.
Honest Plumbing and Air is whoI trust and they take pride in
that word.
Honest Plumbing and Air, wherea handshake still means
something.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Well, if you have not been to Austin, texas, this
time of year, it is cool, kindof for Austin Texas standards.
But to the point about honestplumbing and air, get the HVAC,
your unit, inspected, becausetriple-digit heat will be here
any day and it will not let upuntil the end of September.
(01:22):
So give our guys at HonestPlumbing and Air a call or
online at their website.
I am Sean Klesch, the host ofStories Inside the man Cave
Podcast.
So if you have never been toOmaha, nebraska, it is a
prideful city community.
They embrace the College WorldSeries.
This is year number 75.
(01:44):
Embrace the college worldseries.
This is year number 75 andwe're about to meet a guy who
really started a new tradition.
Uh, and I I can't believe Iadmitted this to him that I have
not been back as a fan sincethe last two years of rosenblatt
stadium, the old, venerable,leaky, historic girl you know.
(02:05):
And this guy, he is a part ofcharitable work, a manager of a
bar and jello shots.
You know those shots that weregretted back in college the
next day and very colorful.
Well, the College World Seriesand Jell-O Shots go hand in hand
.
And before we get to that,before we get this rolling.
(02:29):
Follow us on each of our socialmedia platforms Facebook, igx,
youtube and TikTok.
And the best part aboutsubscribing to YouTube it's free
.
With the way things are goingwith our economy, we need more
things free.
So, as I have teased, I want togive you a little shot of what
I'm talking about the cws jelloshot challenge.
(02:49):
Look at this rocco's pizza andcantina.
Those are not the officialjello shots at the right, that's
just some generic graphic thatI found and those are not in my
condo as we speak.
But but that board that dryerase board the gentleman you're
about to meet here shortly.
He fills that out as each teamclenches a spot in the College
(03:13):
World Series.
Well, the field of eight is set.
One team who plays in thestadium behind me is not there,
but has been there more thananybody.
But the CWS Jello ShotChallenge what a beautiful thing
.
And he will I've given him thego to make fun of me and give me
a hard time for notexperiencing this.
(03:35):
The CWS Jell-O Shot Challenge.
Let's talk about it.
Murray State first ever trip tothe promised land of college
(04:10):
baseball in Omaha.
The Murray State Racers has astadium that seats about 800
people.
It kind of resembles the wallof the old Rosenblatt, kind of
falling apart a little bit, butit's beautiful.
This is what's beautiful aboutcollege baseball and you know,
what's also great are sponsors,particularly Honest Plumbing and
(04:35):
Air Go.
Follow them on their socialmedia and give them a call,
including Jim Saxton, state FarmInsurance and Dirty Martin's
Place celebrating 99 years.
The food's not healthy, but itis absolutely delicious.
How about we bring in our guest?
It's time to transition to theguy who makes a lot of people
(04:57):
smile in Omaha and serves aS-ton of jello shots.
Let's ride.
Good morning, oh wait, goodevening.
Whatever time you're watchingthis, pat McAvoy of Rocco's
(05:20):
Pizza and Cantina.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's tough to tell I don't sleep this time of year,
so it's all the same to me.
You know, Morning evening, noonnight, I don't know.
It's tough to tell I don'tsleep this time of year, so it's
all the same to me.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
you know, morning, evening, noon night, I don't.
It's tough to tell my brotherthis.
We reached out.
Uh, I reached out to you ontwitter.
I should have done it in person.
But let's get the criticism outof the way yeah, so you're
obviously scared of jello shots.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I mean, that's the only that's what I know about
you for in the, in the littleinteraction we've had.
I mean, I we have talked alittle bit now and I just know
you're scared to come to Omahaand throw back some jello shots.
Hey, once too many, 30 is notenough, and I know that it
happens.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, so you know how it is.
If you go back to our collegeyears, you have one bad
experience with a certainalcohol-related oh yeah.
You never do it again.
But then you find the momentthat you'll do it again.
