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BRACKET MOVEMENT ON WEEKEND: As usual, most of the gyrations will be happening around the cut line, and with Maryland extending its win streak to four and grabbing another crucial Big Ten road win at Rutgers on Sunday, we’ve moved the Terps into the “last four in” category; we’re sure that participating in a First Four game would not bother Marc Turgeon in the least, as Maryland has been outside of our projected field to this point. Damaging losses over the weekend suffered by Stanford (at Washington State, Indiana (home vs. Michigan State), and especially St. John’s (home vs. Big East cellar-dweller DePaul) have temporarily moved all three

31-XL, Pittsburgh 21 - Seattle 10 (at Detroit)...Although there was considerable drama for a time well into the 4th quarter, XL was a bit of a disappointment and hardly a shining hour for the referees, whose series of extremely questionable calls (coincidentally almost all favoring the Steelers) at crucial moments distorted the proceedings. Pittsburgh did capitalize when presented opportunities, however, using big scoring plays by Willie Parker & Hines Ward to shift the momentum in the second half.

That we have arrived at Super Bowl LV having completed a full NFL season ranks as perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the 2020 campaign. Most amazing was that this mostly resembled a normal NFL year on the field, even considering the various hurdles and mostly fan-free venues during the pandemic. In a year in which some sort of normalcy was most welcomed, the NFL delivered. In retrospect, the handful of postponements only provided a minor nuisance to the schedule, which compared to other sports was able to proceed without comparable interruptions. All that’s left is the “Supe” which is something special for those of us in the TGS generation because we have witnessed the Super Bowl from its birth. In fact, TGS had

As the Super Bowl approaches, we at TGS are always apt to move into reminiscing mode. Especially as we just passed the 54-year anniversary of the first Super Bowl (Jan. 15, 1967) last Friday. After all, we were not only completing our first decade of publishing when that matchup occurred between the Packers and Chiefs, but we were there to watch it live and in person at the L.A. Coliseum. (And, yes, that game was referred to as the “Super Bowl” by all of the media of the day, even though it would not be until Super Bowl III that Pete Rozelle would officially change the name of the game pitting AFL and NFL champs). We also must admit to some nostalgic tugs

Denver (5-11)... We’re tempted to drill a bit deeper into the Broncos’ plight which we have been able to follow closely thanks to our involvement with Denver sports radio. But the date to watch across the Front Range is July 12, when the trial to clarify future ownership of the franchise is slated to begin. At the center are the feuding heirs of Pat Bowlen and a trio of trustees led by Joe Ellis that have been operating the Broncos since Mr. B first became incapacitated in 2014 before finally passing in 2019. A template for dysfunction has ensued, complicated by GM John Elway’s ongoing errors in choosing

Back in Thanksgiving week, we recalled one of our favorite Turkey Day football memories, a pulsating encounter between the Colts and the Lions, from the great year of 1965. We hinted at the time of a book project we have embarked upon called “December 1965" in which we recall in detail what was the best NFL race of our lifetime as the Western Conference thundered down the stretch in what became an epic three-horse battle between the Packers, Colts, and Bears, with compelling supporting acts provided by the remainder of the old West (Lions, Vikings, 49ers, and Rams). It was in those weeks beginning at Thanksgiving and into December of ‘65

We’ve become used to seeing Clemson in the mix for playoff berths and national championships in recent years. While fellow Final Four participants Alabama, Ohio State, and Notre Dame have been living at or near the tops of the college football polls for generations, the Tigers are a relatively new entry to the power mix, having effectively supplanted the likes of USC, Michigan, Texas, and some other old, familiar names in the old college hierarchy. Clemson’s rather-recent inclusion into the elite class of college football, however, is part of a larger narrative that has fascinated us at TGS for many years.

