Cup mix-up: TCU cups mistakenly delivered to Waco restaurants...and it's rivalry week

Cup coincidence, or purple prank?

A shipment of cups displaying the Texas Christian University logo was delivered to a restaurant chain in Waco this week--rivalry week.

"My first reaction was: we're not in Fort Worth, this is Bear Country, this is the home of Baylor University--what are these cups doing here in Waco?" said Jason Cook, Chief Marketing Officer for Baylor University.

This week, two McAlister's Deli locations in Waco, the store on 6th St. and the store on W. Waco Dr., received the TCU cups instead of the "Sic 'Em Bears" cups they'd ordered: the W. Waco Dr. location sold them to customers Tuesday through Wednesday afternoon.

KWTX received several reports of customers letting their opposition be known to employees at the location as early as Tuesday evening.

A spokeswoman for McAlister's says there wasn't a shortage of regular cups, it was all an accident, and the shipment was supposed to go to a location in Fort Worth.

"We're in the process of having the distributor issue a credit for those cups, it was definitely an error on their end," said Amy Dickey, Director of Marketing at the Saxton Group. "We don't believe it was any kind of prank."

Dickey says TCU did not receive the Baylor shipment, however, which was sitting at the supplier's warehouse in San Antonio until Wednesday when the correct cups were delivered; she said both Waco locations would be receiving an additional truck of Baylor cups Thursday.

"McAlister's has been such a great partner of the University, we really believe this is an honest mistake that the wrong cups got sent to Waco," said Cook. "But, with it being such a big football game this weekend, you start thinking--is there a TCU grad just trying to play a joke on us? We certainly hope not."

While the company claims it was an accident, the timing was too much for many to ignore, leading some to surmise it was a 'cup conspiracy.'

"It's definitely not an accident, it's a prank, but it doesn't matter because we're winning the game," a Baylor freshman told KWTX.

"They did that on purpose, and it was to try to psych us out before the game," said another student.

The undefeated Bears play the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth Saturday at 11 a.m. CST.

University officials say rivalries like this is what makes college football so great.

"It's fun, it's light-hearted, we really believe it's an honest mistake, but we'll be sure to see if there's a conspiracy theory going on in McAlister's," Cook joked.

While he doesn't believe it's a prank, if they find out it is, he says TCU better beware.

"We want to make sure, first and foremost, that we keep the rivalry fun but it's also respectful as well," said Cook. "If it turns out to be a prank, we're going to start turning the wheels a little bit--how can we get Baylor cups in Fort Worth?--that will be the ultimate payback."

According to Dickey, about 300 TCU logo cups were delivered: it's unknown how many were sold.

Cook had a suggestion for customers who did receive those cups.

"If you do get served one of these cups...it makes for great recycling material," he laughed.

The Saxton Group, McAlister's Deli franchisee, operates 83 locations: about 20 of those are in college towns, like Waco and Fort Worth, where they often have collegiate partnerships to put the institution's logo on their cups, Dickey says.