Daley bets Chicago’s tastiest on Bulls in playoffs

In another last-as-mayor event, Mayor Richard Daley today bet various local food delicacies with the mayor of Atlanta on the outcome of the upcoming Bulls vs. Hawks National Basketball Association playoff series.

But if Daley’s assessment of the future prospects for the Bulls holds true, successor Rahm Emanuel will find himself busy making playoff food bets with his counterparts in other NBA cities.

Standing alongside a table laden with Chicago barbeque sauce, hot dogs, Italian beef and other local culinary specialties he’s wagering with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Daley applauded the team’s performance.

“You have a young team like that, that means, like anything else, they’re playing as a team,” Daley said at the City Hall news conference this afternoon. “Every time they get on that court, they get better and better, and that’s significant in the playoffs.”

“I truly believe they can go all the way,” he added.

The mayor also managed to work in one of his frequent references to China, noting that people in Shanghai -– where Daley took a recent trip to try to drum up investments for Chicago -- are huge Bulls fans.

This is expected to be Daley’s final bet in the time-honored tradition of mayoral professional sports boosterism. The series will be decided one way or the other before he leaves office, but a game seven with Atlanta would take place May 15, the day before Emanuel gets sworn in.

jebyrne@tribune.com