In case you are getting tired of hearing from only Eric Z, here are some thoughts I have on the passing of Dean Chance:

If you have not heard of Dean Chance, he was a major league pitcher in the 60s and won the Cy Young Award in 1964.  He was from Wooster and would come to Cleveland to play cards.  This is how my father met him.  At some point my father must have mentioned that I was a huge baseball fan arranged a dinner.  Despite the thirty-year age difference, Dean and I hit it off and became better friends than he was with my father.   Dean was involved with high school athletics in Wayne County and started an organization to award scholarships to student athletes in the county.  He would host a fund raiser banquet every year with celebrities from the sports world as keynote speakers and I was always invited.  He usually sat me at a table next to the then-current  Miss Wayne County, with the hopes that a relationship would bloom.  None did.  At one point, for a short time when I was in college, Dean and I were in business together promoting sports memorabilia shows.

I can't tell you how many odd adventures started with an early morning phone call from Dean.  An example:

6:00 a.m. phone call.  Dean:  "Is this The Lawyer?"  [You must read all of Dean's quotations as if they were spoken by Foghorn Leghorn, both in terms of volume and accent.  When I became a magistrate, the salutation would be "Is this the JUDGE?"]

Me:  "Yes it is.  Dean, do you know its 6:00?"

Dean:  "Don't worry about that Stevie.  Now let me tell you . . . I'm here in Auburn Hills, Michigan [I think for a boxing match.  Dean created the International Boxing Association in the 1990s].  There's someone here that wants to see you and I have something for you to do, when can you be here?" 

Me:  "You mean today?"

Dean:  "Shit YES I mean TODAY.  When can you be here?"

Me:  "Well . . . I guess around 10:00 or 11:00".

Dean:  "Great. Here is the address. . .  And bring the Accountant with you.  See you soon".  Click.

The "Accountant" was my friend from Case Western Reserve, Ken W., who Dean had met while we were involved with the sports memorabilia shows and who had a degree in accounting.   I called up Ken and he agreed to go, so were we off to Michigan.   When we arrived at the address I was given, a hotel in suburban Detroit, Dean answered the door.

Dean:  "The Lawyer and the Accountant!  I'm glad you're here!   Uncle Bo wants to see you and he wants some meat!"

"Uncle Bo" was Bo Belinsky, a teammate of Dean's from the California Angels.  Dean and Bo formed an off-field  dynamic duo during their playing days and were famous for their carousing. They were an odd couple - Bo was a street kid from New Jersey and Dean was the classic hayseed, or at least played that part well.    Bo liked starlets and had relationships with Ann Margaret, Tina Louise (Ginger on Gilligan's Island) and Mamie Van Dorn, to whom he was engaged on three or four occasions.   He ending up marring an heiress to the Weyerhaeuser Lumber fortune.  If one believes the rumors, Dean had to settle for Marylyn Monroe.  Uncle Bo was famous for saying "If music be the food of love, by all means let the band play on".  (Despite all of his high profile lovers, I always felt Bo was a bit gay.  Sorry for thinking that Uncle Bo).

By the time of our unexpected trip to Michigan, Uncle Bo was in a bad way.  The heiress had divorced him and, as the result of a sold pre-nup, left him penniless.  He also was dying of bladder cancer, which was not helped by the "Old English Ovals" he smoked in quick succession all of his waking hours.  He was sprawled on a couch in a bath robe propped up by pillows.  He seem to come alive for a moment when he saw me, but was clearly in pain.  Dean was buzzing around him like a worried mother.  There were some other people there, to whom I was not introduced and who I did not know.

Dean:  "Now that you have said your hellos, can you get Bo some meat".

Me:  "What kind of meat?"

Dean:  "You know, meat!"

Me:  "No I don't know, what kind?"

Dean:  "You know, the kind for sandwiches".

Me:  "OK, but what type of sandwich meat . . . salami, baloney, ham . . ."

Dean:  "All those . . . and some cheese and bread and maybe potato salad".

So Ken and I were off to the grocery store where we bought pounds of meat . . . and cheese . . and bread . . . and potato salad.   We went back to the hotel with our bounty and everyone ate. 

Me:  "Dean, did you have me come up here to go to the store for you?"

