Senator Tim Kaine Shoots Down World Cup Bet Proposals

Senator Tim Kaine isn’t about to chill from a sneaker anytime soon—at least not if it means losing a World Cup wager to an Australian.

When TMZ DC’s Charlie Cotton cornered the Virginia senator on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon, the two decided to settle their USA-versus-Australia soccer rivalry the old-fashioned way: with a bet. Cotton, who’s Australian through and through, came loaded with creative ideas. But Kaine had other plans.

The senator was game for a straightforward beer wager—Foster’s and Samuel Adams, naturally—but when Cotton started throwing curveballs, Kaine wasn’t having it. A“shoey”(for those unfamiliar, that’s chugging a beer straight from a shoe, an Australian tradition)? Nope. Swapping clothes for a day? Absolutely not. Cotton kept swinging, but Kaine kept shutting it down, sticking firmly to his original beer-bet proposal.

This isn’t Kaine’s first rodeo with friendly political wagers. He reminded Cotton that he scored bragging rights and BBQ from Senator Ted Cruz after the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros in the 2019 World Series. So the senator knows how to make these things stick—and apparently, he’s not interested in anything that strays from the classics.

With the USA and Australia set to face off in Seattle, the two still have time to hash out the final details. But if the pattern holds, it’s looking like a cooler full of beer will be the prize, not a day of mismatched wardrobes or questionable footwear drinking rituals. Some traditions, it seems, are worth keeping.