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The day you graduate from college is supposed to be a memorable and joyous occasion, but the ceremony itself can often turn into a bit of an ordeal with the potential to put a damper on the occasion.
For example, students at my alma mater traditionally stayed up to watch the sunrise in the morning, which meant the stadium where the commencement was held was packed with thousands of students nursing a hangover in some brutal heat while enduring the hours of pomp and circumstance that preceded the presentation of the actual diplomas.
That final step is traditionally preceded by the commencement speech that’s frequently given by a notable figure with some connection to the school, which was the case when the University of Wisconsin invited J.J. Watt to deliver some remarks to the members of the Class of 2019.
Prior to the big day, Watt made it clear he knew what he signed up for by promising to keep things fairly succinct while acknowledging most of the graduates he was addressing “just want to go drink beer afterward.”
However, based on what Watt had to say during a recent appearance on Green Light with Chris Long, he did what he could to ensure the students in attendance wouldn’t have to leave Camp Randall Stadium to treat themselves to a brew only to have his efforts shut down by the school.
I’m still convinced this would have been one of the greatest commencement speaker moves of all time if they’d have let me do it 🤣
(On second thought, maybe it would be 2nd place to that guy who paid off all the student debt.)
(Yeah, definitely probably 2nd place.) https://t.co/KfjP4w0ntT
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) June 27, 2023
Here’s what he had to say:
“I was talking to the university and I really wanted to do something special and cool. I was trying to find a way to make mine memorable.
I was like this is what I want to do: Spotted Cow is the best beer in Wisconsin. It’s incredible. I want to put a Spotted Cow under every single seat in the stadium.
I’ll pay for it all. I’ll pay for the labor to put it under the seats, but at the end of my commencement speech, I’m going to say, ‘And now, to congratulate you, just reach under your seat and have a cold one on me.’
And they were like, ‘Yeah, we can’t do that legally.'”
Watt added he tried to find a middle ground by offering to give students a gift certificate they could redeem at a bar near campus but was ultimately rebuffed.
He may not have been able to pull it off, but I respect where his head was at.