Dean:  "NO . . . I almost forgot.  I want you to go to Tiger Stadium  . . . there's a guy you may have heard of pitching there today named NOLAN RYAN . . . and see Frank Cashman (I think it was Frank Cashman.  Whomever it was was the GM of the Tigers).  He'll have tickets for you.   Just tell him I sent  you".

We did as instructed.  Mr. Cashman gave us the royal treatment and set us up with tickets behind home plate.   We were there before BP and, I think, before the gates opened to the public.  An old guy in a Texas Rangers uniform was throwing in the bullpen.  The pop of the ball hitting the glove echoed throughout empty Tiger Stadium.  WOW, we thought, Nolan Ryan was really popping those 100 mph heaters in there.  When we got closer, we saw that the pitcher was not Nolan Ryan but the other old guy on the team . . . Charlie Huff!!  The 100 mph heaters were really 60 mph knuckle balls!!  

One last story from this day.  We got to the ballpark early and parked in the second row of cars.  Unbeknownst to us, the parking attendants did not leave space empty between rows but, rather, parked all of the cars in solid mass.  We left the game when Ryan was taken out in the 8th (I think), thinking we would get a head start for our long trip home.  We were dismayed to find our car blocked in.  As luck would have it, a car in the front row just to the left of our car had departed.  There was a VW bug in front of our car next to this now vacant space.  If we could slide the bug over a bit we could squeeze out, drive over the side walk, and be on our way.  We recruited some local gentlemen who were walking by, lifted the bug enough to slide it over and made our way home! 

So this is how I managed to sit behind home plate to witness Nolan Ryan's 297th victory.  I'll miss those crazy calls! 

NFL Week 7: Blockbusters

"This is the battlefield for our game of speed and strategy....These are the letters that lead to victory on.....Blockbusters!"

This was a fairly unique show back in the 80s because of the contestant teams. This was not a one-on-one battle. This was 2 vs 1! A solo player vs. a "family pair"! Are two heads really better than 1? Usually not, from my experience.

The first part of the game was fairly simple. The board consisted of 20 hexagons, laid on in a 4x5 board. Each hexagon had a letter, which was the starting letter of the answer. For example, the letter could be "C"; the clue is: "What C is the name of a university whose football team will always come up with a timely choke in November?" The players would buzz in, and give the correct response.

To win the game, you have to make a path from left to right or from top to bottom. Here's where I find this game odd and possibly unfair.

As I said at the beginning, this is a 2 vs 1 game. The "Family pair" was the white color, and they had to cross from left to right - and had to make a connection of a minimum of 5 hexagons to win. The solo contestant was red, and he/she only had to win at least 4 hexagons for the game.

Now, for the human psychology questions - is this really fair? In a game show environment, is it really 2 vs 1? What are the dynamics here? With the family pair, are you really getting 100% of each playing partner? Usually, it was a strong partner and a "weaker" partner....so that team really is only getting 1.1 of a person. But what if you had 2 strong partners on the team? Then you have an unfair advantage the other way - and they should be forced to make a 6- or 7-length connection.

To me, it seemed that the solo player had an unfair advantage since he was able to buzz in at any time and not worry about possible family dynamics.......on the family pair side, contestant #1 may get an earful from Grandma if he/she didn't let his partner buzz in a fair amount of times....who knows.

By the way - something I learned in digging up pictures for the game. See the game board? What happens if there is a tie and there is no full connection made? Well - I learned that there is no possible way for a tie to happen. A path - either up/down or left/right - has to be made. I can't prove this, but now I'm going to fascinated by this math problem today while watching Buffalo/Jacksonville.....

The bonus game followed the same format as the regular game; a 4x5 matrix of honeycombs, and the contestant has to make a path from left to right in 60 seconds. The clues could be 1-5 letters, meaning the answers were 1-5 words. For instance, the honeycomb may be "DS". The clue is: "What DS is the odds-on favorite to be the Cleveland Browns head coach in 2018?" If the contestant gets stopped, he can try to move around the missed answer and find alternate paths across in 60 seconds.

And that's about it! Maybe this really never caught fire because it seems repetitive. No bells/whistles in the bonus round, no opportunity for trips to the Bahamas in the main game. It lasted for about 2 1/2 years and then died out.

