Maryland men’s basketball fans raise their hands while a Rutgers player takes a foul shot in Xfinity Center on Jan. 14, 2015.
For opposing free throw shooters, the DMV is starting to become a very unfriendly place, and one worth avoiding if at all possible.
For many years at the Verizon Center, home of the Washington Wizards, there’s been a long-running gimmick that has made taking a trip to the charity stripe late in the game a pretty unappealing proposition: the Chick-fil-A “Fowl Shot.” And now, starting with the Terrapins men’s basketball team’s season opener Friday, the “Fowl Shot” will have fans at the Xfinity Center going crazy in the name of free chicken, too.
The rules for the promotion are simple: At every men’s home game this year, if an opponent misses two consecutive free throws in the final three minutes of the second half, everyone in attendance can redeem that matchup’s ticket for a free chicken sandwich at all participating restaurants within the next week. Lauren Taylor, the assistant athletics director of marketing at this university, said the idea will make the Terps’ arena an even more intimidating place to play.
“It should be a lot of fun,” she said. “Obviously our students are very loud anyways, but it should definitely get our other fans excited to bring out their vocal chords and get some free Chick-fil-A.”
Taylor said the promotion will be run in each contest’s last three minutes because that is typically when a lot of foul shots are taken in college basketball. However, there is one stipulation behind the “Fowl Shot” that could have students calling “fowl play”: The Chick-fil-A inside of Stamp Student Union will not accept the tickets because it is not a franchised location.
Luckily, Chick-fil-As are fairly common in this state, with stores in Laurel, Silver Spring, and plenty of others. And with Mark Turgeon’s squad scheduled to appear at the Xfinity Center 17 times this year, there are a lot of opportunities for Terps supporters to walk away with some valuable tickets.
Watching this promotion unfold throughout the 2015-16 campaign will be interesting. Will the added screaming and yelling actually affect the free throw percentages of the Terps’ foes? Will the players who are on the floor late in contests foul on purpose to give their fans a chance at a free meal? And will members of visiting colleges purposely miss their shots in an attempt to get some Chick-fil-A of their own?
All are certainly worth monitoring moving forward, and as a whole, the “Fowl Shot” will make every second half’s conclusion all the more fun for everyone — well, except for the lonely souls tasked with shooting the free throws, that is.