The pieces have looked greater than the sum for a while now with the Phoenix Suns (38 ½). We wonder, however, if this season marks the turnaround. Chis Paul can still be an enormous help, as he was last year with the Thunder, and his presence on the perimeter should remove some of the pressure from Devin Booker. Deandre Ayton also might be ready to emerge as a beast on the blocks, while the useful and versatile Jae Crowder is another serviceable NBA vet who has helped at every stop in his career. It’s the “Paul factor,” however, that makes us think it’s finally time for an “over” in the Valley of the Sun.

Of all of the states that are entering the sports gaming market since the repeal of PASPA in May of 2018, perhaps none has generated the sort of buzz as has New York. It’s not all normal buzz, either, more inquisitive, as the marketplace wonders what the next move might be from the Empire State.

The storyline intrigues, as New York has entered the fray...sort of, with its legal sports betting limited to a few locales well upstate from New York City. For Big Apple bettors, their best alternative (if they don’t want to play offshore) is a quick hop to New Jersey, where mobile devices are within the Garden State’s “geo-fencing” to place bets. Indeed, in pre-coronavirus times, lunchtime got crowded

Anyone who needed convincing that college football still ruled the Los Angeles sports scene in the mid 60s should have taken the next flight to LAX and sampled some of the local coverage. Even in the days long before ESPN or sports talk radio, college football had the capacity to captivate the masses. Especially in Los Angeles.

Even when the games weren’t being played. As in December, 1964.

If only ESPN and other sports networks had been around then to capture the fireworks!

One of the more intriguing storylines in the post-PASPA repeal era is how soon California might jump on board and begin to offer sports gaming within its boundaries. With dozens of states already having legalized sports wagering in one form or another (a full list will appear soon on these pages) since the PASPA repeal in the spring of 2018, there has been much anticipation on when the Golden State will join the fray.

Not too soon, apparently. While it looked for a while as if 2021 would be the year in which sports betting would open for business in Cali, best estimates now

Like almost everything else about 2020, Thanksgiving might not feel quite the same this year. To the rescue in a much-needed nod to good old normalcy, however, comes an odd hero in the form of the Detroit Lions. At least having the Lions to watch on TV this Thursday, against the Texans, will make Thanksgiving seem a little more natural. We’ve written about Thanksgiving football history before, and one of these years ought to opt for a college angle and a retrospective on one of several “Games of the Century” that might actually have lived up to the hype, the 1971

In the expansive “who knows” category of 2020 is college basketball, which when last seen had abruptly halted its season a week before the NCAA Tournament eight months ago, with March Madness limited to the handful of early conference tournaments that had completed a week before others. Perhaps nothing summed up the oddities of mid-March 2020 better than a Big East Tourney quarterfinal game between Creighton and St. John’s, the first game of Thursday, March 12, called off at halftime with St. John’s leading 38-35. The last completed game of the 2019-20 season came the night before in the late game of the Pac-12 Tourney at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas

Every decade or so, it seems as if there is a can’t-miss prospect at the top of the NFL draft board whose mere presence seems to distort the preceding pro season. The last time we at TGS recall such gyrations came in 2011, with Stanford QB Andrew Luck the expected prize at the top of the upcoming draft. Now, much of that same Luck-like hysteria is surrounding Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence. Before we go much further, it’s worth noting that, for the moment, at least, Lawrence

We suppose there would be nothing more appropriate in the crazy year of 2020 than for an NFL team to complete the rare lose-‘em- all schedule. We have witnessed such a few times in recent memory. And, counting teams that did not do better than one tie, we’ve actually done the winless thing a bit more during the 64-season history of TGS (dating to 1957) than some might realize. Five times, to be exact. A new entrant to that pantheon of the absurd, however, might be seeking entry, as the New York Jets hit the half-mile pole of 2020 well on their way to a winless, 0-16 slog. (That particular feat of 16 losses in a season has only been achieved by the 2008 Lions and 2017 Browns).