The host of the show is Bill Cullen. I'm sorry, I never saw his appeal. Nice guy and all - very personable - but he seemed to waste a lot of time with the contestant interviews and making corny jokes after every answer. He's the opposite of Dick Clark....in my opinion, the show is not about the host, but about the game. Bill seemed to host a game show thinking it's a talk show with the game secondary. For a purist like me, that's an offense!

Now - I have to copy this story in. Bill contracted Polio as as a kid and had complete trouble walking. He usually had to use the metal poles attached to his arms to walk. Not many people knew this....including the great Mel Brooks.....here's a story from Mel that I find hilarious - this is Mel speaking:

The week of October 17–21 in 1966—that would make me about 40—was a special celebrity week on Eye Guess. Bill Cullen was the host. The game was very similar to Concentration. I was teamed up with Julia Meade. Remember her? Actress, very pretty young lady, blonde... Okay, never mind. I don't think I won, but I did get the take-home game. Anyway, the show is over, and I start walking toward the podium to say good night to Bill, to thank him for having me on. He starts coming toward me cross-stage, and I don't know what he's doing. His feet are flopping. His hands are flying everywhere. He's doing this kind of wacky walk-of-the-unfortunates that Jerry Lewis used to do. So I figured, what the hell, I'll join him. I start doing, I dunno, this multiple-sclerosis walk, flapping my arms and doing the Milton Berle cross legs—my own Jerry Lewis impression... And Julia is whispering, "No! He's crippled, Mel!" I don't even hear her. Finally we meet in the middle, we hug, and he says to me, "You know, you're the only comic who's ever had the nerve to make fun of my crippled walk. Everyone's so careful, it makes me feel even worse." And I realize, Oh, my God, this guy is really crippled! It was my worst moment—and if you weren't me, probably the funniest thing that ever happened.^[11]

One of the great champions in Blockbusters was Leland Wung - winning over $100,000 across 20 episodes as a solo player. Notice any resemblance to a reader on the blog?

What a frustrating Browns game last weekend. Ugh. So much optimism, so many things we did right - and then we can't take advantage of multiple opportunties. I wonder what the winning percentage is of NFL teams that get a turnover in opposition territory in OT....it has to be 95%, right? Well, last week fell in the 5% category. I asked Steve with about 2:00 left in regulation: "I wonder how we will lose this game"? At the end, after the loss, I concluded: "Ah, it's the run-of-the-mill heartbreak. Nothing special, just a routine crushing loss".

This season is like playing Blockbusters with Steve and my sister-in-law Candace. I'm the solo player facing those two, and the clues all seemed to have a theme, like "19th Century European History" and "Famous Bassoonists". Even if I manage to get a clue, I'll get blocked by obscure questions in these areas. So frustrating... I feel this offense is much better than 2-4, but we don't have anything better to show for it. And now we play Todd Gurley and the Rams. I look for a 30-13 shellacking.

Anyway, on to the games:

Buf 20, Jax 17. The Bills were so unimpressive last week. I'm surprised - maybe I bought into the Rex Ryan hype a bit. I think the Jags will keep this close.

Min 24, Det 17. The Vikes are this year's annual "non-descript" team- can you think of anything they do well? But the Liions are so one-dimensional they should be easy to stop.

Ind 31, NO 20. Saw a lot of good things from Vick last week (in that horrendous back door cover by the Colts), and the Saints won a game in a perfect spot for them. I still continue to  think the Saints are a bottom 5 team.

Pit 20, KC 17. No idea here. You'd think that Andy Reid can game plan against Landry Jones, but maybe that would be overestimating Reid's coaching abilities....

Mia 24, Hou 20. Let's not get too excited over Miami - 2 weeks to prepare with a new coach and fresh attitude. However, I still can't trust Houston on the road yet.

NE 24, NYJ 20. I think the Jets have the offense to take the air out of the ball here and enough defense to slow down Brady. I am concerned about Fitzpatrick on the road and a fatal mistake (or 2).

Atl 23, Ten 20. The Falcons - who may be overrated - outdoors against LeBeau? I know Marcus is out, but I think the Falcons will struggle to move the ball.

Was 24, TB 14. Still not a believer in Tampa. I think this is an excellent matchup for the Skins - a physical team at home vs. a mistake-prone offense. Sounds like a mirror game of the Browns-Rams!

Oak 31, SD 30. A great shootout here; The Raiders have 2 weeks to prepare against the soft San Diego offense; the Chargers have played 2 emotional games in a row and have to have a letdown here.

