OKC mayor participates in online fantasy football contest

Mick Cornett has a lot on his plate. He's working as a consensus-builder and question-answerer for a potential MAPS 3 proposal. The clock is a-tickin' as the Oklahoma City Council has until Oct. 6 to approve a MAPS 3 resolution for voters to consider in December before the tax expires.

And Cornett, considered by some pundits as a possible candidate eyeing Mary Fallin's vacated 5th Congressional District seat, is mulling whether to seek another mayoral term over the coming weeks.

With such big-league decisions looming, Mayor Mick is adding another time-consuming responsibility to his plate: fantasy football.

Yes, sports fans, Cornett is one of 11 mayors selected to compete in Yahoo! Sports Mayoral Face-off competition. The online battle royale starts Sept. 10 and ends Dec. 28, with first place winning $15,000 to donate to a local sports program. Additionally, the city with the most civic pride " read: the highest vote total from fantasy fans " gets another $15,000 for a local nonprofit sports program. Fans can vote at football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f2/mayoral-faceoff.

Cornett, a former KOCO-TV broadcaster and Oklahoma Gazette sports columnist (we still get his faxes), reportedly selected Police Athletic League as his charity. He told Reuters "winning is the only thing" in this municipal melee. A date for the mayors' live draft hasn't been set.

"I'm a four-time champion of the Cornett Family Football League," Cornett boasted to The Oke, revealing the strategerie that he plans to have 30-year-old son, Mike, act as general manager.

"I think I'll be the owner and not general manager, and I'll have some veto power over decisions, but I intend on my son managing the team on a daily basis."

Sounds like Mayor Mick is already planning to pull a Jerry Jones on his offspring. Still, it's obvious he's putting plenty of thought into this fantasy football thing. CFN's data crunchers discovered that Cornett tweeted at a Buffalo Wild Wings on May 15 with a cryptic question: "Where is Ed?" (Was he talking about the location of Ed Johnson? The defensive tackle re-signed with the Colts.)

Good luck to Mayor Mick this season. And if the city also wins the $15,000 for the most fan support, CFN's intern Bucky wonders if the booty could be used as a down payment instead. All he wants for Christmas is an NFL franchise in OKC! Meanwhile, pass the cheese fries!

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