Because it's the South... that's why.

by Slate Quicksilver

As some of you may already know, Alabama won the SEC championship game over Florida by a grandiose margin. Some of us, unfortunately, made bets. Yours truly bet a friend a coke and during Christmas break will make good on it. But that is a less than strong bet.

Others, had to sing a humiliating song. Orson Swindle at the wonderful site, everydayshouldbesaturday.com, had to sing "Rocky Top," the earwig song that most make Tennessee fans get harder than Chinese algebra when hear it. That was a far manlier bet and a handshake is order for Mr. Swindle for having the balls and constitution to go through with it.

But a lesser known bet was made. Governor Bob Riley of Alabama bet Charlie Crist, governor of Florida that Alabama would win. The bet? A crate of oranges to Mr. Riley if Alabama won or a rubs from the famous Dreamland Barbecue in Tuscaloosa if the Gators won.

Bets like these are common. Governors, mayors, representatives, etc... they all do this. Congresswoman Corrine Brown, of "Go Gata" fame did this with Maxine Waters (of California) over the NBA finals which were the Magic and Lakers. Oddly enough, she is from Jacksonville, not Orlando. Watching this video it's pretty obvious she knew nothing about the Magic whereas Ms. Waters certainly knew about her Lakers. But for Corrinne Brown, not knowing anything about anything is par for the course. Go watch the "Go Gata" video and you will see with in 30 seconds what I speak of.

Back to the Alabama-Florida governor bet. It turns out that Mr. Riley is in some hot water for the wager. Governor Riley, as it turns out, is spearheading a push to eliminate electronic bingo halls around the State of Alabama. Gambling advocates and Bible thumping anti-gamblers alike were up in arms. So, collecting his winnings would see him as a hypocrite.

Thus he did not collect his winnings even though last year he owned up to the bet... which saw him sending the aforementioned ribs to Gov. Crist. That's not hypocritical, right?

Neither was Mr. Riley taking 13 million dollars from Mississippi Choctaw Casinos during his gubernatorial race in 2006. That's not hypocritical at all!

What? We can't pretend to be real reporters sometimes?