They’re talking about this week’s Jets-Chiefs game in the national sporting press, but not for the sort of reasons that once captivated the national football audience when these sides would face one another. Now, here in late October of 2020, about the only thing noteworthy about the upcoming clash at Arrowhead Stadium is the uncommonly high pointspread. More on that in a moment. Jets-Chiefs, however, recalls some different memories for us at TGS and anyone who was around for the later days of the old AFL. Given that some of our modern-day readers might not be able to fathom a Jets game having much intrigue, allow us to digress for a moment and recall when a New York-Kansas City

Rewind to October 23, 1982. Bo Schembechler’s Michigan was not expected to have a tough time with Dennis Green’s Northwestern that afternoon in Evanston. Heck, during those days, no one had much trouble with the Wildcats, who earlier that season had seen a debilitating losing streak grow to 34 games before finally beating Northern Illinois, 31-6, prompting NU fans to dismantle the goal posts at Dyche Stadium. A couple of weeks later, NU then broke a 39-game Big Ten losing streak when it shocked Minnesota, 31-21. Oddsmakers, however, were not getting fooled by this new-found Wildcat prowess. The Wolverines were made 29-point favorites as they rumbled into Dyche in late October.

As it has become part of our “business” nowadays at TGS to pay close attention to the evolving sports gaming marketplace in the states, we think it’s a good time for a reminder to all who partake in these related exercises to have a better idea of how the sports gaming industry is regulated and policed in other parts of the world.

Policed? Isn’t it anything goes overseas, especially in the UK, with its long-enlightened view on gaming, and where bets are taken on almost everything?

While the coronavirus pandemic does its best to impact sport in all corners of the world, one grouping within the extended industry continues to bop along. Sports gaming has indeed had to juke and jive to stay afloat and relevant during COVID-19, but the sector continues to move forward and make news. In one sense, however, it is definitely not business as usual in the sports gaming arena. While conventions are not the lifeblood of the industry, they have emerged as important markers as the business continues to evolve. Sports gaming has long been

Tampa Bay Rays (3/1)... With the thought of a “Title Bay Triple” (Lightning NHL, Rays MLB, and Bucs NFL) dancing in the minds of all fans in Tampa-St. Pete, the Rays have secured the top seed in the AL and will be able to unfurl their deep and versatile pitching staff to great effect, we suspect. Blake Snell is already lined up to start the first playoff game at the Trop and manager Kevin Cash has myriad options including several “openers” which mostly fared well this season. Did we mention pitching depth? Into last weekend, twelve different bullpen Rays recorded saves this season, trying an MLB record, and this was only a 60-game season. Lots of contact hitters in the lineup

Once in a while, we at TGS are motivated to set the record straight. Often, it’s because the modern sports media will peddle a narrative that while not altogether inaccurate, can be somewhat misleading. And as we have just passed an important anniversary of one of the most-memorable days in college football history, we are reminded once again how it helps to have been around to experience events that are being reviewed decades later.

So it goes for the much-discussed USC-Alabama season opener from back on September 12, 1970, a landmark game from 50 years ago

As you might have been able to tell from our first two issues, a lot has changed with TGS since last season, and none of it is pandemic-related. In fact, our switch to an all-online publication in a more easy-to-read format has been in the works for well over a year. With the kinks still needing to be worked out, we continued to produce our publications in a traditional manner last season, always with an eye to 2020. Eyes, important things...something we and our many longtime readers knew would benefit from our new look. Squinting at smallish type is no longer required!
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We think it’s important, however, readers know that, even through management changes, TGS at its core essentially remains the same publication it was when launched by Mort Olshan way back in 1957.

