The Fort Worth Zoo’s lucky charm, Asian elephant calf Brazos, joined this week’s favorite guessing game Thursday, weighing in with his prediction on who will win Super Bowl LVII on Sunday. The pachyderm’s pick: the Philadelphia Eagles. He didn’t offer a point spread.
The field was set for Brazos with two pachyderm-sized footballs, one painted with the Eagles’ logo and the other with the logo of the Kansas City Chiefs. With his coach, mom Bluebonnet, and No. 1 cheerleader, Angel, on the sidelines, Brazos took the field and never looked back. Without hesitation, the 1,610-pound elephant punted the Eagles football for the official pick.
Last year, Brazos successfully ended a seven-year losing streak for the zoo’s Super Bowl pickers, so it was a no-brainer to put Brazos in the starting lineup once again. As it happens, Brazos is a direct descendent of the Fort Worth Zoo’s original prognosticating pachyderm, Rasha.
The Zoo’s animals have been predicting Super Bowl outcomes since 1998 and Rasha has the most picks under her belt, with a record 10 selections! Her grandson Brazos is the Zoo’s golden boy entrusted to turn last year’s prediction into a two-year winning streak. But hey, it’s a just a game and sports betting is illegal in Texas so this prediction business is just for fun, right? For Brazos, though, it’s fun-plus because the process enhances the animal’s environment and promotes psychological well-being by changing the complexity of its habitat, zoo officials said in a news release.
If Brazos had fingers, of course, he’d be crossing them and rooting for the Eagles.
Information for this article was provided by the Fort Worth Zoo.
