Playoff Berths Await for the Stalwart as NFL Regular Season Concludes

Nothing to crow about last week, as the SMA Swami came in at 8-7-1 ATS. A few undecided playoff berths remain at stake on this, the final, weekend of the regular NFL season. Let's get to the rundowns: 1. Denver at San Diego (-10)—Denver has sewed up a first-round playoff bye. San Diego is out of the postseason running, but in fact Kansas City needs for the Chargers to lose in order for their

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When Your Reach Exceeds Your Grasp, There's Hell to Pay; Week 15 Bettors Learn Hard Lessons

In Steve Spurrier's first season as an NFL head coach, he guided the 2002 Washington Redskins to a 7-9 record. Inauspicious is the word for that. Which makes the same word applicable to SMA's prognosticating efforts last week. With the Chargers and Steelers winning on the road, the Seahawks winning but limping to the finish line against Tennessee, the 49ers finding some surprising mojo against

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Press Weighs In on Barnett Ouster at Colorado; Tunnel Vision (and Bad Grammar) Blur Analysis

Jon Saraceno's Dec. 13 USA Today "Keeping Score" column is entitled "Did Colorado Get Buffaloed by Barnett?" Seems like everybody wants to take out after Gary Barnett, the former Colorado football coach, who left the university recently under a cloud and with a $3 million bracer of a buyout. Until all the facts are in, Barnett remains a somewhat elusive and slick-demeanored dude who no doubt will

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Huge Playoff Impact in NFL's Week 15 Schedule; No Rest for the Weary ATS

A .500 record is never anything to crow about, but Week 14 ATS looked to be a toughie from the get-go, and so it was proved to be. All things considered, I'll take the 8-8. Amazing how Houston in defeat did more for me than Denver did in victory. Ditto the Browns, who lost but covered the spread against Cincy. I knew those double-digit spreads spelled trouble; while the Broncos were lucky to

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Clairvoyance Doesn't Bring Security, but It Sure Delivers a Nice Temporary High

The SMA braintrust looked positively clairvoyant last week, snagging 12 out of 16 ATS, with the Redskins and Panthers coming through in fine style. We’re still tinkering with our hometown loyalties, however, and we’ve simply got to stop believing that the Titans are better than they look. In fact, they look 3-9, and that’s exactly what they are. Even this week’s home date against the lowly Texans

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Getting Back on Beam ATS Doesn't Make Things Any Easier; Week 13 Filled with Pitfalls

A decent record ATS last week: SMA pulled a 10-5-1, but missed the big fish on critical games, like Seattle-Giants and Chicago-Tampa Bay. My little brother—well, he's taller than me, but younger—is out in the Los Angeles sunshine basking in the glow of his 12-3-1 effort. He picked the toughies well, and one of these days he might start putting real money down. Which could lead to riches, or

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Some White Men Can Jump: Seahawks' Jurevicius Heading for Career Year

In yesterday's 24-21 overtime victory against the New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Joe Jurevicius (right) caught 8 passes for 137 yards (a 17.1-yard average), with 2 TDs. That gives him 44 catches for 558 yards, and puts him on pace for a 64-reception, 812-yard season. Those numbers aren't astonishing by any means, but they'll be career numbers for Jurevicius, a 6'5," 230-lb.

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ESPN Makes Hay Off OnStar and the Most Disturbing Advertising Campaign in the History of Humankind

You've heard the ads. Some desperate lady is moaning into the phone, "Oh, please help me!" The cool-as-a-cucumber OnStar representative ascertains her problem, offers reassurance, then contacts the nearest police department or ambulance service to dispatch live, in-person assistance to the distressed motorist. Then there are the warm and fuzzy ads, where Grampa has locked his keys in the car,

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Week 11 Spreads Deliver Sucker Punch; Week 12 Looks Like Another Big Challenge

After a 10-4 showing in Week 10 NFL prognosticating against the spread (ATS), I came a-cropper last weekend, finishing at 5-11. I'll never make a living this way. Thankfully, no money's changing hands, though you can bet I felt a lot differently one week ago today. This stuff is hard. No wonder the bookies have normal prosperous lives and the bettors ponder rehab. This is still tons of fun,

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Spread Formation: Defying the Odds and Why Picking Winners Is a Daunting Task

I drove a taxi for four years in the Chicago area. It's an interesting profession, which I heartily recommend to anyone. It's sort of like being a bartender—everyone should do it for a little while, to learn about people in all their infinite glory and folly. Cab drivers themselves are a rare subspecies. Their numbers include an eclectic ethnic mix of mostly men and a few singular females. I met

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Packers May Be Dead, but Favre Sure Isn't: QBs Tell the Tale of Key Week 10 Games

"Any given Sunday" happened yesterday. That's what you call it when lesser teams smite greater teams in the NFL. If the old adage is a cliche, then so be it. But it's nice to be reminded once more why pro football is a reliable religion and television its well-attended church.Yesterday's FOX and CBS broadcasts helped us learn some new lessons all over again: That experience and leadership

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Heading the Tabloids Off at the Pass: Swoopes Announcement of Sexual Orientation May Surprise But Hardly Shocks

So Sheryl Swoopes is gay. The news that the star of the WNBA's Houston Comets prefers the intimate company of other women strikes me as...uh...underwhelming. I'm trying to understand why I'm not more, er, excited by the news. Or the imagery. Or intrigued. Or curious. I'm certainly not shocked. Hell, isn't everybody gay these days??It's certainly true that when the "big gay revelation" hit

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Beavis: "Golf chicks are c-cool..."; Butthead: "Yeah, yeah, yeah....They're cool...Yeah..."

