Putting Civic Pride Where Their Mouths Are for the Big Game

January 21, 2011, 11:59 am

Putting Civic Pride Where Their Mouths Are for the Big Game

By LIZ ROBBINS

Suzanne Plunkett/Associated Press and Associated Press Left, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani with a Junior’s cheesecake, and right, with cowboy boots, in each case won in a wager with another politician.

Updated, 4:55 p.m. | When Rudolph W. Giuliani was mayor of New York and the city’s first fan, he couldn’t wait to make bets with Democrats, Republicans, small-town mayors and big-city counterparts alike, just as long as a New York team was in the playoffs.
Over the years, he won tacos, cowboy hats and a pair of boots that became his prized possession. He enjoyed dinners on the town, compliments of the mayors of Atlanta and St. Paul and the victories of his cherished Yankees. He savored the talk and the competition, especially, he said in an interview on Thursday, against “the mayors that are real sports fans.”
Why? “Because they know how to bet,” he said. Read more…