When the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears met in this year's NFC title game, the governors of their respective states decided to make a friendly wager on the game. Instead of the usual beer, cheese or what have you, Pat Quinn and Scott Walker decided that the governor whose team lost would head to the other one's state and volunteer there -- while wearing a T-shirt of the opposing team, of course.
The Packers, of course, beat the Bears on their way to a Super Bowl championship. And Governor Quinn was prepared to make good on his wager, until his neighbors to the north erupted in protest over Gov. Walker's plans to restrict collective-bargaining rights in Wisconsin.
In light of the protests and general atmosphere of unrest there, "the governor felt the timing was not necessarily ideal and that it would be more appropriate to find a better date," Quinn spokeswoman Annie Thompson told the Chicago Sun-Times two weeks ago.
One Illinoisan decided to take the governor's place and volunteer in Wisconsin anyway, whatever the political climate might be. His name: Pat Quinn.
Last week, the Roe Conn Show with Richard Roeper on WLS-AM radio asked for listeners to make good on the governor's bet for him. A listener in Lansing, Illinois, whose name also happens to be Pat Quinn, decided that he would be as good a stand-in as any for the executive. So last Friday, from noon to 5 p.m., the other Pat Quinn was volunteering at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, according to NBC Chicago. (No word on if he wore a Packers tee.)
The Governor Quinn camp insists that it will reschedule the official trip in the next few months.