Tailgate Tales with Cheers & Beers! The Unfiltered Reality of Drinking at Sporting Events, Super Bowl!

#012 - In this conversation, the speakers discuss the prevalent drinking culture in sporting events, particularly in NFL games and tailgate parties. They share personal experiences, with one of them examining events from a sober perspective leading to a realization of how alcohol often overshadows the enjoyment of the game. They also talk about a study by the University of Minnesota which reveals that an estimated 5,000 people leaving a typical NFL game are legally drunk. The speakers touch upon their confusion over why alcohol has become such an integral part of sports culture. Towards the end, they promote responsibility and safe drinking habits for upcoming Super Bowl viewers and mention their playback sober viewing party.

Transcript

And then if the sample size holds true for a larger crowd, researchers estimate that. Some 5, 000 people leaving a typical  game are legally drunk 

guaranteed. That's a large number. It is. Honestly, when I'm hearing you read these statistics, just from personal experience, I think those numbers are low.

It's going to be the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas city chiefs. Okay. Yeah.  Superbowl is next Sunday, February 11th. Yeah. One week from today. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Time flies. This time last year, I was actually sitting in Chicago.

Yeah. I was living there for six months and I was about two months in and I was going to all the sporting events and Chicago blackhawks and they seen the bears play down there. I saw them. They were like in last place. I think, 

I've been to soldier field a couple of times actually. 

Yeah. Yeah.

What a stunning environment. Yeah. And tickets were really cheap. Yep. And so I was right there by what did they call their bench? There must 

be a final. Geez. I'm not too sure. I was right there. Yeah, I was right there 

and I didn't recognize any of the players because I don't know them. Sure.

Like I'm one of those individuals that will. I love my hockey, but when it comes to the NFL, I'll get into it closer to the end when there's six to eight teams left and then I'll tune in and I'll be like, okay, what's going on? 

Yeah, like I've never really been a huge fan, but but oddly enough, I've been to several NFL games.

I've been to games in Buffalo games in Detroit and games in Chicago, but it was never really about the football game. It was about the tailgate party and getting hammered, and that was back when I was drinking. But it's amazing. Like I know that the tailgate there at soldier field there in Chicago. 

Holy,  man. It's just, it's amazing. It's like thousands of people in a parking lot drinking it's unreal. So 

I'm curious to know more about it. I've always heard about these tailgate parties.  We don't really have them in Canada before hockey games. We might have we'll drink somewhere at a venue.

If it's a playoff game, we might like. form a crowd towards the venue, let's say, but it's not like these crazy tailgate. I've witnessed one on game day at an NFL game, not an NFL, a baseball game, the Mariners Seattle Mariners over in Seattle. And it wasn't even a playoff game.  It was just a regular season game.

And it was packed trying to get to. The stadium, and so I, I'm curious to know like firsthand, like what these tailgate parties are like it's a 

whole, whole culture of booze and before the game, and that's what I used to look forward to when I was in my active alcohol addiction many times like coming living in Southern Ontario back when I was younger there, like Detroit was real close by.

So it was Buffalo. And then I had friends who moved to Chicago. So we do that road trip to Chicago a couple of times a year, man, like it's a culture of drinking. Like it's literally. Yeah. Yeah. Thousands and thousands of people in a parking lot getting hammered, and what's crazy is like a lot of them end up driving home after the game too.

It's so messed up, but yeah, it's it's quite the event. And like I said, for me, it wasn't even the football game was completely secondary. I just like going to those those tailgate parties. It was a crazy social and everybody was just. Partying  I mean they were  it was unreal the energy and the vibe but you know in hindsight now Like I you know, none of that even interests me remotely.

I see it as like bizarre that people get so excited  About doing that, and but it's part of what we talked about a couple of episodes ago. There's that whole culture around drinking, and you can't do anything without drinking. And  I think for a lot of people who go to these tailgate parties, it's exactly like I said it's not even about the football game.

It's just about getting drunk, with a whole lot of other people. 

It's funny because so when I picture tailgate, I'm thinking, okay, they got some sort of food operation going on. Oh man, 

some of the cook houses are 

nuts, man. They're just run out of like back of people's pickups.

