Football bet could give Michael O’Donnell a bad hair day

There will be more than high school pride riding on this week’s football playoff game between Wichita Northwest and Haysville Campus.

They’ll also be playing for the honor of their respective Sedgwick County Commission districts – and their county commissioners.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Commissioner David Dennis challenged fellow Commissioner Michael O’Donnell to a friendly wager on the game.

Dennis represents the west side of Wichita, including Northwest High. Campus is in O’Donnell’s south county district.

The bet: Loser has to buy the opposing team’s snapback cap from its booster club and wear it through the entire commission meeting next week – except for the weekly prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

O’Donnell, notoriously fastidious about his appearance, agreed, but not before getting a legal opinion from County Counselor Eric Yost.

“Oh it’s very legal, yeah,” Yost said.

“I’m not really a hat guy,” O’Donnell said. “But I’m not gonna turn it down on the bench, so that’s fine, we’ll do it.”

Dennis appears to have the upper hand in the bet.

In last week’s first-round playoff action, Northwest, a No. 2 seed, hammered Wichita Southeast 68-28.

Campus, a No. 10 seed, squeaked into the second round with a 27-21 upset over seventh-seeded Hutchinson.

The unexpected gridiron challenge had commission Chairman Dave Unruh shaking his head.

“I’ve been here 15 years and we haven’t ever done this before,” he said after the challenge was made and accepted.

This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Football bet could give Michael O’Donnell a bad hair day."