Duke’s Mayo Bowl, which was played Wednesday between West Virginia and North Carolina, has developed something of a cult following over its 21 years of existence.
The annual college football bowl game has playfully incorporated its sponsor’s products into several aspects of the game, including the highly-anticipated dousing of the winning coach in mayonnaise. Another notable tradition involves the TV announcers taste-testing various dishes with the company’s different mayo flavors.
This year, the ESPN broadcast team of play-by-play voice Matt Barrie and analyst Dan Mullen tried many different mayo flavors and combinations throughout Wednesday’s broadcast, one of which was the combination of Duke’s mayo and pepperoni rolls.
This caught the attention of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia, which was none too happy with the apparent sacrilege. The diocese was so displeased, in fact, that it was prompted to issue an ecclesiastical proclamation condemning the combination.
Leaders of other faith communities (and Kraft, the maker of Miracle Whip) were unavailable for comment.
Oh, and West Virginia beat North Carolina 30-10.