Or RVs. Or RVs. Yeah, man. So everyone's they're making food for their team plus others, maybe. Oh, guaranteed. 

Like it's a free for all. Everybody's sharing the food, the booze. It's definitely a social, no question. There's no hand 

washing, oh God, 

No. No. So the sanitation is through the roof.

Or it's, 

 It's interesting to me because the authorities know this is going on, but yet you're going to the game, it's still a form of drinking and driving, 

right? Yeah. I don't know if they just turn a blind eye on game day. Cause I mean like all those vehicles are, most of them are leaving, after the game.

Cause maybe it's low risk cause you're bumper 

to bumper.  Although. There's not even the crawling. It's I guess you park because tailgate can be,  and correct me if I'm off here is that you can be driving in your bumper to bumper or you're literally parked.

In a parkade or a parking lot and you're tailgating there,  is it acceptable to say it's both, or is 

it more? Most of the time when I've been in those cities that I mentioned, there's been room there'd be room to, to drive your vehicle, but the parking lots are packed, but it's not bumper to bumper where, your car is stuck there you could probably drive out, although, during the the peak of the tailgate party, there's so many people walking, that you probably wouldn't want to attempt to drive in there, especially since everybody in there is like hammered, I think it'd be a disaster if you were trying to drive around but you could, like you could get your vehicle out of there if you wanted to, there, there's like a, it'd be like any parking lot, like you could back out and drive down that that driveway there.

But yeah, the makeshift streets between vehicles are packed with people walking and drinking, eating barbecues, so it would be very difficult to move your vehicle, but you could do it. 

Makes sense. So I guess from my understanding is that the tailgate starts when your vehicle is now parked.

Hey, it's not. The event isn't when things are in motion, like the vehicles are in 

motion. No. It's like everyone's parked. It's yeah, everyone's parked and they pop up their trunk. They set up their barbecue. They pull out their coolers and lawn chairs. And yeah, it's just literally it's a massive parking lot party.

Yeah. People aren't driving around during the tailgate. Everyone's looking,  they find a parking spot they unpack their food set up and their coolers and they just. Start giving her. And yeah that's how it goes. And a lot of times When we'd go, my, my crew of people were pretty social we'd start off at our home base there, and then we'd just start walking around, and then just meeting people, and that's how it was at the tailgate party there I miss that that social part of it it was fun for sure, and I can see that's maybe part of the appeal for people, but it's, it really is just a big piss up, when you look at it from a clarity standpoint and a sober standpoint I think you'd feel really out of place at a tailgate party if you weren't Drinking which is unfortunate in my opinion because the concept is really cool Like people coming together the barbecue part of it, the eating the sharing food.

That's really cool But I guess my question is, like so many other things in our society. Like why do you have to?  Have the booze there, like why does that have to be there? And why does that have to be part of it? That culture of drinking that exists in this country and the United States and in North America. 

And even I was doing a little research on the Super Bowl the other day before we decided to sit down and record this. And I already knew, but I just wanted to confirm Budweiser is one of the biggest sponsors of Super Bowl, so here we've got this sporting event and  athletes who are, supposed to be healthy and everything else.

And we've got, the biggest beer company in the United States sponsoring the event is like the major sponsor, right? So I'm sure 

they got a harm reduction program as well. Maybe Budweiser 

double zero. 

Yeah. For sure. Maybe encourage that, once you get to the third quarter, 

the fourth quarter, that actually, you know, and that actually reminds me that I remember, and I don't know if it's still the same now, cause it's been years since I've been to a tailgate party, but actually most of the stadiums that I went to Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago, they'd stop serving beer at the end of the third quarter.

I guess I was to give people enough time to  what, like an hour to sober up before they get in their vehicles and drive home. I don't know, but yeah, they'd stop selling beer the  at the end of the third,  quarter. And even 

once we're in the stadium, there's so many creative ways to grab.