So I'm thinking next year, 2026, maybe that time.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Listen, if you don't make it, then I'm going to come
down to Austin, we're going togo to Dirty's and we're going to
have some food and we're goingto have some Jell-O shots there.
If that's the case I mean, Iheard the food's phenomenal oh
my God, daniel Young does itright.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
That's somebody you need to meet, daniel Young, at
Dirty's and, while you're at it,meet Jim Saxton.
You know, while you're here,because you got to be insured
while you're in Austin.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Oh yeah, Well, especially me.
I mean, you know, if I'mbringing a bunch of jello
somewhere, I got to be insured.
That just makes sense.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Well, tell me a little bit about your story.
You're a Nebraska guy throughOmaha you grew up going to the
College World Series.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, so my dad and his best friend, they, they,
they went to, I think, 27championship games in a row.
You know, they, they were inOmaha and they, you know they,
they went to so many in a row,but every year my dad would,
would take me and it was one ofthose things where, like, you go
and you're, you know, you'refive, six, seven years old, and
(07:21):
you go down there and thespectacle of the thing is
massive.
Everybody, I mean, the crowdsare huge and the fan bases are
nuts and everybody's cheering oncollege baseball and it's
impossible to not fall in lovewith that right.
And so you become a collegebaseball fan immediately when
you see that thing.
And I'm fortunate enough to befrom Omaha and I've gotten to
(07:42):
experience it my whole life.
So you go and you do the thing,and you do it once, you do it
twice, you do it three times.
At no point in time Are youthinking, oh, someday I will be
a part of the lore.
You just say, like this is thecoolest thing in the world and I
hope it stays in Omaha forever.
And then, yeah, so you know, 20, uh, 2010, last year of old
Rosenblatt.
Um, and then you know, 2010,last year of old Rosenblatt.
(08:04):
And then you know 2011, theymove it to the new stadium and I
just happened to work at thebar across the street,
accidentally, we'll say.
You know, I accidentally got ajob across the street and the
first year that you know the2017 year was Florida, south
(08:25):
Carolina, and I'm a championshipand the Florida fans were down
and they wanted Ali shots.
So I said, ok, well, you know,my bar at the time was something
.
And and the Florida fans go, oh, what, what?
What are we going to call them?
I said, well, you're Floridafans, so we're going to call
them F.
You know, it was a bit of methbombs, you know.
And so South Carolina fans seethat and they're like, oh well,
(08:48):
we want our own shots too.
If the Florida fans haveF-bombs, what do we get?
I'm like, well, you're the guysF-bombs are flying all over the
bar at this point in time, andso people were buying each other
drinks and having a good time,and I realized that it was fun.
Everybody loved having theirown theme drink or theme, you
(09:10):
know, theme show.
I don't think anything of it.
And like, six months later,nebraska and Creighton are
playing, uh, basketball and andI'm in a dueling piano bar
watching it and the one guy'splaying go big red for Nebraska
and the other guy's playinglet's go jays and whoever has
more money in their tip jar.
That I mean, that's who.
That's who's playing.
So these Creighton and Omahait's controversial because
you're a Nebraska football fanbut you're a Creighton
(09:30):
basketball fan.
They call them Jayskers.
You know, like people, you knowthere's some people have real
strong opinions on the Jayskersand so people are, you know,
tripping over each other tothrow hundreds into these guys
tip jar.
And I was like these guys aregeniuses.
They just they incentivizedbeing a fan of a sport, like
they made it monetary.
And so, you know, in 2012, whenthe series rolled around, I was
(09:50):
like, hmm, what if I did that?
Only, I started keeping trackof how many shots we sell and at
the time it wasn't jello.
At the time I literally justhad a 20 ounce storm pour, but
each team had their own colorand their own like kind of
filthy shot name and we just ranit.
But there's no social mediabecause it was like Vanderbilt.
(10:10):
Yeah, well, in Vanderbilt, theCommodores, they were the salty
semen and not everybody wants todo it.
You have fun jokes and again,it's a local thing and the
people that knew about it knewabout it, but we were selling
maybe 200, 300, maybe 400 shots.
