The Stakes are "Usually Low and Locally Focused"

The Pittsburgh City Paper has a nice write-up of the history of friendly political wagers in their town. They include a terrific couple of lines that nicely sum up our coverage her at Our Civic Pride.

But no tradition is more routine -- or routinely strange -- than the mayoral wager, when otherwise (presumably) busy officials push aside their to-do piles to lay down some action with their counterparts in other cities.

The stakes are usually low and locally focused: a particularly popular local delicacy, or an easily identifiable regional product. Even losing, then, is a kind of victory -- an advertisement for the city to people who live elsewhere.

We maintain that there's nothing better than these wagers. As the SuperBowl fades into our memories, we'll be looking even further in the past as we try to cover some of the more unique wagers in our country's history. We've found wagers back to the 1930's and we'll bring some of those wagers right to you, including rating them on the Daley scale!