No matter which side of the aisle you’re on, we can probably agree that the side-bets that politicians make over sporting events are a nice bit of lighthearted fun between rivals. While the bets are typically over a case of local craft beer or a delicacy native to one’s area or state, some U.S. senators really upped the ante last football season.
Back in November, Iowa thumped Nebraska 40-10 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the scoreline would indicate and a result that gave Wisconsin a berth in the Big Ten title game. While Big Red fans would probably like to forget that day in their minds, the state’s junior senator will be re-living it a bit this weekend.
That’s because, according to The Hill, noted Cornhuskers fan Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) is going to be paying off a bet he made over the outcome of the game and will be changing jobs and driving an Uber around Iowa this weekend as a result.
“Let’s be clear why I’m going to be in Iowa this weekend,” Sasse said Sunday on TV. “I don’t want to admit it anywhere, let alone on national TV, but Nebraska lost to Iowa last year in a football game, and I lost a bet. So I have to drive Uber in Iowa next weekend.
“That’s the reason I’m going to be in Iowa. It’s about Hawkeyes and Huskers bloodletting on the football field and the aftermath of that.”
It seems it’s only natural to be suspicious nowadays of the reason why a politician would go to the state of Iowa given its place in the presidential election process but in the case of Sasse during this congressional recess, it’s simply a case of a football bet gone wrong. Hopefully Hawkeyes fans will be quite accommodating to the senator and won’t dock his rating just because he roots for the Huskers.