It wasn't crazy.
(10:33):
2018, good night's closed andRocco's opened, and so 2019,
kevin, the owner, said hey, man,how'd you do this?
It's a really cool idea.
So I explained it to him and hegoes what if we just make them
these prepackaged Jell-O shots?
That way you don't have toliterally pour 20 individual
shots or 40 individual shots orhowever many.
You can literally just handthem a bucket of 20 Jell-O shots
(10:54):
.
And I was like that's genius,bucket of 20 jello shots.
And I was like that's genius,because that way I don't have to
do that many dishes or throwthrow that many shots or you
know like.
So it's just it, it.
It made it a lot easier.
And so we that was that was thebirth of the the jello shot
challenges when Kev was like hey, this, this is going to be way
(11:16):
easier.
I said yeah, I was infayetteville two weeks ago for
the regionals and a guy showedme a video and he said hey, I
bet you weren't here for this.
And he shows me a video of mepouring the shots and he goes
you don't remember, rock goesback in these days.
I was like, dude, that's me onyour video pouring the shots.
And he looked at his video andhe looked at me.
He goes that's you.
(11:37):
I was like, yeah, man, I wasthe one who was free pouring a
hundred shots at a time becauseyou ran us out of jello.
That's.
That was that.
That was there, buddy, don'tworry about it.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So that's, that's I love that story because that's,
you know, the birth, how,something, the idea.
Because, let's face it, inbusiness, wherever any, we all
have ideas.
We come together, we make, weevolve and make the idea even
better.
This right here is from lastyear.
I don't think that's the finaltotals, that's just.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
That, that is.
That's the final total.
So that's yeah.
Tennessee.
Yeah, that's the.
The Kentucky number is funny,obviously the Kentucky number
that a guy literally stopped meand he goes hey, I want to buy
14 shots for Kentucky, but thenI want you to cut off Kentucky's
number.
And I was like no man, we gotlike three hours left is the
last day.
(12:29):
I was like that, we got likethree hours left, I can't just
cut anybody off.
He goes, all right, well, youtell me, like you know, when
you're going to, when you'regoing to cut it off.
I said, all right, when you seeme leave the Jell-O Shop bar,
that's going to be the lastupdate.
And so he stopped me and hegoes hey, man, where's Kentucky
at right now?
And I was like you guys are at69,058.
(12:50):
And he goes all right, let mebuy 11.
Then I was like all right.
So he specifically wanted tomake sure.
And even the newspaper inLexington was like Kentucky ends
on nice number for Jell-O shotchallenge.
Yeah, so those are the finals.
It was.
You know, the Tennessee fanswere like, they were
(13:10):
flabbergasted.
They were like how do we?
You know, even if you take out,you know, the LSU year, even if
you take out the donors, youhad Todd Graves come and buy
6,000.
And you know we had.
You know, even if you take outthe big, big purchases, lsu was
still over 50,000.
Yeah, the Tennessee fans werelike I don't get it, like how
(13:32):
are we not even close?
And I said, well, you know, thegame's going on, it's the
championship.
And I said, well, you know, thegame's going on, it's the, it's
the championship.
And I said, you know, there's75, 80 of you in the bar right
now.
I said if LSU was here, there'dbe 350 people in the bar right
now.
They, they, they show up.
They don't give a damn aboutgoing to the game, they
literally just show up for theparty.
(13:52):
I was like that's thedifference.
All of you came here, couldn'tget tickets, so you're hanging
out with me instead.
You know the LSU folks willsleep in, they'll sleep on the
sidewalk if they have to just bepart of the party.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It's a party wherever they go.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Oh yeah, they, they try.
It's like I've never met I mean, the competition is fun I've
never met a fan base morecompetitive about the party Like
they.
They hold it in high esteem.
They try to drink you out ofbeers or they try to drink you
out of jello shots, like they'recoming for your throat.