There was a time when the ladies of the LPGA were...well, they were ladies, all right. But they usually weren't making fashion statements. The big-time lady golfers weren't usually considered babes, as we understand that term. They were female athletes who were typical in their own way: Maybe a little big-boned, not particularly attractive, their bodies geared more toward playing a demanding 18

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Life Under the Microscope May Have Cost Wie Her First LPGA Purse

Being hot, young and talented doesn't always promise smooth sailing, as phenom golfer Michelle Wie discovered this past weekend at the Samsung World Championship, where the 16-year-old was making her professional debut. Thanks to the bizarre involvement of Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Bamberger, Wie was disqualified from the tournament, even after completing her final round, for something

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Bennett Injury Puts Titans Rookies in the Limelight

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Drew Bennett (pictured, below) dislocated his thumb in Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He'll be out of action at least two weeks probably, possibly longer. Since Bennett is the Titans leading wide receiver, this development would supposedly be viewed as tragic, with the team already struggling at 2-4. It takes on even more frightening dimensions when

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Ten National Network Sportscasters We Can All Do Without

This is a busy time of year in sports. We’ve got the major league baseball playoffs ratcheted up and heading toward the World Series. NFL and college football are in full swing. Hockey and the NBA are just beginning. Clearly, it’s prime-time for the major sports networks. That means exposure to the lineup of broadcasters who take the national stage, and, at whatever level of quality, inform and

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Southern Festival of Books in the Sports Spotlight

The annual Southern Festival of Books is a regional gathering that takes place in downtown Nashville. This past weekend's affair was typically interesting, with plenty of authors and publishers hawking their wares, with serious literary lions like Clyde Edgerton and Bobbie Ann Mason signing autographs and delivering addresses to a book-savvy crowd. I had the distinct pleasure of moderating an 11

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Rating Nashville's TV Sports Talking Heads

Sports is the “toy department” of television reporting. People don’t sell their first-born to get into TV sports because they love reporting—they do it because a) they love the sports themselves and b) the pay is great compared to other media. In the “old days,” you used to have to have a certain agreeable look to get into television. You also had to have a demonstrably mellifluous or resonant

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Titans' Volek Would Help Jets

The New York Jets announced today that they've added Vinny Testaverde to their roster. The veteran QB has been tapped as a potential answer to the Jets' suddenly woeful quarterback situation, the team losing both Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler to injury in Sunday's 26-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. For the time being, third-stringer Brooks Bollinger gets the starting nod for the Jets, with

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Honesty Hits a New Low: The Strange Revelations of Laveranues Coles

In an Associated Press story today, New York Jets wide receiver Laveranues Coles revealed that he was sexually abused from the ages of 10-13. That's too bad. It's an awful thing that no one should ever have to go through. Sexual abuse has far-ranging emotional consequences for all concerned, and the immediate intervention of mental health professionals is called for once the abuse is recognized.

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Baseball Heads Toward Awesome Finish

With only two weeks left in the baseball season, this is shaping up as one of the most interesting campaigns in many a year. Let's look at the leagues:AMERICAN LEAGUEWhat looked early on like easy pickings for teams like the White Sox, Red Sox, and Angels, has suddenly become an anything-can-happen proposition. This is due to the incredible tenacity of teams like the Yankees, A's, and most

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Golf Goes to War

Sports books hit the marketplace with regularity. I’ve had the pleasure of reading and reviewing quite a few during my writing career. Even in the midst of our mass-media-ized, fast-paced, Internet-crazed world, books still hold their charm, offering the reader an intimate one-on-one encounter with, in the best cases, a good writer who’s got something singular to say. We’ll be taking a look at

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Titans Lay Egg in Season Debut, but They're Not Alone

SPORTS MEDIA AMERICA's preseason NFL predictions [click here] included high hopes for the Tennessee Titans. Everyone says they're rebuilding, but we thought we'd put some faith in the things that were already good about the team, and then presume that Coach Jeff Fisher (pictured above) could work some magic with the youngsters. Thankfully, there are 15 games left, and the Titans still have time

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NFL 2005

Preseason NFL football predictions abound. They're fun to indulge in, interesting to read--and quite often wrong. Who knew last year that the San Diego Chargers would do so well? Or that the Carolina Panthers would start out 1-7 and miss the playoffs? Or that the Jacksonville Jaguars would suddenly emerge as a force, while the division-rival Tennessee Titans would fall to 5-11? Rosters can change

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When Being a Dad Is a Pretty Cool Thing

