Furniture shopping and college football … strange bedfellows.
Proving that almost anything can be paired, however, the Los

Angeles furniture store, H.D. Buttercup, started a creative promotion Thursday, linked to Saturday’s USC-UCLA football game.

Purchasing at least $2,000 worth of furniture – before the 1:30 p.m. kickoff – coupled with a Bruins win, the furniture was free.

A saleswoman named Samantha said Friday that most of the phone calls the store had been receiving were related to the promotion. Purchasers must fill out a form saying they are signing up for the promotion and the furniture couldn’t be returned if the Bruins had lost.

For someone who happens to need furniture, not a bad bet. And the store was working on setting up a TV set to keep track of the proceedings this afternoon.

“It’s a win-win situation,” the saleswoman said, sounding a lot like a football coach.

Well, not exactly …

It’s a good guess that Chicago Bears fan and furniture store owner Randy Gonigam didn’t use the words “win-win” back in September, after his promotion went slightly awry.

A slight rewind: Gonigam, a furniture store owner in Plano, Ill., offered free furniture up to $10,000 if the Bears shut out the Packers in their season opener on Sept. 10.

Score of that game? Chicago 26, Green Bay 0.

Cost: Almost $300,000.

“This is beyond our wildest dreams,” he told a reporter after the dust cleared.

Luckily, he had taken out insurance.