People's attention, fans attention to purchase booths. There are many kiosks set up all over, every food established might even have booze 

as well. A hundred percent. It's everywhere. Yeah. And there's guys even walking around with with yeah, with coolers, selling it, like over their shoulders.

They've got that, that, that carry pack. They're selling cans out of that carry pack. Yeah. No, there's no shortage of booze, man. And you can have. As much as you want. And they're not cutting anybody off either. You gotta be, pretty much passed out for them not to sell you a beer. What does 

booze go for like at sporting 

events nowadays?

Like it's been years, but it wasn't cheap, I remember no. And I think that was the whole idea. Like a lot of times we just get super primed in the parking lot at the tailgate party before we'd even go in. Because I think you were looking at even back then it was like close to 10 bucks a can.

They were tall cans, but 10 bucks for a tall can. That's I'm going back. And 10, 12, 15 years, even plus tip, yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it wasn't cheap. But by the time you got to the stadium, you had already been like the tailgate parties and all the event, like people get there right early, like it's hours of walking around the parking lot and socializing and drinking.

By the time we went into the stadium, like I probably didn't even need any more beer. And now that didn't stop me from having more beer, but that's probably the last thing I really needed. I don't even remember most of the games I was at, yeah, 

That memory piece is insane and I remember going to sporting events in the past. And before we get into some of my examples, I want to rock some stats here. So  I was just looking up here. It says the University of Minnesota did a research study on.  The title of the article is who knew people love to drink at sporting events.

And so I'm just going to read a little bit of what I have here. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have completed the world's most definitive study on sports and alcohol consumption. And we just can't bottle up the results any longer. Shockingly, these interpret social psychologists led by Darren Erikson  found that sports fans don't like to drink during games.

No, they love to drink during games with the full 8 percent of tested fans have a blood alcohol content above driving legal limit of 0. 08 . And then he goes on and says, and while those who chose to tailgate were in the minority, only 18%.  Those who did drink way more than fans who limited their consumption within the stadium walls.

The results were published in the latest issue of alcoholism, clinical and experimental research. And then it goes on and says, let's see, other useful swigs to take with you on the slog back through the stadium parking lot. So researchers compiled their data from 13 major league baseball games and three NFL games.

Which would offer them a much larger batch of volunteers than if they stood outside an NBA or NHL game. In all, 48 percent of fans drink at sporting events.  Of the 18 percent of fans who tailgate before games, a whopping 82 percent had two or more drinks, while only 8 percent did not drink.  If you're under 35, you're nine times more likely to leave the game drunk. 

If you drink.  At your pregame tailgate, make it 14 times more likely to leave drunk. And then it says only 2 percent of tailgaters did so at home. So majority of the drinking happened at the tailgate is the way I'm reading this. And then of the fans tested, 54 percent were between the ages of 21 and 35.

When I did most of my drinking between 21 and 28.  And then if the sample size holds true for a larger crowd, researchers estimate that. Some 5, 000 people leaving a typical NFL game are legally drunk 

guaranteed. That's a large number. It is. Honestly, when I'm hearing you read these statistics, just from personal experience, I think those numbers are low.

I really do. And  yeah, I think that they're underestimating like Izzy. Those parking lots were full of thousands of people and everybody was hammered and stumbling around, that's before the game even starts, and you get into the stadium and you look left and you look right.

 Everybody's got drinks in their hands, so unless something has changed in the last decade since I used to tailgate, which I highly doubt I think those stats are actually even low, in, in comparison to what really happens, at least in the venues and stadiums that I've gone 

to.

Yeah. And these are taken into account regular season games imagine play playoff 

games or 

high playoff, high profile games, doubt, yeah. And it makes me think a lot though of the sporting events I, I've been to I remember going to hockey games in the past and I was just like at National Hockey League games in Vancouver and.

 I can't tell you what game I saw, like who they played and what the score was, that's a problem and I couldn't tell you the next day because I was drinking so I could relate it back to my own experience, and sky training at home because,  I never really took the risk of driving downtown.

 I guess that's how I justified it that I'm taking the train back, but it's sad though, not knowing, you go for the event and you're not physically really there for the highlights that you want to be there for.

