CITY HALL — The Blackhawks have to win the Stanley Cup in order to keep Mayor Rahm Emanuel from becoming a re-gifter.
Emanuel posted his proposed wager in the Stanley Cup Final against his Boston counterpart Thomas Menino on the Chicago Mayor's Office Facebook page Wednesday. Should the Hawks somehow lose to the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final, Emanuel would pony up an array of self-promoting Chicago goods, including a Manny's corned-beef sandwich, a picture of the Bean (for Beantown), Green Line beer, Steppenwolf Theatre tickets and a Revolution Brewing T-shirt.
And he'll also pitch in a bottle of Sriracha hot sauce, admittedly "re-gifted from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — he sent us way too much stuff after we beat the Kings the other day."
That would make Emanuel a re-gifter, a phrase with its origins in an infamous episode of "Seinfeld," dubbed "The Label Maker" and guest-starring a young Bryan Cranston, later of "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Breaking Bad."
Emanuel's challenge came with a significant preamble about the Hawks and Bruins being "original six" National Hockey League teams, prompting Menino to respond, "It's no surprise that such a verbose letter came from the Windy City."
Menino jabbed Chicago's lack of overall sports success recently, making reference to how as Chicago mayor "You're not accustomed to making these wagers very often."
He then went on to wager a rather nondescript package of "Best of Boston's Local Foods." He also offered access to Boston's website for a day, "no profanities, please," and Huntington Theatre tickets, as well as tickets to Theo Epstein's "Hot Stove, Cool Music" concert.
Nothing to be re-gifted, though.