As a fan base, they want you asa bar to have to tell them no,
(14:29):
like they're looking for thatreason and sometimes that
happens, I mean, two years ago,we literally we're like me and
and JD and Tucker, the who, whowere part owners of the bar, we,
we all get together and and youknow, we kind of look around
and we say, all right, it's 9 PM, how many of these people are
too drunk to be in public?
(14:51):
All right, probably only about20% of them, so we're good to go
.
And then 10 PMm comes and, allright, we're creeping up on 30
percent now, and now that 11 pmhits and we're like, ah, it's 50
, we got to call last call, likeonce we get toa certain point,
we just we know that that thosefans and again Tennessee A&M
didn't have as many problemsbecause they weren't waking up
and hammering a bottle ofEverclear at 7 am, like the LSU
(15:13):
fans were like that.
You know that's so.
Every fan base is a little bitdifferent, and but we, you know,
we, we try to do it right.
We try to make sure thateveryone's taken care of, and
some days we have to close earlybecause everyone's hammered and
someone pulls the fire alarm,and some days we can stay up at
all too.
It's tough to tell.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
When you look at the field of eight now you've got
some traditional.
I mean some traditional.
I mean, I hate that.
The two SEC teams.
You've got LSU and Arkansas.
They have to face off againsteach other in one bracket.
And then you've got CoastalCarolina great story.
They won the championship in2016,.
(15:49):
They're still classified as amid-major.
But then you've got MurrayState.
You've already heard from them,correct?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Then you've got Murray State.
You've already heard from them,correct?
I promise you that Omaha therecould be 50 Murray State fans.
I mean, the stadium holds 800.
If all 800 people that go to ahome game come to Omaha, they're
not going to touch the Jell-Oshot record, but Omaha is going
to jump on Murray State's back.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Omaha loves a good underdog story.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Omaha will represent Murray State.
The little-known fact the CBA,the semi-pro basketball team in
Omaha a back that used to playin an old ex-Arbin was the Omaha
Racers.
So a bunch of people have theold Racers jerseys and
everything.
You're going to see a lot ofold heads like walking around
with the racers stuff on, butit's the Omaha racers basketball
(16:40):
and not the Murray state racers.
So it's going to be.
It's going to be like kind of atime time machine for some of
those people, but no, it's.
There's such a good story, man,and, like I said, omaha when,
when Coastal did it in 16, youknow that was awesome and and
and and you know that that was aspecial story and I know we've
talked about this a little bit,but you know that, uh, their
pitching coach was in Rocco'sthree months before and and it
(17:03):
was cool to see.
You know I, you know, uh, sorry, three years before, and I was
like I didn't even know theChanticleer's logo.
I knew he's a coach fromsomewhere, but I didn't know the
Chanticleer's logo.
And I got to talking to him andI oh you're, you're going over
to the game Creighton's playingbaseball in the nineties.
No, I'm scouting a kid fromIowa Western oh that's cool,
it's cool, but you're not goingto go in there.
And he said, no, I'll never stepfoot in that stadium until I
(17:25):
earned my way into that stadiumand I think that that that just
shows you how much, how much,how much to everyone in in, in
all levels of baseball really.
But but definitely and and thenhe, he earned his way.
They've been 16, they beat LSUin the super and then and then
Barnstorm their way through thetournament on some, on some
(17:45):
great pitching and some clutchhitting and and it was, it was
fun, everybody.
Again, they only had 50 peoplein town.
It was all the players, parentsand family you know family and
stuff like that.
But that whole stadium was tealbecause everyone in Omaha was
rocking the Chanticleers and Ithink people will still be on
them.
But Murray State is such a goodstory.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
That's a wonderful story.
And then I've got to ask youknow, because Texas hasn't been
now in two or three years, texashasn't been in.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Texas has been here recently.
You haven't, though I'm justputting that back there.
You haven't.
Texas has been here recently,you haven't, I'm just yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
That's a good, hey, he's not wrong.
But the city of Omaha, you knowyou go back, you know this.
Miami, the Arizona States,Texas, LSU, Cal.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
State Fullerton.
Fullerton, yeah, they haveembraced it.