NYG 20, Dal 17. Can't pick this game when I haven't seen Cassel in forever. I am shocked at how bad the Giants looked last week.

Car 23, Phi 16. Yes, Philly has a good defense, but their offense still is not clicking. Did anyone watch that game on Monday? So the Eagles, off of a big home divisional win Monday, head to Carolina for a fired up Panthers team that people STILL do not believe in.

Az 27, Bal 23. I have to believe that a good coach with a good quaterback will show up on the road on Monday night against a good opponent. Banking on too much pride in the Ravens here...and a lot of points!

Best bets: 14 of them. Last week: 6-8-1; overall: 48-34-2

Min pk
Ind -4
Pit +3
Pit/KC under 43
NYJ +7.5
Ten +6
Was -3
TB/Was under 43
Oak +3.5
Oak/SD over 46 1/2
Dal/NYG under 45
Car -3
Phi/Car under 45 1/2
Bal +8

Supercontest picks: Last week: 0-4-1. Too much time on the Pyramid review, apparently. Overall: 18-11-1.

Ind -4.5
Was -3
Oak +4
Car -3
Bal +7.5

NFL Week 6: The $25,000 Pyramid

"Ok, I'll give you 5 seconds to get your thoughts together.......

....ok. Concentrate and Relax.

For $25,000, here is your first subject. Go!"

What more needs to be said about the Pyramid? What a game show. Probably the most serious, smartest, and most rule-focused out of all the 80s game shows. It was must see TV, especially at 10:38 and 10:51 for the bonus rounds. Possibly the most perfect bonus round in the history of TV.

For those that may not know, the Pyramid was a partner game, two celebrities paired with two contestants. The celebrities could be well known people - like Betty White, Vicki Lawrence, or Nipsey Russell - or co-starts from nighttime soaps that I never watched, like "Hotel".

The first part of game was more informal, where a giver had to make the guess say 7 related words in 30 seconds - and they could do almost anything to get them to say the word - blanks, opposites, hand gestures, physical somersaults, etc.... 3 rounds were played with a possible total of 21. If there was a tie, a 4th round was played. However, if you said any part of the word, you heard the inimitable "cuckoo" sound, meaning an illegal clue.


The winning pair went to ....the Winner's circle. Here's where the high drama began. The lights darkened and one lone light shined onto the center stage; 6 subjects appeared on the board, and the giver had to give a list of items that fit a subject; once the guesser guessed the correct subject, they moved on. There were various rules in this stage that were never exactly clear, and we can talk about them below.

For the first trip to the winner's circle, the contestant played for $10,000; if they made it there the second time, it was for $25,000 - no matter if you won the first time or not.

This was a fun game to play with a partner at home - many instances I would make Layup sit with the back to the TV, mute the sound, and play the bonus game. After about 35-40 seconds or so, Layup would say "this is stupid" and go play Micro League. I did find a willing partner to play full episodes with another reader of this blog, whom I had to babysit in their home in Phoenix, MD while his parents were out of town.....

Dick Clark was the perfect host for this game. He's very formal, a stickler for the rules, and who can ever forget him running over to the winner's circle after a failed attempt. He'd pick one of the categories after the time was out and give the perfect clue. The contestant would then guess the correct answer. Dick would say "Yes, you got it" and look disapprovingly at the celebrity. "Why couldn't you say that? Idiot..." Dick would seem to mutter.

He would also give words of advice at the beginning of the winner's circle to the pair. I never thought this helped.
"Relax" - as the spotlight shone on them and the big $25,000 is flashing....
"Focus on your partner, get a picture of what he is trying to say" - nice, but when it's Soupy Sales, it's hard to get any pictures from the clues
and my favorite...
" Let me give you a rub down" - a 5 second massage that was mildly creepy and didn't help at all.

