Baby name wagered on football game

football field

On Thanksgiving last year, the Washington Redskins played the Dallas Cowboys.

Before the game, Emmanuel Vega (a Redskins fan) and Marissa Pena (a Cowboys fan) made a bet. Marissa was pregnant with the Tuscon couple’s first child, so if the Cowboys won, she would get to choose the baby’s name. If the Redskins won, Emmanuel would choose the name.

Each of them was granted one veto; Vega nixed “Emmitt Vega,” and Pena said no to “Darrell Green Vega.” They each chose again; Vega went with “Robert Griffin Vega,” and Pena chose “Austin Miles Vega,” after her favorite active player.

(Robert Lee Griffin III, known as RG3, is a Redskins quarterback; Miles Jonathon Austin III is a Cowboys wide receiver.)

“I was second-guessing the whole time, like, What am I thinking?” Vega recalled. “If she’s gonna name him after a Cowboys player, there’s no doubt he would be a Cowboys fan. My son, as a Cowboys fan? I might have to disown him.”

But Vega’s Redskins ended up defeating Pena’s Cowboys, 38 to 31. So when the couple’s baby boy arrives in mid-April, they plan to name him Robert Griffin Vega. And nickname him RGV.

Source: Steinberg, Dan. “Man wins bet, will name son after RGIII.” Washington Post 21 Feb. 2013.

Image: Adapted from New Meadowlands Stadium: Mezz Corner (cropped) by section215 under CC BY 2.0.

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