Laker Home Games and the Phenomenon of the Free Tacos

The Lakers have a promotion going at their home games that ensures fans will stay in their seats until the final buzzer, even if the home team is up big. If the Lakers win and hold their opponents to under 100 points, each fan receives a coupon for two free tacos from Jack in the Box, retail value of which is a whopping 99 cents. Big effing deal, right? You'd be surprised.

There's really no other way to describe it: the fans go absolutely bonkers for this promotion. This weird sort of collective consciousness takes over the building in the waning minutes of a Laker blowout, where everyone becomes rabid for free tacos. Check out this footage from the cheap seats from a win over the Nuggets earlier this season, and listen to the insane screaming and "WE WANT TACOS!!" chants from the fans.

The funny thing is, opposing teams have started to notice (how could they not, right?) and are now doing everything they can to get to 100 and make sure the fans go home taco-less. In the Bucks' loss earlier this month, Milwaukee actually started intentionally fouling the Lakers to get the ball back and score over 100, even though they were down by double digits with under 30 seconds left. When Charlie Bell's three pointer pushed the Bucks over the century mark, the fans were crushed:

A chorus of boos rains down on the court as Charlie Bell hits a taco-eliminating three pointer. Seriously, I'm not sure if the crowd would have been louder if Charlie Bell had punched Kobe in the mouth.

So keep an eye on this near the ends of Laker home games, it's truly a hilarious site to behold. Oh, and being as the fans at Staples are this crazy for tacos, we now know the real reason that they signed DJ Mbenga.