ABC News Defeats NBC News in Baseball Bet -- With a Goatee Intact
White House correspondents wager on the Phillies-Dodgers series.
Oct. 23, 2009— -- Every time a sports championship rolls around, the mayors of the two competing cities make a hokey bet that generally involves the most well-known food from each city.
Chowder is on the line when it's a New England team. Cheesesteaks are a staple of all bets involving Philadelphia.
But when two Washington political journalists make a sports bet, the wager gets a bit more creative -- and more personal.
A friendly wager on baseball's National League pennant could have ended with NBC White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd shaving the signature goatee he has sported for nearly seven years.
Instead two charities -- one benefiting an ob-gyn in Pakistan and another that helps homeless and addicted men and women -- are $1000 richer.
It all began last Monday when the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies pulled off a come-from-behind victory in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Colorado Rockies and earn a spot in the National League Championship Series.
Once the winning run crossed home plate, Jake Tapper, ABC News' senior White House correspondent, a Philadelphia native, aimed some good-natured taunting on Twitter at Todd, his NBC counterpart and avowed fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"Dodgers win, I grow a goatee, Phils win, [Todd] shaves it?" Tapper tweeted.
Todd seemed hesitant to take the bet from the start.
"So, I'm supposed to put the goatee in the hands of one-time Phillie castoff, Vicente Padilla? Really?" he said of the Los Angeles pitcher.
In the Goatee Gamble, Can NBC's Todd Save Face?
Though at times it looked like it may not happen, the terms of the bet came together before the start of the championship series last Thursday.
The goatee rule was still in effect but an opt-out clause was added -- remember these are television correspondents and appearance does matter.
In order to literally save face, the loser could donate $1,000 to the charity of the winner's choice.
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