Pat McAfee loves buying people drinks. The ESPN personality rolled up to Rocco’s ahead of the College World Series, checkbook in hand and West Virginia pride on full display, hoping to be part of a cause. Instead, his visit turned into an unsavory memory. The next day, the popular host narrated his weird experience.

“Interesting, the way it all went down over there. I’m going to be honest,” he said on the Pat McAfee Show on June 12. “That was an interesting place; I wish there was another place we could have done that at.

Roccos’s Pizza and Cantina in Omaha, Nebraska, is a hubbub of activity during the Men’s College World Series every year. The CWS Jello Shot Challenge has become a much-loved tradition for fans of different colleges, who compete against each other by trying to buy the most jello shots. Part of the money goes to a food pantry local to the team and Omaha charities, while the rest goes to Rocco’s. So, when the West Virginia Mountaineers made their debut in the tournament, the establishment reached out to McAfee: the school’s most famous sporting alumnus.

McAfee arrived as requested, even though he admitted that he doesn’t like jello shots. However, he relayed on the show that Rocco’s wasn’t happy that he arrived without notice. It is not known how many jello shots McAfee bought, but he sought to pay them with checks. The manager’s take on that startled the analyst.

“I go, ‘So do I like, write a check?’ He goes, ‘Yours would bounce, I think.’ He just kept walking. Wasn’t like a joking thing.”

McAfee also revealed that he felt duped by the invitation. Per his experience, it was “nowhere near what [he] thought it was going to be like.”

In 2023, LSU set the record with 68,888 jello shots. Elizabeth Merrill wrote for ESPN that fans had turned Rocco’s into an “11-day party” that year. The establishment had also set up a QR code for donations to a Baton Rouge food bank, which was able to raise $7,000. But McAfee’s time at Rocco’s was anything but this party.

“It was very much like, ‘You’re lucky to be giving us this money to do this entire thing as opposed to like a celebration.'”

However, Rocco’s was able to do what it set out to do when they tagged McAfee for the celebration. They were civil enough to appreciate him making the trip, and for the money that they were able to raise.

Rocco gives Pat McAfee a special shoutout

After McAfee’s visit, West Virginia had already cracked the top ten in all-time jello shots purchased, fueled in large part by his contribution and a passionate fanbase experiencing its program’s first-ever CWS appearance. Rocco’s also took to X to thank the analyst, claiming that he left “the largest tip Rocco’s has ever seen.”

“… Helluva guy. Let’s play ball! #roadtoroccos” CWS Jello Shot Challenge posted.

McAfee is a giver. He’s given away a few million in prize money and to charitable causes by way of the Kickoff Contest, a much-loved segment on ESPN’s College GameDay. McAfee also offered to pay for his crew’s salaries when ESPN was thinking of making budget cuts, per fellow analyst Kirk Herbstreit. The network caved, and his crew got to keep their salaries.

Perhaps Rocco’s undervalued where McAfee was coming from when he decided to participate in the challenge. Based on his experience, this might have been the first and last time the analyst would make an appearance at the bar.