Opinion: Social media wrap: Baseball flag-day wager a line drive for Newsom, not so much for Reed
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has some ‘splainin to do to his baseball-loving constituents as to why a San Francisco Giants flag is soon going to be flying above his City Hall.
Essentially he bet the house, and lost.
With Atlanta residents presumably still sore about their team bowing out of baseball’s National League playoffs Monday night at the Giants’ hands, Reed may have to issue a mea culpa after his wager with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom that the series loser will fly the opposition’s flag over their municipal offices.
A good sport, Reed on Monday night congratulated Newsom over Twitter after the Giants beat the Braves to face the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series:
‘Congrats to the #Giants and my friend @GavinNewsom for winning the NLDS. Hats off to Bobby Cox for a tremendous career.’
‘Made a friendly wager w/ my friend ATL Mayor @KasimReed. Winning team flag to fly over loser’s City Hall in @sfgiants vs @braves series!’
So far nothing from Newsom, who for the last week has flown a Giants flag over City Hall in a show ...
.... of support for his beloved Giants, and has even had the building bathed in an orange glow at night. Both the Giants and the Braves team flags feature a phoenix, which signifies rebirth from the ashes (both cities have suffered destructive fires in their respective pasts, San Francisco in 1906 and Atlanta in 1917).
Previously, Reed had tweeted of “leaving his flag” in San Francisco, a play on Tony Bennett’s crooning of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
‘RT @ajc: Mayor Reed’s heart is in Atlanta but he wants to leave his flag in San Francisco’ http://bit.ly/drLMqg
After initiating the bet, Reed last week told the Atlanta Journal Constitution: “There are a few things that make this season’s playoff run so special to the city of Atlanta. This is the final season for legendary Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, one of the greatest managers in Major League Baseball history.... This series will have a positive impact on our city’s local economy, and I can’t wait to win this friendly wager with the city of San Francisco and my friend Mayor Newsom.”
Unfortunately, to his constituents, Reed’s now looking like a bit of a goose egg. Lucky he’s not up for reelection come November.
-- Craig Howie
You don’t need to kick up any dust to click here for Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot or @craighowieLAT. Our Facebook Like page is over here.Also available on Kindle now with a two-week free trial.