Texas.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
LSU, alstead, fullerton, fullerton yeah, they
have embraced it, but it'ssomething I always know, because
have you met Mark Pena withOccupy Left Field?
Yeah, okay.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat group and what you're going
to miss not having that groupup.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
It's tough because you know, everyone always asks
like what's?
You know, what fan base do youwant to come, or what fan base?
And it's for us, we don't.
You know we're not.
We want to sell jello toeverybody and we want to give to
all the food banks.
Obviously we, you know thatwith the donations, so we don't
really pick a squad.
But there are teams that travelbetter and for me personally,
(19:24):
there are fans that are betterbaseball fans.
You know, like some of thepeople, you know some of the
people you meet, especially likethere's a lot of Texas fans
that are Texas baseball fans.
They're not Texas fans, they'renot, you know, they're not,
they're literally Texas baseballfans.
And that's what I love aboutthem is that they'll talk to you
(19:48):
about all in 76.
And we were there and this guywas on the mound and he hung the
curve and that loss is likethese guys are die hard.
And to hear that, hear thestories from before I was born
and about their experiences,omaha and and you know,
obviously Texas has been thereso many times but to hear them
and to hear them talk aboutbaseball and you know, obviously
Texas has been there so manytimes but to hear him and to
hear him talk about baseball andyou know, knowing a guy's, you
know wins above replacement in92 and like all these different
(20:11):
squads, and it's really cool tojust sit and soak up some of
that knowledge.
And there is a lot of Longhornsfans that are true-to-life
baseball aficionados and I doappreciate that about them.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I agree with that.
It's a well-educated collegebaseball fan base.
You know, I'd be remiss if Ididn't ask you how do you guys
plan to prep for all these jelloshots?
Because that's a lot of jelloshots, because you know, and I
hate to, you know, I definitelywant to promote people who may
(20:44):
be watching to go, becauseyou're right there at the
stadium.
It was TD Ameritrade, now it'sthe Charles the Swab.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You're literally right there.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Outside of gate two.
You walk out and the firstthing you see is our patio.
So it's, we literally are rightacross the street and you know
the team buses come in on 13th.
We're right on 13th is inbetween us and the street, and
you know the team buses come inon 13th.
We're right on we're.
13th is in between us and thestadium the team buses come in.
I hear I'm not positive this isgoing to happen or not.
I hear LSU is not going to showup in a team bus.
They're going to show up on aMardi Gras float this year.
(21:15):
I have no idea if that's trueor false.
I'm getting weird words and I'mlike, hey, that's cool with me,
but no, we're right there and sothat helps.
Obviously, the proximity iswhat's key, because people, you
know, the game gets over andthere's about a 30-second TV
delay, right, and so we have our.
(21:36):
You know, if it's nice, we havegarage doors and we open those,
so it's an indoor-outdoorsituation and you hear the
stadium go nuts and everybodyturns, turns the TV, and it's
like Vasquez winds up.
What's going on, what'shappening?
Oh boy, that ball is well hit,you know.
And then you see, there's, youhear it before you, before you
(21:59):
see it on TV, which is awesomebecause we're right there, like
we literally could throw abaseball into the stadium from
our patio.
You know, maybe in my youngeryears I probably couldn't, now I
don't know, but yeah, we'reright there.
So, and then you just see thestream, just an absolute river
of human bodies coming out ofthe stadium, and the first thing
(22:20):
you see is Rocco's in.
So it's pretty nuts, but it's,it's a lot of fun.
So how do you?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I mean, so there's different the different colors.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yeah, so how do you prep all that?
Yeah, so we, uh, we do it.
We've done it as many ways aswe have found feasible thus far.
The first couple of years weuse a prepackaged Jell company,
and then we had, we had someguys that came in and made.
They were on site making thejello shots and and making them
(22:53):
the the different team colorsand doing all that.
This year we're we're going thisis a, this is a brand new shot
company.
So you know, on Thursday,whoever buys the first jello
shot on Thursday and we startselling, that's gonna be the
first ever Rocco's branded jelloshot.
