Betting on professional sports tends to be serious business in America - unless those wagers take place in Congress. No matter the championship, no matter the teams, Democrats and Republicans alike cannot resist the chance to engage in silly wagers with one another that often involve public displays of humiliation and gifts of local foods.
So it was that the distinguished progressive Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio dropped and gave 20 to Florida Democrat Bill Nelson after the latter's Gators bested the former's Buckeyes in college football. And now the Senate brings you a four-part bet on the baseball World Series that adds a new wrinkle: the spoils all go to charity. Read on...
Massachusetts senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, representing the Boston Red Sox, have wagered with Republican Wayne Allard and Democrat Ken Salazar, who represent the Colorado Rockies.
If the Red Sox prevail in the best-of-seven series, Allard and Salazar will donate Colorado beef to a Massachusetts charity. If the Rockies come out on top, Kennedy and Kerry will flood a Colorado charity in lobster rolls and New England clam chowder.
Whether all this helps bury memories of Kerry's 2004 misstep with the football fans of swing state Wisconsin remains to be seen, but it does give the bipartisan quartet a chance to crack wise and prove their manliness. Although Allard's statement on the bet has echoes of the manufactured controversy over "Who among us does not love NASCAR?":
It's Rocktober! Does anyone doubt that Rockies will write a new chapter of disappointment for Red Sox fans? I'm just so proud to see our team deliver a dream season for the fans and I certainly hope to do some good natured ribbing of my friends from Massachusetts when the Rox bring home the World Series trophy.
