After a Hurricane Ike-forced hiatus, “The Bet” is back at the Galveston County Courthouse. The winners of the annual wager between County Judge Jim Yarbrough and Texas City’s city attorney Ron Plackemeier will turn out to either be the courthouse employees in Galveston or the city hall workers in Texas City.
Yarbrough is a University of Texas graduate who played for the Longhorns and blocked for Earl Campbell in the 1970s.
Plackemeier is a Texas A&M graduate who was the first Yell Leader at the university to not come from the Corps of Cadets.
Ever since Yarbrough took office, they have wagered on the Thanksgiving Day rivalry game.
The loser usually has to do something embarrassing.
One year, Plackemeier and fellow Aggies had to pull one of the carriages that are usually pulled by horses, giving Yarbrough and a few Longhorn fans a brief tour around Galveston.
Another year, Yarbrough had to have the A&M logo tattooed onto his hand.
This year, the loser has to cook for the staff of the building where the winner works. So, if the heavily favored Longhorns win, Plackemeier will cook a secret meal for courthouse employees on the lawn of the county courthouse.
If the Aggies pull off the upset, Yarbrough will have to travel to Texas City and cook chili for the employees at city hall.
Yarbrough is hoping to avoid that because one of those employees is Texas City Mayor Matt Doyle, whose Texas Tech Red Raiders dashed the Longhorns’ shot at a college football national title last year.
