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!

Welcome to Civic Pride

If you've had a sports team in your town that's done reasonably well, the you've seen these wagers. We love them. They're funny. They're local. And...most importantly, they usually involve food.

What's "Civic Pride"? It's a way to root for your team while wagering products such as food and drink on your hometown team. Oftentimes it's the Mayors or Governors doing this "wagering" and we'll be there the chronicle all that's going down. The good (Chicago), the bad (Seattle) and the interesting (we'll find out!).

Have you seen a Mayor betting on something that we missed? Send it in to ourcivicpride@gmail.com.