The History of Super Bowl Gatorade Baths
Many different teams and players have said it starts the birth of Gatorade baths. Still, the one commonly credited with the tradition was on October 28, 1984, when New York Giants linebacker Jim Burt dumped the Gatorade cooler on his coach Bill Parcells.
The first time this event took place in the Super Bowl was in Super Bowl XX when the Chicago Bears embarrassed the New England Patriots 46-10, and Mike Ditka would take the claim as the first Super Bowl-winning coach to take the victory shower.
When did people start tracking the color of the bath?
The 2001 Super Bowl is credited with the start of tracking the color, and the prop bets came soon after that. Since 2001 orange has had the most appearances, with five different times being used to soak the winning coach.
Many factors affect the color used, such as team colors, superstitions, and the equipment staff. However, team colors don’t always tell the story; since 2001, 11 teams have had red as a primary or secondary color, yet red has been used zero times.
Surprisingly clear and blue have been used the second most times, with four and no Gatorade bath occurring four times as well. Three of those are from the Patriots, with the first two wins in franchise history coming on last-second field goals and Super Bowl LI, where they became the first team to win an overtime Super Bowl.
Does the fact the Eagles and Chiefs have won recently matter?
No, is the short answer. Since 2001 of the teams that have won at least twice, no one besides the Patriots has used the same color twice. They used blue in Super Bowl XLIX and LIII while using clear in Super Bowl XXXIX.
The Eagles (Yellow) and Chiefs (Orange) also used two of the most popular flavors of Gatorade nationwide, so the deciding factor on what color the bath might be may be as simple as what taste the players like the best.
Odds for this Year
The favorite for this year’s Super Bowl is orange at +250, according to BET MGM, followed by Yellow/Green at +350. Following the trend of the last two colors used by these teams, BET MGM also factors in the popularity of orange being the most used color since 2001.
The long shots are purple +900 and no bath at all +1600. With two evenly matched teams and a history of super bowls that are decided at the last second or in overtime having no bath, +1600 may be worth putting some money on.
The last three colors with odds are blue at +500, clear at +500, and red/pink at +550. Due to the history of red/pink never being used, I think it safe to say that at +550, you should stay away from this bet.
My Pick
Maybe one of the hardest Super Bowls to pick a winner outright since the Patriots played the Seahawks, which also happened to be in Arizona, as the line for that game was a pick’em. This year’s line is Eagles -1.5 despite opening at Chiefs -1, and I believe the game will mirror the spread with back-and-forth action.
Due to this, I see a high chance the game can be decided on a last-second play, field goal, or in overtime. If this is the case, the +1600 odds for no bath seem way too enticing to pass up, and that is my pick for Super Bowl LVII.
