Former longtime Sports Junkies producer Bret Oliverio is on a quest to make history with his restaurant Sup Dogs in Greenville, North Carolina.
Sup Dogs is on a mission to three-peat as winners of Barstool Sports' Best Bar tournament, which seeks to name the best college bar in America, for the third year in a row, bringing elite prominence and business to the East Carolina University staple after an unduly trying year brought on by the global pandemic.
"The value, I think it's worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing if you win it," Oliverio told The Sports Junkies Thursday morning. "If you win best college bar in America by Barstool Sports. And especially in college. Barstool Sports in college is like, that's it."
Sadly, for much of the past year, the tables usually stuffed with college coeds looking to start and end their night with rounds of dogs, cheesy tots and hand-smashed burgers, have sat empty, serving as a daily reminder of the real-life economic and social impact of this pandemic.
Usually flourishing around tournament time, Sup Dogs has sat empty for much of the past year, a daily, real-life reminder of the social and economic impact of the global pandemic.Bret Oliverio/Sup Dogs-Greenville
After winning the entire tournament in 2019 and 2020, Sup Dogs was never able to celebrate its second straight championship the way Oliverio wanted with ECU students. All the more reason to push them over the top in 2021, as the devastating fog of the pandemic gently lifts across the country.
Having already advanced to the final eight, Sup Dogs faces stiff competition as the entire SEC has joined forces to mount an attack, a blatant attempt to try and take down the champs once and for all.
Internet celebrities of all kinds have connected emotionally to the story of Sups, helping propel this cozy college bar to national prominence in the past two years. If you're unfamiliar with its history, it's reason enough to earn your vote.
You can earn an additional five votes for Sup Dogs by purchasing one of these three promotional items — the merch demarcated as 'Charity' — and entering in the promo code "ECU21" at checkout. All proceeds will be split evenly and distributed to the 32 bars in the tournament.
Voting for this round ends Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. Retweets do not count as valid votes. Replies and originally composed tweets do.
So do what's right. Log onto Twitter and vote: #BestBarSupDogs
