Blame it on the Patriots.
While 20-year-old Missouri student John Goehrke is blessing Tom Brady’s superhuman effort in New England’s come-from-behind victory in Super Bowl LI for scoring him the date of his dreams, Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard is simply holding up her end of the bargain.
“It’s fun and I’m going to follow through with it, because I want to honor my word,” she said in an interview with TSN, a day after she agreed to a bet with Goehrke on Twitter. She confirmed she would go on a date with him if the Patriots, already behind by 25 points, pulled off the unlikeliest of comebacks. “It’s just fun to have interactions like that with your fans. Like I said, I was so confident, but I think I was too confident. I just tempted fate a little bit too much. Yeah, here is my punishment.”
Goehrke, who said he’s a big fan of both Brady and the No. 47 women’s tennis player, saw a chance to turn an Atlanta collapse into his gain and popped the big question in response to Bouchard’s early vote of confidence in the Falcons.
@geniebouchard if patriots win we go on a date?
— TW1 (@punslayintwoods) February 6, 2017
“I just thought to myself, it’s not over,” he told the Kansas City Star. “That idea kind of just popped in my head, so I went through with it. I thought maybe there was a chance she would respond, but I thought there was no chance she’d actually agree to it.”
Once Bouchard approved, Goehrke was suddenly watching the Patriots chip away at the Falcons’ lead when, right before New England tied it up in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime, he realized the gravity of the moment.
“That was probably the most nervous moment, right before that two-point conversion, and they lined up with nobody in the backfield, so you knew they were passing,” said Goehrke, who has since changed the photo on his Twitter page from one of Tiger Woods to a personal shot. “It was crazy.”
Omg…last night really happened… pic.twitter.com/WVxdKPYV68
— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) February 6, 2017
Even Bouchard felt the nerves set in as Brady led scoring drive after scoring drive.
“I was starting to get nervous as the Pats were coming back and the score was getting closer and closer,” she recalled. “I was with my brother and my mom and they kept looking at me like, ‘Oh, you might have to go on a date,’ and like making fun of me. I just couldn’t believe it could actually happen, so I was in complete shock.”
Now Bouchard, 22, who posted an incredulous-looking selfie on Twitter the morning after the game, must find a way to fit the rendezvous into her busy tennis schedule.
“You know what? I’ll fly him out [to a tournament],” she proposed, “but besides that he has to be the gentleman and, you know, organize a fun date night.”
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