Some random comments/questions I have on the show:

- Why were you not allowed to pass clues in the first round but you were able to pass subjects in the winner's circle? That always bothered me.
- If there was a 21-21 tie in the first game, the tiebreaker was played for $5,000 of bonus money. That's nice...so the winner of the tiebreaker wins $5,000 and gets to play for $10,000 or $25,000....and the loser of the perfect game gets nothing. Seems fair.
- Love the hand straps in the winner's circle. You were not allowed to use hand gestures there. There would be no way I could play without those. Within 10 seconds I would be all over the place and disqualified.
- The rules in the winner's circle were nefarious. You could only use a list. You could not describe things - although you could use adjectives before the noun. For instance, "old women's breasts" is acceptable, but "breasts of women that are old" is not.   No prepositions. I'm an adult, I have no idea what a preposition is any more.
- The celebrity could either give or receive, but 95% of the time the celebrity gave, as he/she is trying to paint the picture for the nervous contestant. I would have liked to try giving if I made it to the stage.
- The second winner's circle was always harder than the first - which makes sense if the same person made it and the second time was for $25,000. However, if it was the other contestant, he/she got screwed! Playing the board for $10,000 with significantly harder categories.

It's a special Saturday edition of the blog since we - all of us! - are heading to the Cleveland game Sunday! Martin is in first grade, and that's our rite of passage - the Zahn boys attend their first game in 1st grade. We did this in the magical fall of '07 with Freddie, when the Tribe was in the playoffs and the Browns went to 4-2 with a shootout win over the Dolphins. We did this in '09, when the awful Browns took the Bengals to overtime but lost in the last 2 minutes of overtime. And now in '15 with Martin......hot dogs, brats and chili are being made today and we are meeting another reader of the blog up there for his kids' first game.

I feel like we are in the second winner's circle for the Browns here...this is a big game. We just beat the Ravens in Baltimore - hasn't happened in 8 years - and won the $10,000. But now, this is a game against Peyton, at home, to get back to .500.

At 4:00, will the Zahn family be doing this in the aisle of Cleveland Browns Stadium?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj-ZsYdc8ko

or - will the phrase "Cleveland Browns Defense" be a perfect clue for this category on the right?

On to the games:

Buf 23, Cin 17. Saw cracks in the Cincinnati armor last week. I know they made a great comeback, but they can't keep being at an emotional high week after week. Ryan's defense may have something for Dalton.

Ten 24, Mia 20. No clue what Miami will look like here. I think the  Miami defense will be vanilla enough for Mariota to take advantage.

Det 30, Chi 20. If the Lions don't win here, they may go 0-16. I think they will be able to pass enough on the Bears' D and they will get enough rush to hassle Cutler.

Jax 27, Hou 20. I can't pick Houston until further notice. Hoyer does seem to look better, but Bortles and the Jags can move the ball against mediocre D - and that's what Houston is right now.

Min 24, KC 17. How devastated are the Chiefs after last week? That's the question. I think they will be able to run, even without Jamal, but Alex Smith looks horrible.

NYJ 20, Was 10. Cousins is good vs. a mediocre D, but I'm scared of what the Jets will bring - and pressure will be bad for Cousins.

Az 31, Pit 20. Did anyone really watch the game Monday night? San Diego could do anything they wanted on Pittsburgh. And the Pit offense is inconsistent. If Vick has to throw against that Cardinals' secondary, look out.

Sea 20, Car 16. Boy, not sure how this one will play out. The home field advantage will pull Seattle through - barely.

GB 31, SD 24. San Diego keep piling up offensive numbers - and I'm not sure how good the Pack is defensively. They are good, but maybe not elite. I think San Diego will score enough to keep it close.

SF 27, Bal 20. Wow, the Ravens fell apart against us last week. No pressure - so Colin should have a good day.

NE 34, Ind 20. How many points can the Pats score? 34? 41? 51? Not even considering the revenge factor, how will Indy keep up?

NYG 27, Phi 24. Philly beat the worst team (or bottom 3 team) at home last week, after the Saints gave them so many turnovers. Let's not think the Eagles are back yet.

Best bets: 15 of them. Last week: 8-4-1; overall: 42-26-1.

Buf +3
Det -3
Chi/Det over 44
Jax -1.5
Min -3.5
NYJ -7
Was/NYJ under 40 1/2
Az -4
Az/Pit over 45
Car +7
SD +10.5
SD/GB over 50 1/2
SF +2
NE -7 (I got a -7 wager in last Sunday night. I would still take them at -10).
NYG +5

Supercontest: Last week: 4-1; overall: 18-7.

Buf +3.5
Det -3
Az -3
NE -7.5
NYG +4.5
 

NFL Week 5: Classic Concentration

"Behind these numbers is a puzzle. Can you solve it? If you can do that, you'll have a chance to win a brand new car as we play Classic Concentration!"

