Mattie Parker Ain't Scared. SMU-TCU Wager Is On.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who has been talking smack all week, has asked for some action on the penultimate football showdown between TCU and SMU on Saturday, challenging Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker to a wager over the Battle for the Iron Skillet.
Parker accepted.
So, if SMU wins, the mayor will treat the Dallas City Council to lunch from Pulido's. Johnson will send over Shug's Bagels to the Fort Worth City Council when TCU wins.
"Mayor Johnson loves to put bets out there on sports and I'm going to meet him where he is," she says with Pulido's Gigi Howell, one of the big mahoffs of the Westland Restaurant Group that operates the iconic Mexican food diner.
The mayor continued, with Super Frog convulsing in agreement. (As an aside: I saw Super Frog in the home opener. He's got some good wheels. Speedy.)
"The TCU Horned Frogs are absolutely going to win. We want the Iron Skillet back here in the 817," the mayor said. "But if for some reason the TCU Horned Frogs don't win on Saturday, we're wagering a Mexican food lunch."
Very well then.
The good mayor also suggested that Johnson consider one of Pulido's "Sonny's" margaritas to drown his sorrows.
If he can't get over here, I might do it for him.
In a separate post, Parker suggested both cities use the game to donate to funds supporting the families of Fort Worth Police Sgt. Billy Randolph and Dallas Police Officer Darron Burks . Both were recently killed in the line of duty.
Good idea.
Mayor Johnson's mouth clearly has been functioning at its peak this week.
The mayor has been outspoken for over a year on TCU's decision to cancel, or "indefinitely pause," the game between the two schools after 2025. TCU athletic administrators cited a desire to play more home games as the reason. The game with SMU alternates between the schools every year. This year, it's being played at SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Well, on Wednesday, Mayor Johnson showed up to his City Council meeting wearing a "TCU SUCKS" T-shirt.
Now, we like this Dallas mayor. Couldn't really give you a complete history of Dallas mayors. So, ranking them is out of the question. Only Strauss, Bartlett, and Kirk immediately come to mind. Oh, yes. Leppert and Rawlings, the Pizza Hut mayor. Winship Capers Connor sounds like he had a little something. They called him "Bud."
Anyway, who couldn't admire the mayor's moxie? The critics, on the other hand, suggested the T-shirt was beneath the mayor and the position he holds, as well as the hallowed corridors of City Hall where presumably only the erudite, lettered, and cultured roam. We all know, of course, that worse has been said there. And here, too. And recently.
G-monetti.
"Thank you, Tayhoss Designs and Chipper Haynes for outfitting the mayor with this awesome shirt," Johnson said. "And I hope Mayor Parker over at Fort Worth sees this and y'all can stop being so chicken and play the game after next year."
To add more context for the mayor, the the Fightin' Preacher Boys hold a 53-42-7 edge over the Mustangs in a series that began with a 43-0 TCU victory in Fort Worth in 1915.
The Frogs have won 13 of the last 16 games against the Ponies and 19 of the past 23, including 34-27 last season.
"Go, Frogs," Parker concluded. "We're going to bring the Iron Skillet back to Fort Worth, and, more importantly, celebrate a good time. Mayor Johnson, it's on you now."
