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Prior to last season, the men’s basketball team at Nebraska had never won a March Madness game. CBS Sports reporter Jon Rothstein was skeptical they’d check that box after the Cornhuskers got off to a hot start, and he’s living up to a promise by hosting a happy hour in Lincoln after they proved him wrong.
There aren’t many people who are more obsessed with college basketball than Jon Rothstein, the Certified Sicko who’s worked as a reporter for CBS Sports for more than 15 years.
Rothstein is probably best known for the X/Twitter account where he’s racked up close to 450,000 followers thanks to a hilarious Personal Brand that revolves around the sports he’s obsessed with, one that toes the line of fanatical devotion to the point where it’s hard to figure out how much of it is really a bit.
My wife and daughter are going to the West Coast for the duration of Thanksgiving Week.
I’m better off.
That holiday has become a vapor in our way of life.
Just too many Quad 1 opportunities hanging in the balance.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 16, 2025
He also hosts the Inside College Basketball Now podcast, and last year, he used that platform to pour some cold water on a hot Nebraska team that had gotten off to a 10-0 start. He acknowledged the squad seemed to be firing on all cylinders but was skeptical it was going to translate to success when March rolled around, saying:
“If Nebraska makes the NCAA Tournament in 2026 and wins an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in school history, I at some point before the start of the ’26-’27 am going to fly to Lincoln, Nebraska.
I’m going to go downtown. I’m going to put my credit card down at a bar for an hour, and I am going to throw a happy hour for Nebraska basketball fans.”
It was fair to be dubious, as the Cornhuskers had only punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament on eight occasions at that point but had never managed to win a game.
However, they ultimately kicked off the season with a 20-game winning streak, entered March Madness as a four-seed with a 26-6 record, and made it to the Sweet Sixteen with wins over Troy and Vanderbilt before losing to Iowa.
Now, Rothstein is making good on his pledge.
Jon Rothstein will be facing a sizable bar bill after following through on his promise to host a happy hour for Nebraska fans
Rothstein said he’d be living up to his word after Nebraska fell to the Hawkeyes, but more than four months passed without any updates on the happy hour front.
However, that changed on Thursday, as he hopped online to reveal the happy hour will be going down at Gate 25, a restaurant located right across the street from Pinnacle Bank Arena, at 5 P.M. on Wednesday, September 16th.
Anarchy?
Nope. Just College Basketball. pic.twitter.com/CJhMEe2dhJ
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 13, 2026
There’s zero doubt the bar is going to be absolutely packed as fans flock to take advantage of the opportunity, and we can only hope Rothstein will end up revealing how much it cost him.
Creighton’s women’s volleyball team may want to brace itself for what’s in store, as they’re going to be facing off against Nebraska’s squad at the aforementioned arena right after the event wraps up.