WILL TOUGH QUESTIONS BE THERE FOR KEYSHAWN OR WILL FOX CODDLE THE JACKATHLETE?.

By Kevin O’Neill

Nice to see a coach and organization stand up to a jackathlete. But would Gruden and the Bucs have sent Keyshawn Johnson packing if they were in the playoff hunt? Probably not. The conventional wisdom seems to be that Parcells will jump at the chance to have Keyshawn in Dallas next year due to their good relationship. But Parcells has already publicly expressed a lack of interest in Terrell Owens due to the distractions he would bring. Would Keyshawn Johnson on the downside of his career be any better? Do you think Keyshawn will get any tough questions in his newfound role as Fox studio commentator? Look for Fox to coddle “Meshawn” and serve as enabler for his sunshiney view of all things Keyshawn.

Why does the media always give such credence to the firecoachwhoever.com web sites that crackpots put up everywhere there is some dissention about the coaching staff? They were interesting a few years ago, but c’mon, it’s 2003. The existence of such a web site is no indication of a grass roots movement to oust any coach anywhere. It is merely a web site. I’m tempted to get FireBobbyStoops.com up and running and see what happens.

Sure, it’s funny to hear the Nebraska coaches complain about Kansas State running up the score on them. They’re wrong, as the final KSU touchdown was scored by a backup. But the “good riddance, they run the score up themselves” attitude of some is misguided. Nebraska has never been a team to run up the score. In their better years they would occasionally score 60 or 70 almost by accident. You can’t tell the 4th string farm boy walk-on from O’Neill, Nebraska (always our favorite town in Big Red country) to just fall down when he runs off tackle. Nebraska has always been gentlemanly in such instances. Penn State scored 31 points in the 3rd quarter of their win over Indiana, and had a kick return for a TD called back on a penalty. 31 points is an impressive output for a club whose season high was 32 against Kent State in September. Nice to see Paterno have a little something to celebrate for a change. Personnel folks seem to think that Penn State will have a solid team next season and they supposedly have an impressive list of commitments for this recruiting season. Look for Paterno to announce that next year will be his last.

New England offensive coordinator Charlie Weis is being spoken of as a top potential NFL coaching candidate, but we think Weis may have trouble getting hired. Never having been able to maintain a healthy weight, Weis took the extreme step of having gastric bypass surgery a couple of years ago. He nearly died. While he has regained his health, we wonder if an NFL owner will be ready to make the commitment to Weis given his shaky health background. Weis developed Tom Brady. A Tom Brady/ Drew Bledsoe situation appears to be developing out in San Francisco, where Tim Rattay is excelling in relief of the injured Jeff Garcia. It’ll be tough for Garcia to reclaim his job, as first year coach Dennis Erickson came from outside the organization and his loyalty is likely to be with whoever is playing well now. That’s Rattay.

Spooky moment of the week: In an elevator at the Mirage this weekend, a recording urged passengers to buy tickets for Siegfried and Roy. As the show has been suspended indefinitely, you would think that that someone would have thought to change the marketing message in the six weeks since the attack. The duo is also still on billboards all over town. One had contained well wishes for his recovery. The rest didn’t. Seems like a major corporate push for the proper response to such a tragedy would have been in order. Funny Vegas moment of the week. A hooker who watched me kiss my wife goodbye at a taxi stand on her way to the airport Sunday morning fell in to stride with me as I returned into the hotel. “Now that your wife is gone, why not party with me?” Ah, the subtlety of the Vegas skanks.

We had guaranteed that we wouldn’t go 7-0 in the Stardust Invitational again. Unfortunately we kept our guarantee and lost to David Stratton, the editor of trade journal Gaming Today. Congrats to David on his fine 5-2 week and many thanks to Bob Scucci, John Kelly, and all the other fine folks at the Stardust for including us in the Invitational. On your next trip to Vegas you owe it to yourself to visit the Stardust, the most important sports book in Nevada. Many readers who were listening to KDWN radio or online asked us for the punch line of our joke that was bleeped out by the radio station. I was complimenting the Stardust on their 45th anniversary and their celebration of Vegas history and spoke of a fictional woman named Millie. I claimed that Millie told me she used to be a showgirl and a cocktail waitress at the Stardust and that she was called “the Minnie Minoso of Vegas”. Why Minnie Minoso? Because she had slept with members of the Rat Pack in four different decades. Slightly risqué? Sure, but I was surprised it was bleeped.

