As the NFL season kicks off, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens on Friday sparked the latest chapter in the classic and fierce rivalry between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints.

Dickens went on social media to challenge New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell to bet on the outcome of Sunday’s game between the Falcons and Saints. In a lighthearted 40-second clip, Dickens sported a custom Falcons jersey as he welcomed the Saints to Atlanta.

“I am a lifelong Atlanta Falcon and guess what, Mayor Cantrell? I want us to place a friendly wager,” Dickens said in the video. “I want us to place a friendly wager. How about I send you a basket of all the fine things that Atlanta has to offer if the Falcons don’t pull through. But of course, we know that the Falcons will win.

“I know y’all say ‘Who Dat,’ but We Dat. Let’s go, dirty birds.”

An hour after Dickens’ post, Cantrell responded on Twitter by saying “You can’t spell Falcons without an “L” I’m just saying…” She added a GIF of Nene Leakes, the reality TV star who rose to fame on The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

The half-century-old rivalry between the Falcons and the Saints has produced some memorable moments. Back in 2019, before the Super Bowl came to Atlanta, then-Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a press conference that she wanted “anybody other than the Saints” to play in the championship game that year. She later explained that her remarks were a joke, after some New Orleans politicians took issue with them.

Last year, Bottoms entered into a bet with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner over the Braves winning the World Series. As we all know, the Atlanta Braves became the reigning world champions, defeating the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6.

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