Not at all. To me, I think it's just it's just another excuse to get really hammered, yeah. The game was secondary. It was just another justification to get ridiculously drunk, and hook up with friends and encourage each other to to indulge in their addiction.

And that's how I see it today, too. These these events are very few people are going to really Take in the sporting event or the game there. The people who are going there to drink and party are going to drink and party. That's the primary reason for going. I guarantee you if you ask most people who are alcoholics or drinkers, if you ask them, I What the score was a couple of days later, or even the next morning, they probably, a lot of them might not even remember,  I know I certainly didn't remember a lot of times, I certainly didn't remember specifics.

The score maybe because that's a pretty specific thing. You might remember the score. You might not, but highlights or things that you might see on the highlight reel. If you watch the game on TV the next day or the highlights. Oh, hell, there's, I'm like, what, when did that happen?

You know what I mean?  

I don't know. No, I'm totally with you, Jody. Man like so many times I've been in that, even if I was drinking at home versus being, live in an event, it would, it'd be very similar. Like I, I  remember UFC events. I used to drink and then I'm like, Oh, I didn't know that guy fought that night.

Yeah. I actually recently, I was at  an event in Toronto, a UFC event in Toronto UFC 297. It was Sean Strickland versus Drakus Duplesis. It was funny because like I had seats at the back and I was just watching I was at a had a good view of the jumbotron, and but there was a couple individuals that showed up next to me and they were in and out.

They were there during the prelims, the early prelims and then the main card started. And, but then once the the last three fights were on the card what people show up for, they're like, yeah, bro I'm heading out. I gotta be, I'm like, dude, you paid 400 for these seats each and you're not going to wait for the title fight, the last two title fights at the end.

Do you know what I mean? And it just goes to show what you said that. It's almost like the venue, the sporting venue is secondary. It's background noise. Yeah, it's background noise and an excuse they're trying to escape. And in my opinion, I'm relating it to my experiences that I never really focused on the trauma and the bullshit I was dealing with in life.

So that's why I needed to like, have this fantasy world around me, this fake setting.  And for me to be there, I needed that booze in my system to even 

carry me through that night. Totally. And that that, that. event. That's secondary. It just again, like it gives us that excuse to just get really hammered, like maybe in our alcoholic minds, like maybe we'd if we just did that at home on any given day, we'd be like, fuck man, like I gotta slow it down here a little bit, but Hey man, it's, it's super bowl Sunday or I'm going to the UFC.

So I can just drink as much as I want today. He ha and it's just a, another excuse to, to just go real hard and and use that alcohol with with no regret. That's how I see it, 

and that these UFC events,  like the washrooms are absolutely disgusting.

Like you can't, the urinals are yeah it's really bad. It's you don't know if it's like a flood on the floor or if it's like people's urine. 

You're standing in like an inch and a half of piss, right? So yeah, it's, 

it's, it's just gross. But especially once you get closer to the end of the event where it's people have been in the stadium now for six to eight hours.

It's just gross. All the washrooms, let alone waiting in line. I don't know if it's been like that when at events that you've gone to but some of those stadiums that I've gone to see those NFL games that I mean, literally like you better go 20 minutes before you need to piss because you're going to be standing in line waiting to use one of those urinals like they're backed up, 1015 people deep each one of them.

And I'm sure that there are people who don't plan enough in advance. And I'm sure there are people taking a piss in the corner here, there, everywhere. You know what I mean? Like, when you're drunk, you don't care. And, I'm sure that probably explains some of the Liquid on the floor that you and I are talking about because you know when I know like when I was drinking man Like sometimes when you got to go you got to go man And like you get to the washroom and 15 dudes standing in front of you there waiting for that single urinal You're like, all right, I 

don't know I don't know about you, but like I have a hard time, like if there's 10 people lined up and there's no like partition and we're like shoulder to shoulder, it's hard for me to do my business.

Yeah. It 

takes a few seconds to get things going, like it's that stage fright deal there. There's the 

dude that's had 10 beers and he's like just the chat earthquake, right? He just goes and you just, he's just giving it, you can hear it, right? It's like a fountain with strong pressure next to you.