AFC BEST BET... Are we really going to recommend the...New York Jets (6 ½)? Why not? It might surprise that the J-Men would actually have to regress from last season’s 7-9 mark to not clear the win number in 2020. Indeed, the Jets did win 7 a year ago, as HC Adam Gase saved a job that looked precarious at midseason by winning 6 of the last 8 in 2019. Included were wins in the last two, amid rumors of internal strife, one of those effectively knocking the Steelers out of the playoffs. Will there will be as much adversity to deal with this season? Likely not, especially if they avoid another 0-4 start, which coincided

Though given consideration in the early-season rankings, projected 14th nationally by Sports Illustrated in its preview issue, and 16th in AP’s preseason poll, there were numerous skeptics about the prospects of UCLA in ‘68. After all, Heisman winner Gary Beban had graduated after the Bruins had won 23 games under his direction the preceding three years. Among them the doubters was the shrewd HC, Tommy Prothro, who naturally fretted about the upcoming post-Beban era. Not as much because of a lack of confidence in the anointed successor at QB, junior Bill Bolden

In this latest "Best of TGS" installment, we recall the following feature which ran in Issue 12 of our 62nd edition in November of 2018, when we honored the 50th anniversary of an epic matchup that continues to resonate...

We’re about to enter the peak of college football “rivalry season” in the next two weeks as various regional bloodbaths will once again renew. In our 62 seasons of TGS publishing, however, one of these rivalry games remains singular. And we’re not sure we’ve ever lived through a game quite like...well, The Game.

Rest assured they haven’t forgotten about the days of the “Wishbone T” at Texas. Among the glorious eras of Longhorn football, the span from the late ‘60s into the early 70s when the Darrell Royal “Wishbone” ran wild remain among the all-time favorites for the countless “Texas Ex-es” and college football historians. The high-water mark, we have always believed, of that great Wishbone era might continue to be mostly overlooked by college sports historians and the modern-day media. In fact, looking back

Among our favorite weeks each autumn is the run-up to the annual Notre Dame-USC grudge match. Though this clash has lost some of its luster in recent years, it remains college football's quintessential intersectional rivalry, and one we at TGS have had a front-row seat to observe throughout our six-plus decades of publishing. And one of our favorite Fighting Irish-Trojans "Retrospective" pieces was this one from October, 2017 when we went back to review two of the more memorable Notre Dame-Southern Cal battles from the TGS era...

6-LOS ANGELES CHARGERS... The Philip Rivers era officially ended for the Bolts when their long-serving pitcher walked to the Colts in free agency. Though after Rivers struggled mightily a year ago with 20 picks, we’re not sure how much he will be missed. For the moment, word is that the Chargers are content to let holdover Tyrod Taylor act as a bridge to a high-profile rookie QB, though rumors continue to circulate that the Bolts could opt for still on-the-market Cam Newton as a short-term fix while whatever rookie (Oregon’s Justin Herbert?) watches and learns for a year or two. After all, the Chargers were decimated by injuries last year and believe they could make a quick

TGS PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Obi Toppin, Dayton... We’ll never get to find out if Dayton could have made a run all of the way in the Big Dance after taking a 29-2 SU mark into the A-10 Tournament before college hoops shut down in mid-March. But at 29-2, this was the Flyers’ chance, and they would have likely been seeded number one in the East Regional had the Dance commenced in a normal fashion. Along the way, Toppin dominated his conference (the A-10) more than any player in the country, and while he might

Back again we go into the "Best of TGS" files for this memorable piece which first ran on these pages in September of 2014, right about the time the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell were facing heavy scrutiny over the Ray Rice situation...

While seeking an editorial beacon of sorts to help us draw our intended analogy to recent events, we came across a passage in the thought-provoking best-selling book, Breach of Trust, authored in 2013 by Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Vernon Carey, Duke...Not quite by acclimation as was Blue Devil predecessor Zion Williamson last season, Carey nonetheless appears a worthy honoree, even if this year’s newcomer crop seemed to lack the sizzle of a year ago. Carey, however, helped create the dynamics for one of the nation’s most-explosive attacks that would often look to the blocks and Carey for its first offensive option. Carey made an impact almost immediately, cracking the 30-point barrier by his fifth game (scoring 31 in an 87-52 romp past Cal on November 21 at MSG) en route to 15 double-doubles, and was a