So you know, on Thursday,whoever buys the first Jell-O
shot on Thursday and we startselling, that's going to be the
first ever Rocco's brandedJell-O shot.
So these guys, we got connectedwith them and they have.
(23:13):
We have one hundred and twentythousand Jell-O shots in Omaha,
ready, ready for us.
There's four different flavorsthis year, so they won't
necessarily be individual teamcolors like they have been in
the past.
We're working towards that inthe future.
But the team color thing isbrutal, because if you don't
like your flavor, you know, ifyou're, if you're North Carolina
(23:36):
and you don't like light blueGatorade, then you're going to.
You're going to hate the seriesbecause you're going to have to
do 50,000 of them.
Yeah, so it's.
You know it's thousand of them.
Yeah, so it's, you know it's.
It was kind of one of thosethings where we figured at this
point in time, the shots arewhat you know, the the number on
the board is is what matters,the donations to charity are
what matters, and so it's.
You know, we, we decided we'regoing to go.
These four flavors, we, wetaste tested them heavily, don't
(23:58):
get me wrong, they're all verygood, you do we made sure and,
and checked and rechecked andrechecked again.
But we, yeah, we, we made sureand checked and rechecked and
rechecked again, but we, yeah,we made sure they're, they taste
good and that they could workwith us.
They're, they're, they'recharitable folks as well and
they want us to do a bunch ofother events.
So, again, we, we have thisidea of Rocco's on the road and
(24:19):
it's really just my excuse to goand, and you know, to see other
baseball stadiums.
You know, we went to, we wentto Fayetteville, we went to
Baumwalker, we were in BatonRouge last year and got to see
three games from the suitesthere and raised another I think
it was about $7,000 while wewere down there.
We partnered with the bar and weraffled off Marucci spins us a
(24:40):
bat every year, the Jell-O Shotchampion bats, and so we raffled
off Repl replica, the LSU bat,down there, and, yeah, another
7,000 for greater Baton Rougefood bank, which is 21,000 meals
.
You know what I mean With thein-kind donations and stuff.
So it's, it's a, it's a cooldeal and, and you know, the
Rocco's on the road thing isneat, but it's just selfishly me
(25:00):
wanting to go places and youknow, and raise a little money,
but also see baseball and theseguys, these job shot guys, they
want to take it even bigger.
They want to, they want to sendus to a lot of other spots and
and really up the charitableaspect of it.
The competition may be less so,but the charitable aspect of it
is is cool and that's whatthey're really pushing.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
So that's, that's what drew us to them as well.
I've got a great idea.
I don't know if everything willalign, but you guys bring
Rockos on the road to Dish FalkField in Austin.
I'll connect you with BrittPeterson Pena, even Chris Del
Conte, the AD.
Get you a suite, get a foodtruck however it works inside
(25:41):
the stadium, and oneorganization, unless it's
strictly for food banks RBIAustin, it's, it's, it's a oh
goodness, it's mentorship andbaseball and softball programs
for inner city youth.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
So we, we, we generally leave it up to up to
the.
Wherever we go, we leave it upto them.
So when we were down in uh inFayetteville, they, uh, we, we
partnered with Foghorns downthere and they gave it to.
Parker Pack Nasi Charities,which is which is similar.
It's underprivileged youthbaseball mentorship and and
programming, and so uh, that'sthat's who they did, they
(26:19):
donated to, and we again, we'llgo down there and we'll, we'll
rep it and we'll, we'll wear theshirts and the hats and tell
all the stories and that's youknow, but the bar still has to
do it.
You know what I mean.
So the bar, it's whatever theywant to give to.
So I mean any any baseballrelated thing is great.
I mean we obviously being inthe food, 95 percent of the year
we're a restaurant and 5percent we're a bar, and it will
(26:41):
just happen to be the bar thatserves the jello.
You know so it's.
You know so we're.
We're big into, uh, into, intogetting people fed and food
insecurity.
The owners, kevin and Bonnie,have been given to food bank of
the Heartland for for a numberof years before.
Yeah, when, when it got big,and you know, and, like I said,
I, I started it, kevin made itjello.