Yes, in the 1980s, NBC aired a remake of the 50's and 60's classic Concentration for 5 years. The old version - from 1958 to 1973 - is still NBC's longest running game show. I'm sure this will be passed soon by American Ninja Warriors. Hugh Downs was the first host!!!

Anyway, the game play is fairly simple - everyone remembers the game Memory, right? Well, 25 cards are shown on the screen; behind each card is a prize. You have to find the pairs of the prizes to win the prize, make a match and keep your turn. The prize cards are removed to reveal a "rebus" puzzle behind the board. You have to solve the puzzle to win the game. If you win 2 games, you go to the bonus round.

Everyone has seen these rebus puzzles, right? Here's an example. It always sucks to have a match on square 1(upper left) and 25 (lower right) - usually these are blanks. Thanks for the help!

The cards also contained "Take" cards, where you can take one of the prizes from your opponent. Crush your opponent by taking the prize that was Martha's dream trip to the Poconos!

Most of the prizes you can win in this stage were not all trips, but more middling prizes like those on "Price is Right"....Sewing Machine! CD player! VCR Machine! Answering machine! State of the art electronics from 1988.

The bonus round is where you really wanted to get to. 8 cars were in the showroom - and 15 cards were on the board; 7 pairs of cards and one "dummy". You then tried to match all 7 pairs of cars in 30 seconds to win a car.....The cars were a wide variety of makes and models; I'd hate to be the poor schmuck who successfully completed the bonus round and ended up with a Geo Metro.

Your host for the 1980s version of Concentration was Medic Alert's own Alex Trebek! Alex seems like a nice guy, but he can come off as smarmy too. If no one could solve the rebus, he's go up to the board and start explaining the puzzle. "Now, here, we have a head of a nail....that means Head....and down here we have a bunch of students near a board....C'mon people, buzz in! This is a class!  Head and class? Let's go!"

When searching for Alex, there were too many pictures of him in 1980s sweaters for me to post. Let me just leave you with an image you can't unsee: A promo ad for Concentration in Toledo. Yes, when I think sex symbols, I think of Alex Trebek.....

Speaking of concentration, is it that hard to concentrate on a defensive play and not jump offsides until the ball is snapped? Finding another way to lose- that's the new Browns mantra since 1999. I bet fans of other teams out there lose 1 game in their lifetime on an untimed down with 0:00 left. This is our 3rd in 15 years!

- we had a pass interference called against us in Detroit in '08; up 6 with :05 left, Detroit threw a semi-hail Mary from the 40; we pulled down a receiver and was called for it. With :00 left, Detroit had a play from the 1; they scored and kicked the extra point and they won, 38-37. I think this was the game where Brady Quinn threw for 400+ yards.
- of course, there's the grand daddy of all losses, the Dwayne Rudd game. I can't relive the details here again.

And now, add the offsides FG to San Diego to that list.

I'm encouraged by our offense, but our defense- supposedly our strength in the pre season - is absolutely horrid. Rob Ryan coaching for us would actually be an improvement.

On to the games:

Atl 27, Was 17.  I really like this Redskins team, but this is a horrible matchup for them. The Falcons are well balanced and can throw, and this is in Atlanta - if the Skins go down 10, you really see them coming back?

Cin 20, Sea 13. I keep thinking Cincy will throw in a stinker - but geez, Seattle is just not good. Chi and Det do not have good defenses - and Seattle can't score on them. If the Bengals play mediocre defense, they win easily.

GB 31, StL 20. I think I will pass on all Rams games for a while. Just not sure what you are going to get from them. Do we really trust Foles to be consisntent?

KC 26, Chi 17. If Cutler is in there- and I think he will play - the Bears are fairly good offensively. I'm not sure if Alex Smith and the Chiefs are built to score 30+ vs. anyone.

Phi 31, NO 17. I'm just shocked at how awful the Saints are offensively. And - bad spot for them; they had their emotional high last week in prime time at home needing a win. Now they go on the road and face a desperate Eagles team.

TB 27, Jax 16. Tampa has been moving the ball recently, and turnovers have been their doom. This is the third road game in a row for the Jags, and they don't have the ball hawking D to really hassle Winston.

