One of the great in-arena marketing ideas of the last few decades is the “Brickin’ for Chicken” concept, in which fans of a team get a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich — or, in some markets, a different free food item from a fast food chain — if an opposing player misses both free throws on a trip to the line.
There is nothing people love more than getting free stuff and when someone misses the front end of a pair of free throws there is a buzz in the arena that is, even if just for a few seconds, only rivaled by a close game in the final minute. Fans get on their feet, screaming for the opportunity to get a free sandwich, and the arena absolutely erupts when that second free throw bounces off the rim. The Clippers are among the teams with this promo, and on Sunday afternoon in the final game of the regular season, an old friend came back to deliver free chicken to the Clipper faithful.
Boban Marjanovic, who spent two seasons in L.A. with the Clippers where he was a fan favorite (like every stop of his NBA career), stepped to the free throw line in the fourth quarter and had his first attempt rattle out. As the crowd got loud and people started waving cardboard cutouts of chicken sandwiches, Boban realized what was going on and pointed to the crowd and then to himself to let the people know “I got you” before purposefully clanging his second attempt off the left side of the rim.
Boban then raises his hand triumphantly in the air as the crowd cheered, knowing that even in a meaningless game to both teams (Houston being eliminated from the playoffs and the Clippers locked into the 4-seed already) he could deliver true joy to the people in the form of a free chicken sandwich.
