PITTSBURGH - As he lay dying, Mayor Bob O'Connor railed against Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory for his failure to fulfill the losing end of a wager made over the Steelers' January 8 playoff game against the Bengals. Mallory and O'Connor wagered that the leader of the city whose team lost the playoff game would visit the winner's town.
The Steelers won but Mallory never showed. Last month, two days before he died, the one thing on O'Connor's mind was that Mallory hadn't fulfilled his end of the deal."Exactly where is Mark Mallory?" O'Connor asked. "He's making me look ridiculous. And a man in my position can't afford to be made to look ridiculous."
O'Connor ordered aide Dennis Regan to "hire some goons and take care of that son of a bitch. Breaks his legs or whatever." Regan's men paid a visit to the Cincinnati mayor last week.
This weekend, Mayor Mallory will hobble into Pittsburgh on crutches and sporting a black eye to fulfill his obligation as loser of the wager.
