Outback Bowl Bloomin' Onion costume gets hijacked by persistent sportswriter
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A sportswriter will now be the official Bloomin' Onion mascot after months of tweeting about it. (iStock)
You can be anything you want if you put your mind to it — even a human Bloomin’ Onion. Mashable reports that every year on January 1, Outback Steakhouse sponsors the Outback Bowl, a football game that features a giant fried onion mascot. This year, SB contributor Ryan Nanni is making it his mission to become said mascot. In fact, he’s so passionate about the idea he’s been tweeting about it since January 3, 2017.
“Hi @outbackbowl how do I get this job next year,” Nanni wrote. “I’m not joking.”
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Three days later, he struck again: “Hi @Outback – do you have a list of the duties required of the Bloomin’ Onion mascot? I want to make sure I get any necessary training.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}To follow up the next week, he tweeted, “hey just checking in on that thing.”
In May, Nanni reached out yet again. He wrote, “@outbackbowl hey just wanted to check in, see if I need to get measured for the onion suit or anything.”
This month, with the game less than a month away, Nanni has become more persistent than ever. On December 5 he wrote, “For the better part of a year, I’ve been telling y’all I want to be Bloomin Onion Man at the Outback Bowl. At first, it was just a fun goof for the Fullcast and such.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In another tweet, he continued, “But now that we’re getting closer to the game itself… I like REALLY want to do this. So I’m going to try a bit of a Hail Mary (sports term) here, shameless social media style.”
A mere 15 minutes later, Outback Steakhouse’s official Twitter responded, “Those are Bloomin’ big shoes to fill. 10,000 retweets! #FryingNanni.”
It only took Nanni a few hours to surpass the quota.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We should’ve made that harder (laughing emoji) Send us a DM so we can get your measurements to the onion fryer. #thisishappening,” Outback tweeted.