(Pictured above: Leo Brady at Loras College; also, Leo with Loras Duhawks teammate Michael McHugh)My youngest child is hardly a "child." He's 20 years old. He's about 6' 3" tall and weighs about 215-220 pounds. His name is Leo J. Brady, and this fall he'll begin his junior year at Loras College, a small Division III school in Dubuque, Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi River. Leo majors in

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Going on the Record

There's so much going on these days in sports, that it's getting tough to keep up. Here are some short takes on current developments. 1. T. O. Boooooooooorrrrrrr-ing!! Terrell Owens (above, left) is a talented, highly paid wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles. He's also an obnoxious guy. He's managed to make himself a football pariah with his recent training camp antics. Does anyone really

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Palmeiro Implosions

You may have seen this stat, but did you know...That only 4 guys in the history of baseball have ever had 3,000+ hits AND 500+ HRs?They are...1. Hank Aaron (who had 3,771 hits; I had no idea; that's a TRUCKLOAD of hits, third only to Rose and Cobb); 2. Willie Mays (who, in my opinion, may still be the greatest baseball player who ever donned a uniform); 3. Eddie Murray (longevity and the

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Meathead Chic: How Mike Golic Has Grunted His Way into a Broadcasting Career

Mike Golic's favorite word is "Yep." His favorite phrase is "Uh-huh." Ever the clever guy, he sometimes uses them interchangeably. In so doing, he has brought the world of sports broadcasting to a new low. Golic is the sidekick to Mike Greenberg. They co-host the ESPN Radio early morning "drive-time" show, which is colloquially referred to as "The Mike and Mike Show." (How clever is that??) They

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If Terry Schiavo Were Billy Packer, There'd Be National Consensus: Pull the Plug

March Madness is totally cool. It's the last great truly populist national sporting event, in which we get to celebrate courageous underdog college basketball players from small towns and even smaller schools. Sure, the big schools usually end up in the Final Four, but March Madness is more about the journey than the destination, and it's a heckuva lot more fun to root for the Bucknells, the

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First in War, First in Peace, and Last in the National League East

When I first took a look at the Washington Nationals' 40-man roster, I thought, "Yeah, this looks like an expansion team, all right." Then I thought, "Wait a minute--this ISN'T an expansion team! Holy Christ!" Yep, this is a long-established professional baseball club, which spent the past 35 years as the Montreal Expos. Last year, they finished 67-95, which is pretty bad, but still better than

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Spring Cleaning in Nashville

So the Tennessee Titans are cleaning house. After the team's hugely disappointing 5-11 finish in 2004, General Manager Floyd Reese looked around, saw cobwebs in the corners and dust bunnies under the beds, and decided to get out the broom. But it's not like he chased away bad players. Within the past week, the Titans have lost to free agency wide receiver Derrick Mason, cornerback Samari Rolle,

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The Nats Are Coming! The Nats Are Coming!

I grew up in suburban Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. When I was a kid, I was a baseball nut, a complete fanatic. (It was my egghead literary Dad who taught me that the word "fan" came from the word "fanatic." I remember feeling pretty smart knowing that.) I collected baseball cards, mostly the Topps brand, by the hundreds. They came 10 to a pack with a single piece of rectangular

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Here's to the Winners

It's the Patriots and Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. (That's #39 for those of you who are Roman numeral-challenged.)After a lousy weekend of Divisional Playoff predictions (1-3), I got the Conference Championship round correct (2-0). I was only surprised by the definitiveness of the victories: AFC: Patriots 41, Steelers 27NFC: Eagles 27, Falcons 10There's been a lot of commentary about Steelers

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Armen Keteyian--Another TV Sports Reporter Tells It Like It Ain't

I was listening to ESPN Radio early this morning. The show was something called "Sports Byline USA" hosted by someone named Ron Barr. His featured guest was TV sports football reporter Armen Keteyian. I think Keteyian is with CBS now, but he's been with ESPN, and like all of these guys, he seems to show up wherever sports are being discussed no matter what their affiliation. It's the Big

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So Much for Predictions--Now It's on to the Conference Championships

So much for predicting football results on instinct. All four home teams won last week's NFL Divisional Playoffs, leaving me with a sorry 1-3 record as prognosticator. I was lucky I didn't end up 0-4, because the New York Jets should've won their game at Pittsburgh, the Steelers being the only home team I figured to emerge victorious. How can a pro kicker miss two makeable field goals with the

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Joe Buck Is a Weenie

I don't want to waste much time on this topic. I've already written about Joe Buck, the FOX announcer who I think sucks. But I quickly want to get in and out on the latest flap involving Buck, who pulled some holier-than-thou crap last week about Randy Moss' antics at the NFC Wild Card game versus the Packers. I have a sinking suspicion that Buck might be one of these really obnoxious "Christian"

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Bold Predictions: NFL Divisional Playoffs, 2005

Divisional Playoffs (Jan. 15 & 16, 2005)

When it comes to the NFL playoffs, the pundits like to trot out statistics about domed teams and cold-weather teams and visiting teams. If you play in a dome at home, and you're on the road in an open-air stadium, you don't stand a chance, right? I guess the won-loss statistics back this stuff up. Nevertheless, I gotta go with instincts. This year, the

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