(27:02):
I started the Twitter accountand I had 17 followers.
On Monday this is the, this isthe old miss here and I had 17
followers.
I was like no one's going tocare about this thing, like it's
, like some people were talkingabout it on Friday at 17,000 and
now I have 50,000 or somethinglike that Well, people really
care about this.
And so, you know, once it gotbig and once we started, you
(27:23):
know, like ESPN was talkingabout us and all these other
things, kevin and Bonnie Donorswere like we got to, we can't,
we got to do something with it.
And they sat down and they heliterally he's like, he's
texting me, like 4 am.
I'm like why are you awake, man, Like you're going to?
That year Ole Miss and Arkansaswere neck and neck.
(27:50):
It's a little bit like thisyear, honestly, with the.
They were in the same bracket,which we wish they would have
had the championship.
But you know they should reseedthe damn thing.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I'm all for that, Pat .
I really am.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me, but I get it.
It's a bracket, just like inMarch Madness and yada, yada,
yada.
But it would be a lot cooler ifthose two but Arkansas and Ole
Miss are going back and forthand whoever won that, it pushed
the if-necessary game and OleMiss won it, and whoever won
that game to go to thechampionship was going to win
(28:23):
the jealous shots and they, sothey decided all right, we're
just going to give.
Those two teams have bothbought 8,000 plus shots.
We're going to donate, you know, two bucks from every shot to
those two food banks.
Well then, the next year wedecided, dollar from every team
goes to the food banks and 50cents stays local.
You know, and and to date it'swe've given over $350,000 in the
(28:43):
last, you know, three, fouryears, whatever it is, I haven't
, to be fair, I haven't.
Kevin and Bonnie have.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
They're the ones.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, I don't, yeah, I, I don't.
I donate mine to localbartenders when I'm done, I
guess.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
That's what I donate my money to.
No, I love that you know givingback and it's.
It's so fun, it's friendlycompetition.
It's another element whichmakes that great event even
better.
I call baseball's promised landOmaha, nebraska.
Pat, since you're here, wecan't let you go until you take
part in stories inside the manCave tradition.
(29:20):
All right, the the man cavestory.
There have been some legendaryones, some that still comical
thinking about them, but isthere one story tied to rocco's
(29:43):
and you and your love for theCollege World Series?
That's just as amusing today asit was when it happened, I
think there's a lot of them.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Certainly, I've seen a lot of weird things over the
years, maybe the greatestmistake I've ever made in my
entire life.
I started a Snapchat just forthe gel.
I started the Twitter just forthe gel, you know.
I started the Twitter, startedInstagram, I started a Snapchat
and I, like, three days into theseries, I checked the Snapchat
because I'm not, you know, I'mnot not on my phone much because
(30:15):
I'm working.
And three days in, I check andthere's about 40 pictures of
boobs on my Snapchat.
Girls from hey, put you on theboard for Ole Miss.
And I'm like, oh, my God, I'man idiot, right.
And so I.
I I make a post and say, hey,as nice as all these are, I
can't put, can't put any shotson the board if you just cause
(30:37):
you're sending me these.
So I stopped getting them.
I'm the dumbest guy in theworld.
I could have just kept going.
Yeah, I know.
And I was like, hey, no amountof sultry snaps are going to get
you points on the board with me.
That was one of the ones whereI think about that and every
year I just kind of kick myselfin the ass.
(30:57):
I'm like God, you could havejust been.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You're missing out on areolas.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I know it was a tough game Every day that and
everybody found out andeveryone's like was that really
happening?
I was like, oh, it's still likeit's.
It's crazy.
The owner's wife was like areyou serious?
She's like you got it.
I was like, yeah, she's likehey, good for you.
I was like she's like are theynice?
It's like, oh, they're great.
Yeah, good, miss midwesternboobs, right.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Oh, they're great yeah they're good Midwestern
boobs right.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Oh, they're all over the country.
Like well, I said all over thecountry and I mean, when you
open up my snap map, there'snothing west of Omaha, it's all
southeast of Omaha.
