Genie Bouchard Date With Fan: Super Bowl Bet Helps Sports Illustrated Publicity
The Genie Bouchard date with a fan following a Super Bowl LI bet went forth as the Canadian tennis star officially honored her agreement. Bouchard took her lucky Twitter follower on a date to check out the Brooklyn Nets in an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks. The latest update on Genie Bouchard’s date also arrives as she is part of the newest Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which may have some people questioning how authentic the bet and date really were.
The whole story began back on Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, as Bouchard was bragging on Twitter that she knew the Atlanta Falcons were going to win. At the time, they were winning in what looked like a lopsided game. Her tweet drew plenty of reactions and replies including one from student John Goehrke.
if patriots win we go on a date?
— TW1 (@punslayintwoods) February 6, 2017
The opportunistic sports fan decided to tweet a challenge to Bouchard asking her for a date if the New England Patriots won the game. At the time it was 21-3 in favor of Atlanta, prompting Bouchard to reply with a confident “sure.” The rest is history as the latest Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady guided an amazing comeback to help New England win the game in overtime.
While some celebrities may have made a joke of their agreeing to the bet, Bouchard actually honored it. According to ESPN, the women’s tennis star, currently ranked No. 44 in the world, took Goehrke as her date to the Nets game at Brooklyn’s Barclay Center on Wednesday night. The two sat courtside, with Bouchard tweeting and snapping social media pics as proof she went on the date. For those basketball fans wondering, the Nets lost yet again, but in a close contest, 129-125.
Just met my 'Super Bowl Twitter Date' John ? On our way to the @BrooklynNets game! @punslayintwoods pic.twitter.com/DHRgY46smd
— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) February 16, 2017
The date apparently went well, with Bouchard later telling TMZ she would even go on a second date with her Twitter guy. She posted another Twitter photo showing her date planting a kiss on her cheek and even made comments to let other male sports fans they too might have a shot at dating their single sports celebrity crush.
Bouchard indicated that this guy wasn’t like all those other stalker types following celebs on social media.
“He’s normal. He’s a normal man…. It’s complete luck. I’m so lucky.”
Last night… ? pic.twitter.com/Vu3DYgYSBh
— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) February 16, 2017
According to Chicago Tribune, Goehrke is a 20-year-old marketing major attending the University of Missouri. Reportedly, he was contacted by Bouchard directly via Twitter message and then her agent helped arrange hotel and flight accommodations, paid for courtesy of Bouchard. When the lucky college student arrived from Missouri to New York City, Bouchard was already there to promote her new appearance in the pages of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.
Following the date, Goehrke also seemed pleased with how things had gone.
“I was only with her for a few hours but the time we spent together was really good. I obviously want to see her again at some point in the future and it seemed like she did too. If we could ever make that work that would be amazing.”
While at first glance this looks like an innocent, cute, and cool move by Genie Bouchard, some skeptics may see it another way. The event plays out perfectly, as Bouchard had the date in NYC while promoting the new Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which features fellow tennis stars Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. It was also mentioned that Goehrke and Bouchard participated in various interviews during their time in New York. These included speaking with an NBA entertainment reporter and TMZ throughout the day of the date.
The publicity is certainly there for Bouchard, who casual sports fans may not have heard of, until now. Although having Kate Upton on the cover helps SI sell copies, having an attractive tennis star make news headlines doesn’t hurt sales either. Not only that, the concept of an attractive sports star taking out an everyday “normal” fan on a date, is the stuff many male sports fans’ fantasies are made of.
With Bouchard’s Twitter follower count topping the 1 million mark, it gives other fans hope that they too can win a date with their favorite sports star. Whether or not it was a publicity stunt is up for debate, but if not, it makes Genie Bouchard seem like one cool celebrity not above going out with a fan from her social media following.
[Featured Image by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images]
