Football Fan Goes Viral for Heating Rib With Lighter at New Orleans Game

The Bayou Classic is always highly anticipated and since 1974 has seen Grambling State University take on Southern University at the Caesars Superdome, the home of the New Orleans Saints, on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

While the Jaguars were victorious 34-17 in Sunday's latest clash, it wasn't just the action on the field that grabbed attention after a clip of a spectator, who decided that he was going to grab a bite to eat, was misconstrued.

With the game airing on television, viewers took to Twitter to ask what was happening when a fan could be seen using a lighter to heat something in his hand.

Many thought something fishy was going on and there were claims that he was heating a "blunt," which is a cigar filled with marijuana.

The spectator could be seen running the naked flame from the lighter up and down a brown item but it seems that what was in his hand wasn't anything as scandalous as what was being suggested.

After a zoomed-in snap from the video clip was posted online, it was abundantly clear that what was being heated up was, in fact, a pork rib.

While the truth of the situation brought some disappointment on social media, there were many who admired the fan's commitment to eating hot food.

This was applauded on Twitter, with one user stating: "Respect the game. Man was gonna have warm ribs no matter what."

What the fan wouldn't have realized at the time is that his desire for ribs would go viral.

There were many calls on social media for the man to be identified and a number of Twitter users pointed their fingers in one direction, a chef from Beaumont, Texas, who was alleged to be the man seen warming his rib. Unsurprisingly, it would seem that he is an owner of a barbecue restaurant in the Texan city.

The rib-loving chef also seems to have his own range of barbecue sauces, so having a rib at a football game doesn't feel such a stretch, despite gossip about what he might have been up to when the video went viral.

Back with the football, Southern running back Kendric Rhymes described playing in the Bayou Classic as different from any other game: "The whole city comes out and we put on a show."

Do you have a tip on a sports story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about football? Let us know via entertainment@newsweek.com.