72-Year-Old Sen. Bill Nelson Forced to Do Pushups for Colleagues' Delight

Bill Nelson is a 72-year-old man who has spent 32 years in public office. He is Florida's longest current serving statewide elected politician. He flew on the space shuttle Columbia. He has been to space. He is a former Army captain. The man deserves some measure of respect, but thanks to the odd culture in Washington, D.C., the man was forced to perform pushups in front of a circle of gawkers as a result of something to do with "hockey" and "Tampa." The crowd was cruelly delighted to see this dignified man perform physical tasks for their fleeting delight. 

View the shocking footage for yourself.  Actually, this is the result of a losing Stanley Cup bet with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin. (It's incredibly likely as a Miamian you may have totally missed this, but the Tampa Bay Lightning recently lost the NHL finals to the Chicago Blackhawks.) 

The bet required Nelson to perform one pushup for every goal the Blackhawks scored in the finals and to bring Durbin some Cuban sandwiches from Tampa. Senator Spacesnakes decided to forgo bringing the sandwiches (which is wise, as we all know Miami-style Cuban sandwich are superior) and simply did two pushups for every goal. 

That means the 72-year-old performed 46 pushups, and he did it rather briskly. Some Florida politicians are already awaiting and planning Nelson's retirement (he'll be 76 by the time he's up for election in 2018), but it doesn't seem like the guy will slow down anytime soon. 

According to the Palm Beach Post, Nelson regularly does 50 pushups a few times a week. He also told the paper that he doubted “if Durbin could do more than single digits in pushups."