Jim Burt, the two-time Super Bowl champion nose
tackle, is generally credited with inventing the Gatorade shower. Legend has it
that he doused New York Giants head coach Bill Parcells after an October 1984
win over the Washington Redskins. In the ensuing seasons, the Gatorade shower
grew from tradition to ritual, a sacrament of big wins and Super Bowls, and
expanding to other sporting events around the world. Oddsmakers and bettors
noticed too, and wagering on the color of the liquid has become a popular Super
Bowl prop bet.
The Favorites for the Gatorade Shower Prop Bet Have Been Orange, Clear, and No Shower
When Baltimore Ravens’ head coach Brian
Billick led his team to the Super Bowl XXXV title in 2001, he was rewarded with
a shower of yellow Gatorade. A year later, New England Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick
captured that franchise’s first championship, but he escaped the de rigueur
post-game shower. In the nineteen seasons of the new millennium, Belichek
missed a shower twice more, as did Ravens’ head coach John Harbaugh (once). The
other 15 times a bucket of water and electrolytes has hit its mark on the
winning coach.
Four times, the hydration concoction has
been clear, possibly strawberry or watermelon flavor, or even water. Four
times, it has been orange. Thrice it has been yellow or green or lime green in
tint. Twice purple and twice blue. Since 2001, red has never been a Super Bowl
Gatorade Shower shade of choice.
Only three times, has the color of Gatorade
been a match for the color scheme of the winning team. Mike Tomlin of the
Pittsburgh Steelers was doused in yellow liquid following Super Bowl XLIII, and
Belichick of the Patriots with blue following XLIX and last year’s LIII.
Both the Chiefs and the 49ers Sport Red and the Gatorade Shower Prop Bettors Have Noticed
Although red Gatorade has not shown up in
two decades of recorded history, the betting odds are favorite for a fruit
punch presence in Miami this year, to match the color of both the Kansas City
Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. The odds of a red Super Bowl Gatorade
shower are +135.
Lime/green/yellow
is next at +300, followed by clear or water at +350. Orange and blue each go
off at +500, and purple is the long shot at +1200.