Buf 20, Ten 13. I can't stop thinking about how much pressure we - the Browns - got against Mariota. We dominated their offensive line. What will Rex and that D do to them?

Az 27, Det 20. I can't see how the Lions scores many points! They can't run, and Az pass defense is excellent. If the Cards are a Super Bowl contender - I think they are - they should win this game on the road vs. an opponent on a short week.

Den 30, Oak 20. This should be the game where Peyton breaks out....Oak pass D is very bad, and Den should have success airing it out. Only way Denver loses is if they look ahead to next week's key game....

NE 27, Dal 20. No idea here. Seems to easy to think that the Pats will win by 20 here...but they may save it for next week vs. the Colts.

NYG 30, SF 19. San Fran will give up a lot of points to the Giants pass offense, but I don't think the Giants D is good enough to completely stifle the Niners O.

Pit 27, SD 24. OK, before we get to this game, let me get something off my chest. We're going to hear a LOT during this Monday night game about the Steeler fans and how well they travel. I will puke 4-5 times.
Look, we have a first hand account of last week where the Browns fans made up at least 40% of the Q in San Diego. Why doesn't that get any press?  Because our games are not in prime time. We travel just as well as these in bred toothless fans - if not better - but no one hears about since 1% of the nation watches. It makes me sick.
Anyway, I'm not impressed with San Diego at all. They are scraping by with smoke and mirrors. I can't believe I am putting faith in Tomlin to expose this.

Best bets: 12 of them. Last week: 11-2; overall: 34-21
Atl -6 1/2
Cin -3
Sea/Cin under 43 1/2
StL/GB over 45 1/2
Phi -6
TB -3
Buf pk
Buf/Ten under 42
Az -3
Den -4
SF/NYG over 43 1/2
Pit +4

One and only one underdog. I hated this week.

Supercontest: Last week: 5-0; overall: 14-6
Phi -4.5
TB -3
Buf -2.5
Az -2.5
Pit +3


 

NFL Week 4: Tattle Tales

"Everyone in this studio has a money stake in one of our famous couples....as we play the game of celebrity gossip...Tattle Tales! And now here's the star of our show, Bert Convy!"

I had to search the internet to re-acquaint myself with this game. This was another show that I watched infrequently in the 10:30 am time slot right before Price is Right, and being 11 years old, I never could really wrap my mind around these "celebrities" or the stories they were saying.

There were three pairs of celebrity couples- we'll get to that definition in a bit- that played for real money to be split among members of the audience. The couples were split up to begin, with the men on stage and the women gone to their "isolation" chamber so they couldn't hear the questions. Bert asked the men some questions about their lives, relationships, etc. - very much like the Newlywed Game - and their answers were recorded.

Then - and this was the fascinating part to me back then- a mini TV monitor turned on right below the man on stage....it was the woman of the couple wearing these big, enormous, 8-track-like headphones! She answered the question; if it matched, the team won points.

The roles were reversed, the men went backstage, questions were doubled, and the same shtick played out. Finally, the big bonus question was asked - for $300!!!. The overall winning section got an additional $1000........ and that was truly split up among the members of the audience in that section.

I guess I never really understood that growing up - the money for the questions were split up among the audience. How did that exactly work? Some comments about this:

- Let's say the winning section had a pot of $1400 or so. How many people are in each section? Look at the opening picture above. 10 people per row? 15 rows? 150 people? So that's $10 or so each? That's it? I guess fast food meals were $2.59 back then so it's  a dinner for your family at Arthur Treacher's or Burger Chef......  (hey Eric, this would be a good theme for the future...bygone 1970's/1980's fast food joints.... -ed). 

- What if your section didn't win? You are splitting up $375 among 150 of your closest friends... so you win $2.43? Yeah, thanks a lot, Soupy Sales.

- How did they actually get the money? Simple! Have your own check-printing machine on site!

Cash prizes on game shows are typically awarded to contestants in the form of a check, mailed weeks after a show has been taped. Because of the impracticality (e.g., postal costs) of doing this for an entire studio audience,Tattletales kept a check-cutting machine in the studio and distributed the money to the audience members on their way out immediately after the show.

Fascinating. That had to be a job for a horrible intern at CBS in 1981.

