Friday afternoon update: Under our relentless nasal pressure, Gov. Gregoire has decided to make a bet against Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal in advance of Sunday's Seahawks-Falcons game. She wagered a box of our apples against a box of their peaches.
"While Washington also grows some of the finest peaches found anywhere, I’ll gladly take a box from Governor Deal,” Gregoire said.
Better late than never.
Godspeed to Gov. Chris Gregoire, and bless her for doing the grunt work she knows others, including her own party, will promptly ignore. (Copies of her 2013-15 state budget now available at Half Price Books.)
Too bad she laid a big lame-duck egg by failing to perform her one remaining responsibility — dare we say, constitutional duty? — that might actually get noticed:
Making bets against other governors who have NFL teams in the playoffs.
Governor “G” seems to have forgotten that until next Wednesday, she’s still the 12th Man in Chief.
Once upon a time, she took her Seahawks’ betting authority seriously. In 2008, she put up loaves of Cougar Gold cheese against the Wisconsin governor’s bratwurst. Sadly, the Packers played the best, and that state’s executive cheesehead kept the wurst.
A year earlier, Gregoire bet salmon and apples against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s barbecue and hot dogs. Did the Hawks back her up by beating Blago’s Bears? Fuhgettaboutit.
Could it be our governor feels snakebit after going winless (and meatless) in recent postseason bets during her watch? Or maybe she doesn’t have “Russell Mania” and lacks faith in the 2012-13 team?
Au contraire, Gregoire says.
“She is confident in a Seahawks win,” said spokeswoman Karina Shagren. “Honestly, it just slipped our minds.”
Note to Jay Inslee: When the Hawks go to the Super Bowl next month, it had better not slip yours.
Fly that flag with pride! Other Washington leaders have been more attentive than the guv.
Before the Redskins game, King County Executive Dow Constantine put cases of local coffee on the line against java from a Washington, D.C., company. Now he’s betting Seattle coffee against Atlanta Coca-Cola products.
Meanwhile, a City of Seattle flag was hoisted over an executive building in D.C. on Thursday, all because Mayor Mike McGinn took a gamble against his counterpart in The “Other” Washington.
Even Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland is getting into the game, proving Seahawks pride doesn’t stop south of Federal Way. On Thursday, she told The Nose she made a wager against the mayor of Savannah, Ga. The loser will wear the other team’s jersey to a City Council meeting.
Not a bad start, but Strickland should aim higher for the Super Bowl.
The City of Tacoma flag – the new one, shown here – would look sharp flying over Colorado Springs after the Hawks beat the Broncos.
This one’s for you, Click customers: Sorry to hear about your KOMO television blackout. We know what you miss most (though possibly too embarrassed to admit it), so here’s a Schoz-opsis:
As Season 17 opened, Bachelor Sean Lowe began his shirtless journey to find love by meeting 26 beautiful women. Lowe, an insurance agent/fitness model, offended “Bachelor” purists by handing out a dozen “first impression” roses instead of the usual one. At the end of the episode, he whittled the field to 19 by passing out seven more roses in the traditional “rose ceremony.” Among the rejects was a woman who listed her occupation as “Jumbotron operator.”
We now return you to our regular programming.
Pop pot quiz: We’re endlessly impressed by the ways in which local medical marijuana entrepreneurs blend into Main Street society. Take their names, for instance.
Which of these is not a dispensary in Pierce County?
1. Budding Health.
2. Power Plant Health.
3. Karmaceuticals.
4. Medigreen.
5. Bio Green Tacoma.
6. Green Solution.
7. It’s Not Easy Being Green.
Quiz answers: Only three are NOT real local dispensary names:
3. Karmaceuticals is an actual dispensary, but it’s located in Colorado.
5. Bio Green Tacoma is an actual local company, but it makes fertilizer.
7. “It’s Not Easy Being Green” is a song by Kermit the Frog.
Almost funny: We looked forward to the TV comeback of John Keister, the Seattle funnyman who once hosted a post-“Saturday Night Live” sketch-comedy show. (“Seattle Live” or “Late Night with John Keister” or something like that.)
Keister was worth staying up for back then. We hoped he was worth setting the DVR for in his latest go-round, called “The 206.”
Alas, during the opening monologue of the first episode Saturday, he made a crack about Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood. About how its area code should be changed to 911.
What’s next, warmed-over jokes about the WTO riots and the Sonics trading for Jim McIlvaine?
Tacoma has changed. Keister has not.
He was spot-on with his jokes about Renton, though.
Got news for The Nose? Write to TheNose@thenewstribune.com. Twitter: @thenosetribune
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