With his continuing legal battles against the University of Washington, including another lawsuit filed this week, the always Clintonesque Rick Neuheisel is making it harder and harder for someone to take a chance on him as a head coach down the line. The Huskies have not reacted well to all the problems they’ve had. Formerly a Pac Ten stalwart, Washington became the first Pac Ten team to lose to hideous Arizona two weeks ago. With handicappers around the nation looking for the Huskies to bounce back, UW was sandblasted by Cal 54-7 on Saturday. The university felt compelled to put out a statement that new coach Keith Gilbertson’s job is safe. Plenty of trouble in Huskieville with their traditional season-ending Apple Cup battle with #8 ranked Washington State this weekend.

Precocious 14-year old Freddie Adu signed a seven-year contract to play Major League Soccer here in the states. This is being sold as a coup for soccer in the United States and our teenage talent supposedly matches up with anyone’s worldwide. A World Cup in the future for the USA? How about a 7-0 win over France to win the Cup? While that’d be fun to watch, let’s keep in mind that these are the same people who told us upon the berth of the NASL in the 70’s that soccer would eclipse football in popularity by 1980. Like proponents of the metric system, these people just never learn. A full generation of kids have now played soccer in the US. Those kids have grown up to become football fans. Soccer will never be anything more than a niche sport in the US, a sport with a few ardent supporters that is a mere curiosity for the rest of us. One nice thing about soccer, steroids don’t seem to be much of an issue. Anyone see a clip of Barry Bonds in the late 80’s/ early 90’s after his MVP announcement this week? As a young Pittsburgh Pirate Bonds was a shell of his current self. A comparison of his jawline and the size of his head would be interesting. Watching ESPN Classic is simply a shock sometimes. Baseball players of the 1980’s were rail thin, football players of the same era are both small and slow. Amazing how “nutrition” and “training techniques” have improved so drastically, huh?

In the NFL this week, the Cincinnati Bengals seem to be ripe for the plucking. They may still be mentally celebrating the biggest victory in over a decade for the franchise over previously unbeaten Kansas City. It is difficult to imagine that they’ll be able to focus on the moribund Chargers and a letdown seems likely. Or does it? In our newsletter The Max this week our friend Dave Fobare provides us with an interesting system. NFL teams with a record of .500 or less who defeat an undefeated team do not tend to let down. In fact, they are 67-44 (60.3%) against the spread over the years. We’ll trust this system and the ability of Marvin Lewis to keep his Bengals’ eyes on the prize and look for them to get the road win over a San Diego team that allows 28 points per game, 5.7 yards per snap, and has little going for it. Do you like access to such situational data? Three or four such systems are provided each week in our Systems and Strategies section of The Max, along with 11 game selections (with complete writeups) and additional handicapping articles and commentary. Our subscribers also receive a late week email with links to articles and additional updated information. College yards per rush and yards per pass stats are presented in a matchup form and only include games played against 1-A competition. The Max is emailed/faxed to subscribers on Monday nights weekly through the Super Bowl (which takes place on February 1st this year). Call us in the office at 770-649-1078 to take advantage of a special discounted rate on The Max.

Let’s take a look at a rivalry game on Saturday’s college football card. We’re of the opinion that Duke is just a little bit less hideous than the North Carolina Tar Heels. North Carolina was right in their ball game with Georgia Tech last weekend but allowed Georgia Tech 24 points in the fourth quarter for the Jackets to pull away for the win. Tech hadn’t scored 31 points in any of their last 20 full games yet got 24 in the final stanza against these defenseless Tar Heels. There are 117 Division 1-A teams. North Carolina’s 39 points per game defense ranks 112th or higher in points allowed, first downs allowed, yards, rushing yards, total yards, yards per rush attempt, yards per pass attempt, and yards per play. This remarkably bad defense has no business being a 6-point favorite. Off of their bad loss to Clemson, an improved Duke team will continue to play hard in an effort to prove that interim coach Ted Roof is the right man to become the next head Devil in Durham. Take the points with a hard trying rivalry dog against a defense that allows 5.0 yards per rush and 9.3 yards per pass attempt.

Thanks for taking the time to read us. Good luck and be careful.

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Kevin O’Neill is the director of content for www.consumerbet.com. His 24-hour free telephone selection hotline can be accessed by calling 1-770-618-8700.

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