It's the SEC, a lot of SECboobs.
That's a lot for that squad,and that's again.
If there's another conferencethat has more beautiful women
(31:47):
than the SEC, I don't know it.
So I was perfectly comfortablewith that.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Absolutely Texas to the east.
Oh, absolutely Heavilyconcentrated, Brother.
Let's end this thing on somepositivity.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Hey Ben.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Tell me something good.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Pat McAvoy.
He has graced us with hispresence.
Another lie I lied to him.
I said, man, this is going totake 20 minutes.
We've told some good stories,you've told some great stories,
but we like to end on positivity.
Pat, is there anything youwould love to?
Well, tell me something good,my brother, about you, omaha
College World Series and Rocco's.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Yeah, and I think that the heart of the thing is
like this is fun for us and I'mnot saying that this hasn't been
awesome for the business, butthe thing that made it cool, the
thing that makes this lasting,isn't you know me writing on a
whiteboard?
It isn't you know, it isn't itisn't you know?
Oh, this shot is this color?
(32:50):
This shot is this color.
It's not that, it's jello.
It's a fact that we're givenback.
And the stories you hear, youknow, a week, two weeks, three
weeks after the series, when youknow when someone goes to their
, you know, pick up their mailat a food bank and gets a
$38,000 check and they're youknow that doubles or triples
their year intake.
You know, and it, and whatpeople don't understand about
(33:13):
that too, is that a lot of like,it's not like.
Oh, the kids at this university, they can afford their own food
.
It's the workers, it's thepeople, you know, in the
community, it's all of thesedifferent folks that are using
these things.
So the fact that we've been ableto to give back and to do that,
you know I've already gottentexts from from all these
schools already being like, hey,it's been a really rough year.
(33:35):
There's been cuts andeverything, and so we're we're
struggling, we're struggling,we're struggling, we're
struggling.
We hope you guys have a goodyear, because you know that
means that they'll have a goodyear too, and I think that's
that's what's cool about it, isthat we're we're able to do this
thing and to have thistradition, but make make use of
(33:56):
it in a way that that that doesgood for people.
You know, and that's what makesus happy is is again, I'm not
sad about having 400 peoplejammed in the bar, you know, but
, but the thing that makes itworthwhile and all the long
hours and the long days and allthe other stuff is is the fact
that we we know we've made itinto something cool that we can
do good for.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And you guys have done amazing things, and it's
always good when you give backto your community.
There's no better feeling thanthat, while you're enjoying
something that you love.
That's, first of all, yourmission and your joy of being
the GM of Rocko's in Omaha, andyou're right there for what I
think is one of the top threesporting events in the world the
(34:37):
College World Series.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
It's tough to deny that and I've traveled a lot of
places.
I was in 16.
I was in Chicago for the WorldSeries and they're like, oh, pat
, pat, you're the college worldseries guy.
I'm like, hey, you know, likewe got to, we got to sort of uh,
bond over our trauma of workinga giant event like that.
So you meet other people thathave done a super bowl or what
(34:58):
done, whatever like, and again,every time I go to a new place,
the first place I go is going tobe a bar and talk to the
bartenders about what I shouldsee.
So I, you know I love beingthat for the people.
You know that come in for Omahaas well.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
I love it and he's a man of the people.
He has relationships withcollege baseball fan bases
across the country.
So when, if you're in Omaha,man, go stop by, introduce
yourself to Pat at Rocco's.
It's right there.
Everything's convenient at thatnewer stadium.
So, brother, I appreciate you.
Thanks for making time for us.
(35:30):
Absolutely, man.
Thank you so much.
Hey, whenever you have a chanceto talk about Pat McAvoy,
rocco's and Omaha, jello shotsgalore for a great cause and for
the love of this great game,college baseball.
And whenever you have anopportunity and the subject is
about the College, for a greatcause and for the love of this
great game, college baseball.
(35:51):
And whenever you have anopportunity and the subject is
about the College World Seriesyou know what?
Speaker 1 (35:58):
It's always good to talk about it.
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