There is a lot more than the Lombardi Trophy on the line this Sunday. There are also some 35,000 homeless people up for grabs, too.

            A friendly Super Bowl wager between the mayors of New York and Boston means tens of thousands of homeless will find a new home based on the outcome of Super Bowl XLII. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino placed the bet on Tuesday, and the losing city will be sent the winner’s entire homeless population.

            “We wanted to make a meaningful bet,” said Bloomberg. “None of this: ‘We’ll give you New York pizza and bagels if we lose and you give us chowder if we win’ crap. That’s been done a thousand times before and it’s all meaningless. We wanted to make a bet with some consequence.”

            While Menino originally had the idea of pitting New England clam chowder versus Manhattan clam chowder, he says he liked Bloomberg’s idea much better.

            “Can this city support or afford to take on the influx of 20,000 homeless people bussed up here from New York?” posed Menino. “Of course not. That would decimate our resources and our streets would be choked with the urine-soaked rift raft. But we’re two touchdown favorites. It’s a lock. I’ve already started loading up our homeless into garbage trucks to ship them down to New York. I’m going to become governor off of this bet.”

            Bloomberg acknowledges his Giants are a long-shot to win, but feels the risk is worth taking.

            “Giulani tried shipping the homeless out to New Jersey, but they eventually worked their way back, just like any rodent,” said Bloomberg. “And with the economy faltering, we’re only going to get more. So this is my shot in the dark to clean them off the streets once and for all. If the Giants lose and we get all of Boston’s homeless? Hey, no harm no foul. They can all huddle together for warmth.”

            Muskrat Mike, a vagabond who has roamed the streets of New York for 20 years, says he would welcome a change of scenery and hopes the Giants win so he can be shipped off to Boston.

            “The world is a big place. There are so many more park benches to sleep on, so many more stairs to cower under during a rain storm,” said Muskrat Mike. “I want to get out of New York. But I don’t know if I can leave because of the microchip the government put in my brain. In my brain! The government is trying to kill us all! Conspiracy! Conspiracy! Conspiracy!” he added, reaching into his pants to fling a log of feces at a passerby.