Oregon, Ohio governors make manly beer bet for championship

Jan 11, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; A view of AT&T stadium which is the site of the national championship game between the Oregon Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes in Arlington, TX. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The governors of Oregon and Ohio have manned up on a bet over Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship, wagering beer, nuts and cheese.

None of this prissy wine for these guys, no, sirree.

The governors of Oregon and Ohio have laid their testosterone on the line with a wager worthy of a sports bar over the result of Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship between Oregon and Ohio State at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber is putting up a six-pack of Total Domination IPA from Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene, Ore., according to The Associated Press, along with a box of hazelnuts—known as filberts in Oregon—and five pounds of Tillamook cheese.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is countering with a microbrew of his own, the Columbus Brewing Company’s IPA, with a tray of his favorite lasagna from Monte Carlo Italian Kitchen in Westerville, Ohio. Kasich is also throwing in some buckeyes—not the poisonous nuts, but rather chocolate and peanut butter candies named for the university mascot.

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Once a novelty, the friendly political wager—or as I prefer to call it, shameless pandering to the populace—is now almost expected in conjunction with major sporting events.

I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to learn there are—somewhere buried in a small office in a remote corner of capitol buildings around America—departments of silly wagers, where tireless political operatives who grew up watching too much Josh Lyman and Sam Seaborn on West Wing rack their addled brains trying to come up with unique, never-before-tried stakes on events their bosses may or may not give a rat’s patoot about.

And what is more appealing to the populace than a couple of governors betting a six-pack and some manly snacks over a football game? I’m telling you, these are men of the people, this dynamic pair of Kitzhaber and Kasich.

Kitzhaber, a former emergency room physician turned politician, has a net worth of $1.5 million according to PoliticiansNetWorth.com, so just like the rest of us, he’s sweating his car payment and whether he can make the rent next month.

Kasich’s net worth is $2.5 million—again, he’s having to decide whether it’s food for Fido or food for the family. He is a former Congressman who worked as an investment banker for Lehman Brothers … you know, one of the banking companies that went belly up in 2008 after swallowing too many subprime loans? You remember, I’m sure; the bankruptcy that shaved a little bit—like 5,000 some odd points—off the Dow Jones Industrial Average?

Yep, just ordinary folks like the rest of us … bettin’ some brew.

Almost heart-warming, I tell ya.

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