Every once in a while, we experience an "Abe Ribicoff moment." Ribicoff, if you recall, was the U.S. Senator from Connecticut who famously, and forcefully, told the assembled masses at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago what many of them didn't want to hear.Specifically, Ribicoff bravely, or perhaps brazenly, went off script and upbraided Mayor Richard Daley and his Chicago political machine to their faces, right in their backyard of the old International Amphitheater, for the behavior of their police force against protestors nearby at

While we try to pass the time until sport is resumed, we've decided to cull our vast files of past stories and editiorals for "Best of TGS" features which will appear periodically over over the coming weeks. One of these in particular was a spin-off from our old European Soccer Weekly publication which existed for seven years into 2007. On occasion thereafter we would revive the ESW features on these pages, and one such time came in late 2010 after FIFA simultaneously awarded World Cups to Russia (for 2018) and Qatar (for 2022), respectively.

With the college hoops season having been prematurely terminated, and some extra time to ponder what might have been on the hardwood these next few weeks, there’s no harm speculating how the field of 68 might have looked if there hadn’t been the recent disruption. We had been keeping close tabs and formulating our own TGS brackets (as we alwqays do) for the past three months, and at least as of last Thursday morning had an idea of how the brackets might have shaped up at that time

Xavier...Oh, Lordy, doesn’t the X now regret that loss to Butler in the final seconds last weekend? Instead of a win over the Bulldogs which would have allowed the Musketeers to bypass the opening round of the Big East Tourney at MSG, Travis Steele’s team was forced to deal with the only situation that could probably jeopardize a seed that was hovering in the 10-11 range. That is, a bad loss, which DePaul inflicted on Wednesday, 71-67. We still believe the X is on the safe side of the cut-line, but is going to be spending a nervous few days until Sunday, while keeping a careful lookout for any potential “Bubble

3 Duke (24-6) vs. 14 Akron (23-7)...Duke usually gets a break from the Selection Committee, which likes to keep the Blue Devils in the East (Madison Square Garden also hosts the regionals this March) and often has a Tobacco Road venue waiting in the sub-regionals; this time, it’s the venerable Greensboro Coliseum, where Coach K and his boys could camp out for a few more days after next week’s ACC Tourney. Recent losses suggest that even if the Blue Devils win the ACC Tourney next week, they won’t ascend higher than the 2-line. Akron has emerged as

WAC...Tourney March 11-14 at Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV. Cal Baptist is in transition phase to D-I and not eligible for conference title. Last year’s winner...New Mexico State. Top contenders-New Mexico State*, Seattle, UT Rio Grande Valley. Last year...NCAA-1 (New Mexico State); CIT-3 (CS Bakersfield-quarterfinals), UT Rio Grande Valley (2nd round), Seattle; CBI-3 (Utah Valley-quarterfinals, Cal Baptist, Grand Canyon).

Toronto Raptors (40-15)...Consider the 101-91 loss on Wednesday at Brooklyn to be nothing more than a minor course correction for the Raps, who took a stunning 15-game SU win streak into Barclays Center. It puts Toronto almost exactly where it was at this time a season ago when the Raps were on their way to the title. Even minus Kawhi Leonard, Nick Nurse has kept the champs afloat despite a series of injuries around the holidays (Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol, Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell) and a bit earlier (Kyle Lowry missed most all of November) that shortened rotations. The emergence of Siakam

2 Duke (19-3) vs. 15 Little Rock (17-7)...Some things seem to stay the same each year, and one of those is Duke, whose roster names have mostly changed since last season but with the same look on the bench (namely, Coach K) that has become a March staple. What is different about this season, however, is an ACC downturn, which we will amplify upon a bit more as we get further into the brackets. The Sun Belt race has turned into a Little Rock party, with the Trojans 2 ½ games ahead of the chasing pack into the second weekend of November

One neat byproduct of having published since 1957 is that TGS predates the Super Bowl era by almost a decade. Which also means that we remember what it was like from the start when the game overtones were far more compelling than the modern-day, homogenous NFL. Remember, the Super Bowl was born from the merger of the AFL and NFL in 1966, when the rivalry between the two leagues was hot and heavy. As the leagues wouldn’t officially “merge” until the 1970 season, the 1966 thru ‘69 campaigns would still be conducted independently.

