Confident mayor is gearing up for playoffs

Richard M. Daley, the mayor of Chicago, says he thinks the Cubs will win the World Series for the first time in 100 years, clearly a once-in-a-century proposition.

But to do that, they have to get past the Dodgers first, and that starts today.

Daly is confident it’s going to happen, so with the backing of Wilson Sporting Goods, he’s making a friendly wager with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

If the Cubs lose to the Dodgers, Daley will send Villaraigosa baseball gear for 150 young people. If the Cubs advance, Daley plans to make the same wager with the mayors of opposing teams’ cities.

That doesn’t make him batty, does it?

Trivia time

What was Jim Haslett’s record as head coach of the New Orleans Saints?

Hello, coach?

For what it’s worth, Haslett learned he was being asked to take over as interim head coach of the St. Louis Rams in a phone call . . . at 1:15 a.m. Said Haslett: “Who calls you at 1:15 in the morning? Usually it’s a prank call . . .”

The Rams are so bad, it still might be.

Prohibition II

Cubs fans may have to plan their drinking in the postseason. Bars and restaurants around Wrigley Field will stop serving alcohol after the seventh inning of any potential title-clinching games but can start up again if the games go into extra innings.

If the Cubs actually do clinch anything, it seems like a small price to pay.

Reality check

Sounds as if the Tennessee Titans aren’t exactly overconfident, despite a 4-0 start for the first time in franchise history.

Said linebacker Keith Bulluck: “We still have a chance to go 4-12.”

Icing

Strange but true:

The Kings haven’t had a lot to cheer about during the regular season for a while, but they haven’t had a losing record in the exhibition season (and still don’t) since 1988-89, Wayne Gretzky’s first year in Los Angeles.

Ad man

Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers has an interesting new TV ad in which he catches a scoring pass and leaps into the stands, where he starts eating a fan’s Bojangles’ chicken. Good thing the ad isn’t for Valvoline.

Plain logo

And speaking of advertising, the NBA is going to allow teams to sell ad spots on the bottom parts of the basket stanchions, where corporate logos could bring in as much as $150,000 a year.

You may not have seen that Spalding has a signage deal for roughly the same area and that State Farm has a deal for its logo higher up. When the backboards start getting logos, somebody is sure to notice.

Trivia answer

45-51 from 2000 to 2005.

And finally

Haslett told Sporting News Today of his motto: “Don’t do anything that will embarrass your parents. (That means you’re doing something right.)”

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com