Huskers Lose, Coburn to Belt out Elton John Tune

Some elected officials it seems, aren't content with wagering local food products on their sports teams.  More and more today, we're seeing folks step out and wager "embarrassment" - making the looser do "something" that they're not really interested in doing.  We guess that if we were a Senator, singing an Elton John song on the Senate floor might be up there near the top of the embarrassment scale.  That's exactly what Nebraska Senator Tom Coburn is going to have to do because his Sooners lost to the Florida Gators in the BCS Championship game.

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn is slated to serenade Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida with his very own rendition of Elton John's 1970s classic Wednesday afternoon.

Coburn owes Nelson because the Florida Gators defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 in last week's BCS title game. Nelson chose "Rocket Man" because he is a former astronaut who flew on the space shuttle Columbia in the 1980s.

If Oklahoma had won, Nelson would have had to sing the title song from the musical "Oklahoma!" It also happens to be the official state song.

Coburn spokesman John Hart said his boss won't wear a leisure suit for the performance but would be ready. He acknowledged the vocal range for "Rocket Man" is a "bit more expansive" than for the song Nelson would've had to sing.

Bottomline:

Embarassment is one thing, but we like to see our Senators wagering food.  Sure, oranges can't be shipped lots of places, but we bet they could have gone to Nebraska.  Because it's an Elton John song, we rate this higher than if Coburn would have won and Nelson sang a shotune.  28 Daleys.