It’s a hallowed tradition for the mayors of cities represented in the championship game to make a wager as a show of their city’s spirit and civic pride. Onion Sports looks at some of the best:
1974: New Orleans mayor Moon Landrieu guarantees the Jazz will win a championship within the franchise’s first five years or he will sell the team to the “weirdest city in America”
1976: After New York mayor Abe Beame fails to make good on his World Series bet with the mayor of Cincinnati, a suspicious series of brutal killings rocks the Big Apple
1977: Oakland mayor John H. Reading bets Minneapolis mayor Charles Stenvig that if the Raiders win the championship game, the Vikings will never show their faces in the Super Bowl again
1985: Following the World Series, the mayors of Kansas City and St. Louis exchange snow globes of their respective cities
1987: Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry places $4,000 on St. Louis to beat Minnesota in the World Series
2000: During the Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani loses a bet with the mayor of New York and is obligated to take New York’s mayor out to a seven-course dinner at one of New York City’s finest restaurants
2004: New England faces Carolina in the Super Bowl, but no one is exactly sure who the mayors of New England or Carolina are
2008: The NFC championship game against the Giants marks the 75th consecutive time a mayor of Green Bay has wagered a block of cheese