Like baseball fights, most basketball fights tend to be much ado about nothing. Rarely does anyone really get hurt. But, sometimes, things can get ugly. In the pros, the first thing that comes to mind is the raucous Pacers-Pistons melee from November 2004. And there have been a couple of college basketball brawls in the past decade (Cincinnati-Xavier and Texas Tech-Oklahoma State) that also pushed things to the edge because fans either indirectly, or directly, became involved in the fracas. That’s where the line has to be drawn in such melees, and one in which Kansas and Kansas State

We at TGS precede the “Super Bowl era” by a full decade, and can recall a time when the pro football season would essentially end after the NFL and AFL championship games, usually contested in late December. (TGS was also in existence for three seasons between 1957-59 that preceded the existence of the old AFL!) So when the Super Bowl initially arrived for the 1966 season (and yes, it was unofficially referred to as the “Super Bowl” by all media outlets before Pete Rozelle would affix the name permanently to the championship tilt), the AFL and NFL title games became effective semi-final games.

Denver (7-9)...A fourth straight playoff miss and the first back-to-back-to-back losing seasons since 1970-72 (covering the end of the long-ago Lou Saban and start of the John Ralston regimes) confirm how far the Mile High operation has slipped on the watch of John Elway. Elway's decision to sign slow-footed Joe Flacco as the stopgap QB for 2019 effectively blew up in the Broncos’ face before Flacco was humanely placed on I-R at the beginning of November. By the end of the season the keys had been handed to Mizzou rookie QB Drew Lock

1 Duke (12-1) vs. 16 St. Francis-PA (7-4)...No more Zion or RJ or Cam, but here we are projecting the brackets and once again the Blue Devils are sitting on the top line. Though this year’s edition hasn’t yet been as breathtaking as last year’s versuon (which we thought was more than a bit overvalued), it;s been only one loss thus far for Coach K’s new crop of frosh stars and holdover PG Tre Jones, who has been a valuable piece of glue at Cameron indoor. With the ACC looking a bit jumbled this season, nice to know that we can at least count on Duke. Meanwhile the Northeast

In recent years, when recalling past late-season and first-round playoff games, we have occasionally mentioned 1965 (when THE GOLD SHEET was already into its ninth year of publication), and results from 54 years ago that necessitated a one-game Western Conference playoff between the Colts and Packers. In retrospect, that turned out to be one of the most important games of the modern era, for a couple of reasons. First, it triggered a rules change in the league, as goalpost uprights were raised in height the following year after the referees botched Green Bay PK Don

Bowl season reminds us at TGS of a tale that no one could comprehend today, and certainly not fans of Ohio State, a football factory if there ever was one and back in the Final Four again this season. Indeed, it can be argued that no school in the country takes its pigskin participation any more seriously than in Columbus. But we at TGS were finishing up our fifth season of publishing when the Buckeyes shocked the college football world with a decision that even then seemed like some sort of gridiron version of hari-kari, and a bit

As noted on these pages last month, a featured speaker last month in Manhattan was former New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak, who spearheaded legislation that was pushed through Trenton in the first place, and remained a driving force behind all of New Jersey’s subsequent adjustments and court challenges. Lesniak, currently out of the state legislature after an unsuccessful run for the governorship last year, was able to enlighten a bit further from his unique perspective of how the entire process proceeded, but it was

Mention of the Lions on Thanksgiving often recalls the classic 1962 game vs. the Packers, who were the annual Turkey Day opponent of the Lions thru the following season in 1963. Perhaps Vince Lombardi’s best-ever Green Bay side rumbled into old Tiger Stadium on Thanksgiving Day 1962 (a year after the big ballyard changed its name from Briggs Stadium) with a 10-0 record and appearing en route to unbeaten gridiron immortality. But the ‘62 Lions were formidable, just two lengths back at 8-2,

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