When I wrote a story in March about how sports fans and teams were using Twitter to do everything from play-by-play to sharing promotion and ticket discounts, I included a reference to a friendly wager.

This was before Twitter essentially exploded – teams were just getting their feet wet using the social messaging system and fans were clamoring for them to keep up. Plantation marketing executive and Panthers fan John Sternal had put the Panthers logo on the line in a bet with a couple of Chicago Blackhawks fans. When the Panthers lost the matchup between the two teams, Sternal had to put the Blackhawks logo on his account the following day.

Avid tweeters, Sternal and Toby Srebnik, a sports fan from North Lauderdale and public relations executive, have now significantly upped the ante. Sternal, a Marlins fan, and Srebnik, a Tampa Bay Rays fan, have been betting the Marlins-Rays series this season. Of the two three-game series, the fan of the team that loses each series must post the rival team’s mascot on his Twitter page for the following workweek. The Rays won the first series in May, so Sternal had to post a photo of the Rays’ mascot Raymond as his avatar.

They’ve even named their bet #billyrayavatar – in Twitter parlance – after Billy the Marlin and Raymond.

They each began sporting their team’s mascot this week. And Srebnik is already ahead again with the Rays beating the Marlins 7-3 in St. Pete last night. They’ve been trash-talking much of the past few days. Follow their adventures at #billyrayavatar. Sternal is @SternalPR; Srebnik is @fsutoby.

And don’t forget to follow me @sarahtalalay