Hamburger no longer on offer in Green Bay-Minneapolis football bet

Photo: wikipedia

China may be ready to buy American pork again now, with fears subsiding about catching H1N1 flu from eating pigs, but hamburger has fallen from grace as a token of interstate tribute.  

With observers saying he’s a safe bet to win re-election next week, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has made a second bet with the Mayor Jim Schmitt of Green Bay, Wis., over the less-certain outcome of another contest: this weekend’s Vikings-Packers rematch.

But this time the booty Rybak will be due in the event of a second Vikings victory will include All-American beef steaks instead of hamburger. Disease-bearing burgers made in Wisconsin and eaten in Minnesota were the subject of a major investigative article on the front of the Sunday New York Times since the last mayoral bet was made.

Rybak’s pledge, should the Vikes lose, is to send to Schmitt sausage made in Minneapolis, beer brewed in St. Paul, and fudge from Lindstrom, Minn. — possibly a subtle bid for non-metro support for his unannounced gubernatorial run in 2010.