From the Dioceses of Maryland:
The Rt. Revs. Marc Andrus and Eugene Taylor Sutton have each placed bets on their local National Football League team competing in the Super Bowl on February 3.
Regardless of what either bishop will say, one team has to win, and the other has to lose. If the San Francisco 49ers somehow lose, Bishop Andrus will send a gift basket that could include a combination of wines and olive oils from the Napa or Sonoma Valleys, locally made chocolate, Anchor Steam beer, fresh sour dough bread, some tie-dye clothes (maybe vestments), a burnt-out clutch, or some patchouli.In the unlikely event of a Baltimore Ravens loss, Bishop Sutton will send local Baltimore and Maryland favorites, including Old Bay seasoning, Berger cookies, crab cakes, National Bohemian beer, a pink beehive hairdo wig for the bishop to wear as a miter, black-eyed susan flower seeds, and season one DVD of The Wire.
The football teams and bishops won’t be the only winners from the Super Bowl. In addition to the gift baskets, the losing bishop will make a donation to Rebuild Haiti in the name of the winning team’s diocese as part of The Episcopal Church’s and the Dioceses of Maryland and California’s ongoing commitments to Haiti and the work of the Gospel done there.
Bishop Sutton initiated the bet on behalf of his diocese when he called Bishop Andrus and said, “The winning bishop will call the other after the game to offer condolences, spiritual comfort and grief counseling.” The wager grew from there. Bishop Andrus said, “Besides the anticipation of receiving some Maryland blue crabs and other Maryland booty for the deserving DioHouse staff when the 49ers win the Super Bowl, we’re happily in agreement that the point is to help Rebuild Haiti.”
More on various bets by the bishops and others from the Merced Sun-Star