Further review wipes out bonus

Green Bay Packers running back Ryan Grant will start 2009 a lot lighter in the wallet thanks to a call by much-maligned NFL referee Ed Hochuli -- he of the botched call against the San Diego Chargers in Week 2.

When Hochuli reversed a ruling on the field Sunday that Grant had scored on an 80-yard touchdown run in the Packers' 31-21 win over the Detroit Lions on the final day of the regular season, he inadvertently cost Grant $1.35 million.

Grant could have made a $1.5 million bonus if he reached 1,250 yards for the season, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. Instead, he made $500,000 for finishing with 1,203. Grant also could have made another $600,000 for placing in the top five among NFC rushers, but he finished sixth -- 35 yards behind Matt Forte of the Chicago Bears -- and had to settle for $150,000.

"Yeah, that's the way the ball bounces," Grant said. "I told (running backs coach Edgar Bennett), 'If we were playing in your day, that's a touchdown. No replay.' "

Surprisingly, Grant said one of the game officials urged him to keep going on the run.

"I've been playing football a long time, I run to the whistle," he said. "I saw the ref running with me, saying, 'Grant, you weren't down, keep running.' When I got to the end zone, he said, 'Good job, you weren't down.' I was like, 'There you go.'

"He was running by the sideline, I wasn't talking to him. He's like, 'No, no keep running.' ... First time a ref ever said anything to me."

On the television broadcast, there was no evidence of an official near Grant, though he did look to someone in the end zone off camera.

A league official didn't comment when asked whether player-official communication was allowed during a play.

• OFFICIAL BETTING -- A lot will be on the line when the San Diego Chargers host the Indianapolis Colts in Sunday's playoff game at Qualcomm Stadium -- including beer, tacos and shrimp.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders is putting up a six-pack of Karl Strauss Amber Lager and a Rubio's Pesky combo of two fish tacos, chips and beans in a wager with Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who is putting a shrimp cocktail from his city's St. Elmo Steakhouse on the line.

"It's actually kind of a fun part of the job," Sanders said.

And a delicious part. On the Colts' run to the Super Bowl two years ago, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, Ballard's predecessor cleaned up, claiming a crab cake dinner from Baltimore, lobster and Boston Cream pies from Beantown, and a veritable buffet from Chicago that included coffee, cheesecake, ribs, burgers, sausages, nachos, pizza, beer, wine, nuts, hot dogs, Italian beef, popcorn, pretzels, candy and cinnamon rolls.

Political bets at playoff time are a time-honored tradition.

In 1981, Florida Gov. Bob Graham worked in an Oklahoma oil field for a day when the University of Oklahoma beat Florida State in the Orange Bowl. In 1986, after the New York Mets beat the Boston Red Sox to win the World Series, a mayoral bet left a New York flag flying over Boston City Hall -- until it was stolen by fans calling themselves the "Red Sox Revenge Squad."

COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL