Brown may wager stay at communal loft Tampa mayor considers betting local cigars, food on Super Bowl
The Shadow
By Laura Counts and Lisa Friedman
The bicoastal bets are in, but at least this time no one has threatened to
sing.
On the West Coast, Jerry Brown is considering offering Tampa Mayor Dick
Greco a weekend's stay at the Oakland mayor's unconventional waterfront
loft/warehouse if the Raiders lose Super Bowl XXXVII to the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers.
Aide Erica Harrold said the mayor plans to work out the stakes with Greco
today, but he also might throw in a dinner at Oakland's Everett & Jones
Barbecue, tickets to Yoshi's jazz club, and a case of Brothers Brewing
Company beer.
Greco, a Tampa native and former executive at the Edward J. DeBartolo Corp.,
is reportedly betting a box of his city's famous cigars and some local food
products. He could not be reached in person Wednesday for comment.
Brown will be seated in a luxury box with longtime girlfriend Anne Gust at
Sunday's Super Bowl in San Diego, courtesy of the NFL, Harrold said. No word
yet on whether other Oakland officials managed to score tickets.
On the East Coast in the halls of Congress, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee,
D-Oakland, has wagered her Florida counterpart, Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa Bay,
that the Raiders will beat the Bucs.
The stakes: a pound of Peet's coffee, a tray of gingerbread cookies from
T.J.'s Gingerbread House and a gallon of Dreyer's ice cream vs. Cuban
sandwiches, black beans and guava turnovers.
"I'm looking forward to eating those sandwiches," Lee said in a statement,
to which Davis replied, "I can already taste the coffee and gingerbread,
although I can't imagine that Berkeley's coffee could compare with cafe con
leche."
Not to be outdone, California Sen. Barbara Boxer made a bet with Florida
Sen. Bob Nelson. Boxer put up a large box of California almonds against
Nelson's case of Florida oranges.
"She's a huge Raiders fan," Boxer spokesman David Sandretti said of his
boss, who intends to be at the game. Upon making the bet, Sandretti said,
Boxer told Nelson she was wagering almonds -- California's biggest export --
because "if you win over the Raiders it will be a big shock ... (and
almonds) have been proven to lower the risk of heart attacks."
Such sports wagers, which apparently don't violate betting laws, have become
a perennial diversion on Capitol Hill. The stakes range from food and wine
to a politician's pride.
When the Rams played the Patriots in 2002, Massachusetts lawmakers bet their
Missouri counterparts a clambake for some traditional St. Louis custard. A
year earlier, New York Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer had to eat
crow -- or raven, as it were -- by giving a public recitation of Edgar Allen
Poe's "The Raven" when the Baltimore Ravens beat the Giants.
Rep. Chris Cox, R-Newport Beach, is still waiting to collect on a World
Series bet with Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, in which Lantos said he'd wear
a cowboy outfit and sing "Back in the Saddle" if the Anaheim Angels beat the
San Francisco Giants. A Cox spokeswoman said the congressman has not
forgotten about Lantos' pending public humiliation -- and will probably
collect on the bet when the Angels go to the White House in May.