For sure. All the fluids are ricocheting off the stall and like when a guy like that shows up and you're trying to get yours out, it's not going to work.  

It's so true. 

I call it. I call it the 

chatter. Yeah. And everybody's looking at you from behind you, and they're is this guy going to, is he going to do his business and get out of here?

Or is he just going to stand here for half an hour? And 

the best is with the 15 that are 15, 20 that are lined up. They just keep recirculating. You're still standing there. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. 

Who's the one on drugs, right? No kidding. And 

then you try to get into a stall, but there's only two toilet stalls where you can piss in private or do your business in private  and those like.

You get into two hours into any event that is just, it's nasty. Oh 

man. That's the last place you want to vomit it in there. 

There's urine on the ground. You can't stand cause you're going to fall. I'll guarantee you what I mean. So it's not even worth like enclosing yourself in that structure.

I would rather take the risk and take, my time trying to get by. My business out at the proper, stand up stall. 

Most of the old school stadiums I've been to actually have those those troughs, eh? Like it's not even individual urinals. You know what I'm talking about? Like literally trough that runs like 30 feet along the wall there.

And there's just like dudes like wedged in there literally like shoulder to shoulder, and you just got to like. Wiggle your way in there and do your business. It's crazy. So 

you would think like beer that goes for 10 plus tip, right? Like here, we'll sell you a premium beverage, but when it comes to eliminating it out of your system, it's going to be like slum conditions.

It totally is. You know what I mean? Like we don't care how you leave it. It comes out of your system. 

I suppose it's effective, having a big long trough like that, but yeah, it's certainly not it's definitely a little ghetto. 

A hundred percent. I don't miss that smell though, like I, there's so many things that when you're sober and you're in that environment, there's so many turnoffs.

Oh yeah. It's I'm getting to a point where I would rather Spend the money pay premium and have access to like more of a private 

washroom Oh, exactly like I haven't actually experienced an NFL game sober I never went back after I stopped drinking because well, it was really sport was secondary It was exactly it but I can only imagine you make a really good point Like I can imagine how turned off I'd be by so many things that happen there, Like in a sober mindset going to an NFL game now like I yeah like I think I just I think I'd be angry, most of the time I was there, 

recently like last year, It was in Chicago. I just stood back and watched. I know it's not at people, at the urinal, but just like in general. Yeah. Just like it was so unsanitary. Yeah. It became very observant because I had actually seasoned tickets to like the Blackhawks because they were in last place.

So I had access to 28 games. So I became very observant. Yep. And But like the amount of people that don't wash their hands. Oh, I'm sure.  Nobody cares, man. Like full contact, right? First, they bring the beer to the stall, right? Yeah. And then they just oh, and then the chat earthquake comes out.

Yeah, of course. And then they just go on doing their business. Like some dudes are sipping while they're 

pissing, right? Yeah, grabbing a hot dog on the way back to the stand, or even eating that hot dog while they're taking a leak, just beer in one hand, hot dog in the other hand, taking a piss. I've seen it, man. And I, yeah, I think obviously when we've got a dozen or a dozen and a half beer and I say, we just don't, we don't give a shit. But yeah, like what an interesting point that you made there, like looking at it from a sober perspective which I haven't done, but you have now yeah, I think I'd be right turned off by a lot of the stuff that happens at those places.

Yeah. And  made me think of another time when I went to  I've only been to a few major league baseball games, but it was in Toronto my cousin's wedding, I think it was in 2014. And I went, we went to a baseball event  and actually, no, this is, let's backtrack to 2018. It was with my other cousin's wedding.

So 2010, is when she got married. I think. And I remember, those crates that came by, you were saying the guy with the, like the land year. And he's got a crate strapped or some sort of what do you call them? I guess you call them totes or whatever 

exactly what you're talking 

about.

Yeah. It's strapped to his neck, let's say. And so they were pouring the cans into plastic cups, two reasons. You can't use it as a weapon. You can't throw it at anyone. Number two, it's their way of saying, okay, no, one's bringing in booze from the exactly right.

