National Basketball Association

Mayor Rob Ford will bet on the Raptors-Nets series, so long as it's not beer

Published Apr. 22, 2014 4:05 p.m. ET

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Looks like the city leaders are raising the stakes on the Raptors-Nets playoff series. 

After Toronto GM Masai Ujiri unceremoniously dropped an F-bomb (and was subsequently fined) before the Raptors' loss to the Nets in Game 1, Brooklyn Borough president Eric Adams threw down some of his own words regarding the Toronto-Brooklyn rivalry. 

"It's unfortunate that the Raptors GM felt so desperate facing our Nets that he would throw profanity around discussing our beloved borough, but I can't say I'm surprised. After all, Brooklyn is a classier place. Just compare Babs to Biebs, or spend some time with their ... colorful mayor." 

Then Adams offered up a wager to Toronto mayor Rob Ford. "Rather than mess with verbal barbs," Adams stated, "I'm willing to send up North some of Brooklyn's best if the Raptors can prevail, perhaps a six-pack from Brooklyn Brewery or a CD from the First Family of hip-hop. The ball is in Mayor Ford's court to meet the challenge." 

This isn't the first time the US and Canada have wagered boxes of brew over sports. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper bet cases of beer during the men's and women's Olympic hockey games which the White House ponied up).

So this should have been an offer Ford couldn't refuse -- had the Toronto mayor not already been notoriously scandalized over his admitted drug and alcohol use. 

"I don't want it involving alcohol because it know it will get spun," Ford chuckled to the Toronto Sun.

So instead of boxes of microbrew, "I will offer up some Blue Jays tickets," Ford declared. "Or [Canadian football team] Argos."

Though Adams specifically bet "a CD of our favorite local artist," as this official letter, obtained by Business Insider, shows: 

Mayor Ford Wager Letter

Does this mean the Toronto mayor isn't a Jay-Z and Beyonce fan? Or maybe he'd rather keep Drake and Bieber to himself.  

Either way, "I just love the passion of the fans," Ford the Toronto Sun. "The fans in Brooklyn can see how great our support is."

And Ford gleefully counts himself one of them, as seen here: 

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