An Ape Has Predicted This Year's Super Bowl Winner. He's Been Right the Last 6 Times

There is no longer any need to play the Super Bowl this Sunday. Why bother? Eli the ape has chosen his winner: the Seattle Seahawks.

Eli, an ape at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, has correctly predicted the winner of the past six Super Bowls. He hasn’t been wrong since 2006 – if I were you, I wouldn’t bet against him. 

His process is a simple one: he runs into a cage with two paper-machete helmets representing the two teams facing off in the big game. Whichever helmet he smashes first is his predicted winner. This year he went straight for the Seahawks helmet, “without any hesitation.” Tough break for the Denver Broncos, especially from an ape with the same name as Peyton Manning’s brother. 

Of course, Eli isn’t the only animal in the game of predicting sports outcomes. There is the legendary Paul the Octopus (may he rest in peace), who never incorrectly predicted a World Cup match. The Wire has put together a list of animals (everything from a pot-bellied pig to a black rhinoceros) that have submitted predictions for this year’s Super Bowl, with six choosing the Broncos and five picking the Seahawks (including Eli). It’s going to be a close one, folks.

Ridiculous or not, a majority of football fans believe some sort of supernatural force is at play during NFL games. Whether that’s an ape’s prediction or a curse from god depends, I suppose, on what you choose to believe. Because what did you think, that the players actually have a say in how the game goes?