And I'm sure there's other reasons too, but the guy. Like I already had 10 drinks in me. I'm sitting there. We're sitting in the nosebleeds, but there's 10 of us there. Everyone's gone. I'm just sitting there with my cousin because they went to go grab like food and drinks and stuff. And so I was there with my cousin and we're sitting there and I reached the bag was right next to me.

Put it, I was at an aisle seat. There's no one behind me. He puts it next to me to take one out and pour it out to another customer. And I just take one and I just start sipping out of it. He just grabbed a beer, but I was bigger than the guy. So the guy was tiny. So he didn't say anything, but then the police showed up at the end of the event.

So he saw you take it, saw me take it, but who else has a can? Yeah, exactly. Like I'm sipping out of a can and like 

everybody else has got a cup. Everybody else. 

Yeah. 

I, at the end when the police showed up, like the blue Jays were losing. I, all of a sudden, became the center of attention and I'm being brought out and I Were you on the Jumbotron with your can there?

No, they didn't I wish. It would have been something else, right? No doubt. But  my section had, some entertainment at the end, right? And I got escorted out. My sister's no, someone, he bought it off someone else. And I just went with that story.

And by the time we got out. Even the, one of the food and beverage managers was like, I'm like you could put it on show them the video. They're not gonna go through tons of film back then to find this idiot that, grabbed a can. But  I knew and the guy that was serving you, and  it was like, I had the police convinced at the end because I had a BCID on me, I'm on vacation, and I bought the can off of someone else in there.

Yeah. And so the police, turn around to the food and beverage manager and be like, yo, this is the fourth call this week. People are on vacation and you clearly have someone selling cans inside. That's how I justified it.  I felt so proud that here I am. I'm the one that's checked out.

Not going anywhere in my life. Yeah the venue the event is secondary to my drinking and I pretty much all this false pride that, yeah, I just convinced them and I got away with 

it. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. Meanwhile, the poor kid's just trying to do his job, like here you are being super disrespectful, all hammered up and you steal a can of beer, and yeah, and you're all proud that you got away with it.

Yeah. It's amazing what what alcohol does to us say and 

insane man, and just now remembering it, that those were. Every sporting event I went to, it got to a point where I was physically like just dropping let's say, dropping roller hockey or dropping soccer or dropping basketball during my eight years of drinking from 21 to 28.

And if you don't know my story, go check it out. Jody's story is on there as well, earlier episodes but I drank, I boozed for eight years  I needed drinks in my system to play Jodi. I justified it because it helped me 

play better. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, it is crazy.

But I know I, I've been there too, man. I know exactly what you're saying.   Got some 

more stats here. So I pulled this up here. It says, okay, this is cool. Cause it doesn't just talk about NFL. It talks about other sporting events too. And it, there's a nice chart here that, that split that breaks up all the Major sports and I'm just going to see if I could summarize this.

So game day drinking tendencies. Okay, and So it says whether at home or attending a live event drinking is a staple for many sports fans  While watching sports events an average of 3. 7 alcoholic drinks are consumed MMA, UFC, enthusiasts led the pack with the highest consumption level compared to other sports. 

I don't, I gotta figure out the validity of the study, but I'm just trying to read what I see on the screen here. Almost always, though, people tended to drink more when at an event versus sitting in  front of their TV. This may be attributed to the general intensity of the atmosphere, that an In person experience offers makes sense.

Like when you're in that environment of the venue, especially if you don't go often, you're going to be like, yo, let's drink, let's do this.  

And not to mention too you've got the beer companies and the sponsors in there and they're pumping that environment because, they want to sell the booze.

Oftentimes when I've been at these events, like there's been a representatives from Budweiser or other beverage companies in there, and they're making the environment. More conducive to drinking, whether it's with games or shows or, different things that really encourage that drinking.

Yeah. And 

there's this nice chart here. It says average number of alcoholic drinks by sport and league. And then they have a dot system, a color coded system on the top. It says watching from home versus watching in person. And then on the let's say the vertical margin uh, they have the sports. So they have MMA, UFC, NHL, NBA EA sports.

