There\u2019s more than a championship trophy at stake in the fight for the Stanley Cup. Thanks to a few friendly wagers, Florida\u2019s citrus is now on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals, U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross and\u00a0fellow members of Congress wagered\u00a0iconic home state goods in a friendly bet against Illinois colleagues. St. Petersburg Bishop Robert Lynch and Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich did the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Should the Tampa Bay Lightning lose (editor\u2019s note: Go Bolts!),\u00a0Rep. Ross will send Florida Orange Juice to Chicago<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Bishop Lynch will donate Florida Grapefruit<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0St. Leo Campus for Veterans in Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the Blackhawks\u00a0lose, Florida will be the recipient of Chicago\u2019s signature deep-dish pizza and\u00a0Portillo\u2019s Italian Beef.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rep. Ross, a Lakeland native who represents Floridians living in the heart of citrus country, is already planning the celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe only thing sweeter than my wager of Florida\u2019s fresh squeezed orange juice and Ybor City cigars will be the massive victory parade and celebration back home when the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup,\u201d said Rep. Ross. \u201cAs the song goes, \u2018if you don\u2019t believe me, just watch!\u2019\u00a0 I look forward to a great series. Go Bolts!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It should come as no surprise that\u00a0Florida Citrus is offered up in a bet of this caliber. As the state\u2019s signature crop, Florida Citrus is valued at $10.7 billion and employs more than 62,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, Florida provides more than half of the nation\u2019s orange juice, which means that even if\u00a0the Blackhawks lose, they\u2019ll still be able to drown their sorrows in some Florida Orange Juice.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Chicago Blackhawks or Florida Citrus vs. Chicago Deep Dish There\u2019s more than a championship trophy at stake in the fight for the Stanley Cup. Thanks to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":400,"template":"","fdoc_news_item_category":[80,100],"fdoc_citrus_type":[107],"fdoc_health_category":[],"class_list":["post-398","fdoc-news-item","type-fdoc-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fdoc_news_item_category-fdoc","fdoc_news_item_category-industry","fdoc_citrus_type-orange"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fdoc-news-item"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fdoc_news_item_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_news_item_category?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_citrus_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_citrus_type?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_health_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_health_category?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}