"Hey Mark Goodson, can I work on Price is Right this week?"
"No, Chet, you will be working with Mr. Convy over at Tattletales printing out checks for 400 people. And don't spell Mrs. Krzyzchewski's name wrong!!"

- Bert always called the yellow section as the "banana" section. That's so Bert...  and yes, sometimes he played the game himself so he could share stories. So guest hosts were frequently involved.

- Who were these "celebrities" that showed up and participated in this game? Usually, these were other game show hosts at the time....Allen Ludden...Orson Bean...Bob Barker and his wife was on....B-list actors were the main stay. Dick Gauthier....Leslie Nielsen .... William Shatner....even Tommy Lasorda was on.

- I bet you are asking yourself - hey, homosexuality was rampant in the 70's and 80's in Hollywood...did they have gay/lesbian couples on stage? Silly reader...of course they did not have the gay couples on stage; however, they did sometimes match up a gay man and a lesbian woman as a partner.... one example I found was Dick Sargent (from Bewitched) and Fannie Flagg was a team. Charles Nelson Reilly was also on this show at one point....

Obviously, I had to use this game show this week to relate it to all the celebrity gossip going on about my beloved Browns right now. TMZ is now involved! Someone in the Browns locker room is a mole for TMZ! Three - 3!! - unnamed players say they are pissed since they want Johnny to be our starter. Um, I'm sure someone said something about Johnny winning vs. Tennessee and they want to see him play some more to see what he can do. That somehow turned into a big spectacle. Why does TMZ think America cares about this? America's fascination with Johnny is very surprising to me.

I think we will see a good effort out of the Browns this week. McCown moved the ball several times vs. Oakland, and we shot ourself in the foot numerous times last week. If our front 7 can play as well today as they did vs. Tennessee, the Chargers decimated O-line may have an issue protecting Rviers....

(prediction: San Diego 41, Cleveland 3).

On to the games:

NYJ 24, Mia 10. Boy, it's hard to "un-see" the Dolphins game last weekend. Have they played any good halves yet this year? I think the Jets defense will force several Dolphins mistakes, and that's all that is needed.

Atl 27, Hou 17. Houston's offense is abysmal, and while Atlanta won't completely shut them out, the Falcons will score enough to win by double digits.

NYG 23, Buf 20. I still believe in Coughlin's coaching ability, and he will bring this game down to his level and try to out-ugly the Bills.

Chi 20, Oak 17. I just can't see the Raiders playing 3 good games in a row. Check out the Bears' schedule so far: GB, Arizona, Sea. What a start. No wonder people are rating them 32nd..let's wait until they play a mediocre team to see if they are really that bad.

Cin 20, KC 17. Should be a defensive affair, with both teams running for 150 yards.

Ind 27, Jax 26. Not sure yet about the status of Luck. However, the Colts' lines are mess. How will they protect Luck? How do they defend passes? I see lots of scoring here no matter who the QB is for Indy.

Car 23, TB 20. Carolina has not impressed me at all on the offensive side of the ball, but their D should be enough to win this game.

Was 23, Phi 20. I'm not convinced the Eagles are legit. Two bad games and a game where the Jets gave them several turnovers. If Cousins can limit the mistakes, the Skins win easily.

Az 26, StL 16. The Cards wil have to run to beat the Rams, and while that's not their best offensive plan, they should be able to stop the Rams' offense.

Den 27, Min 20. Could be an upset - but then I don't know how much faith I have in the Vikes - and Tedddy - in leading a possible 4th quarter comeback against that Denver D.

GB 31, SF 20. All right, all right, I'm scarred. Never again (at least for a while) will I bet against the Packers.

NO 31, Dal 23. This is the last stand for the Saints. 0-3, at home, on Sunday night, against a vulnerable defense to fast teams.....I can't see the Saints losing no matter who is QB.

Sea 20, Det 10. Two teams that are still overrated. Seattle can't move the ball, and neither can Detroit.

Best bets: 13 of them. Last week: 6-8; overall: 23-19.
NYJ -2
NYJ/Mia under 42
Atl -6
NYG +5
Chi +3
KC/Cin under 44
Jax +9
Was +3
Az -7
Min/Den over 42 1/2
GB -7.5
NO -3
Det/Sea under 43

Supercontest: Last week: 2-3; overall: 9-6. I hate these picks.
NYJ -1.5
Atl -6
Jax +9
Was +3
Chi +3