USC vs. UCLA: Winner “Predicted” Via Cocktails

Messhall Kitchen is letting a pair of sips soothsay the big game.

Game day, as every true-blue (or blue-and-gold or cardinal-and-gold) fan knows, doesn't start on game day.

The action starts way, wayyy beforehand and way off the football field, when pundits start punditing and tailgate parties are concocted and the prediction rituals begin in ridiculous, if delightful, earnest. (Which food will your dog eat, the kibble sitting on the poster with Team A's insignia or Team B's?)

And when the Bruins and Trojans squads square off, as they will for the 82nd time on Saturday, Nov. 22, the "who'll win?" showdowns often flower in the most interesting, and flavorful, of spots around Southern California. Look to Messhall Kitchen, in Los Feliz, for a prime example. The restaurant is staging a 21-and-over guessing event happening right up to game time.

The upshot? Whether more Messhall patrons order USC's Red Rush -- a drink made with bourbon, raspberries, honey, and lemon -- or UCLA's Bees Knees, which has gin, honey, lemon, and blueberries.

Love the color coordination, Messhall. Keeping this rivalry thematic, through-and-through.

Bartenders are keeping a tally of which cocktail is higher on the request list, so look for who is winning the cocktail contest on a board near the bar.

Is this board a crystal ball, one that looks straight into the heart of the heated contest, which'll draw the devoted to the Rose Bowl on Nov. 22? Time, as they say, will tell, as it does with all sports-focused prediction games. But we raise our glass to such funny face-offs, as they give the fans a way to work out some of that game-day anticipation in whimsical and strange ways.

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Also, the dog eating the kibble from the bowl placed on the team's logo? Let's be honest: Fido is typically right more often than he is not.

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