If Chiefs win, trooper rooting for the Patriots must send lock of hair to Trooper Ben

Trooper Ben Gardner has a head of graying hair that side-sweeps to his left. And he really needs the Kansas City Chiefs to win on Sunday — unless he wants to lose a lock of his hair, that is.

You can see the trooper’s locks of hair for yourself in the video above — the one where he challenged Massachusetts State Police trooper Dustin Fitch (a New England Patriots fan) to a “friendly” bet over Sunday’s AFC Championship.

“It is time to wager,” Gardner said in the video as “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas played in the background. “Buckle up and get ready for this!”

In the video he first posted to Twitter, Gardner, with the Kansas Highway Patrol, told Fitch that — if he accepts — the losing trooper will have to sport the opposing team’s jersey or logo while giving a safety message to his followers.

But that’s not all.

Because if the Chiefs lose, Gardner would also have to cut off a piece of his hair and mail it to Fitch.

And here’s what happens if Finch and the Patriots lose:

“If you lose, you wear that amazing red Chiefs logo, shirt (or) jersey, and you cut a lock of that beautiful hair you got there and you mail it to me as a trophy,” Gardner told him in the video. “That’s the terms.”

Fitch hasn’t replied to the video about the terms, but he did previously tweet to Gardner that a wager is on.

Fitch is a little concerned about losing some hair, he told the Boston Herald.

“I take pride in my grooming appearance, so I’m not sure I’ll be sending a lock of hair across the country if I were to lose,” Fitch said while laughing, according to the newspaper. “But I know the Patriots are going to win. The Patriots are 100 percent going to win.”

Gardner told the Boston Herald the hair-cutting-wager tradition began in 2017.

“It’s weird, but it’s what I do,” Gardner said in his video. “I don’t know, it’s gotten to be my thing.”

When the University of Kansas played the University of Kentucky in a NCAA basketball game, Gardner challenged a Kentucky trooper to a similar wager. KU won, so Trooper Robert Purdy with Kentucky State Police had a 6th grade class cut off a lock of his hair — while he was wearing a KU Jayhawk T-shirt. It was all captured on video.

This story was originally published January 16, 2019 at 11:50 AM.