NFL, Major League Baseball, NCAA, which is college, I believe. It's interesting because they do, again, I'd have to look at the details of the study and the inclusion criteria for this and, but it says here that the UFC again, the numbers are high for both watching at home versus watching in person.

The average drink is about four, I think is what yeah, four is consumed. And then for the NHL, believe it or not is like close second with it's at par, it's about three drinks, whether you're at the game or whether you're at home.  NBA is between, let's say, two and three, and both very close as well, home versus at the game.

And then it just slowly, the NFL, again is between, it's around three as well. It's a little bit.  More for watching in person, but overall watching in person leads to more consumption. The average, and this is just the average, right? We're not talking about those. 5, 000 that are going to get belligerent drunk, right?

And so the, these numbers don't really maybe apply to cause three drinks at a game over four hours is okay. 

It is. But like you said, with that being an average, that takes into account the person that's having zero drinks too. And there are going to be some of those people not many, obviously compared to the number of drinkers, but yes we have to keep that in mind that yeah the, because I think those numbers are a bit misleading, like three, three drinks over a four hour period doesn't seem like a lot.

And I even think that might be, those numbers might be.  Low ball, but yeah, it does, we have to take into consideration the people that are having zero or one or two drinks too, that brings that average down, so for every person that's having zero, that means somebody is having seven, so yeah.

Yeah, no, 

it makes sense. And just to note here that like college experiences can  maybe have the least amount of consumption, but it's average is about two and a half, three, but maybe that's because.  And interesting. It says the ones that watch from home in a college environment tend to consume slightly more than the ones that watch in person.

It could be a money thing too. I 

bet it is. Like students, it's way easier to grab a case or a bottle to split, so that's probably part of that.  Because it is expensive to drink at the stadiums and I'm sure it's expensive to drink at college games, too So yeah,  

so I guess like this is not something that I you and I have like solutions to it's just more So increasing awareness that hey, this is an issue.

You know what I mean? Yeah, and it might not be a problem at this point in people's lives, Things like this is progressive, especially if the sporting event is secondary to everything else, 

right? Consider, for example, to here we are a week out. And by the time this  airs just a few days out from from Superbowl.

How many Superbowl parties. Have you heard of advertised at say local bars and establishments or even like private Superbowl parties where you know, that booze is going to be the main theme? So many, the only sober Superbowl party that, that I've heard of is the one that we're running here at health, the moon, and I think we're the odd ball out, I guarantee you that almost every Superbowl event that happens in Thunder Bay and across North America for that matter a huge percentage of those parties and events are going to involve.

booze and alcohol. Again, it's just that culture of drinking, like it's a football game, man. You know what I mean? I don't know. A hundred 

percent. And yeah,  I think awareness goes a long way if we can be aware that, Hey,  yeah. My message right now is just be safe.

Superbowl is common and be responsible and if you're going to drink like. Yeah, just be responsible. Make sure you have a safe 

Avenue to get home. Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah And if you want to come and watch the game and you don't want to drink I mean come to health moon like we're gonna show the game here for sure.

We got snacks We got soft drinks, right and we're actually gonna watch the game, and it's gonna be a whole lot of fun It's gonna be a sober environment to check the game out here And I hope people will take me up on my invitation, come check it out. We got great eats here we got great coffee and tea and soft drinks and yeah, I mean we're gonna have The screens going with that football game and like what a novel concept like watching the Super Bowl sober.

We're still going to be super social. We're going to be having a great time,  but we're going to be doing it and we're going to remember it. We're not going to be blacking out. And I think that's amazing. Like what an awesome idea to actually watch a football game without 

booze. I love that Jody.

I know I'm going to be here next Sunday. That's great. I'm looking forward to  that food you have on that menu 

there. So yeah, definitely. It's really conducive to a football game. I think, so absolutely looking forward to 

it. Jody, thank you so much for sitting down with me today. Yeah.

Great 

conversation, man. I was looking forward to this recording and we'll do it again next week. Absolutely. Had some good 

laughs. I'll see you next week. Thanks. Easy.