Predictions To Live By (standard:adventure, 3125 words)
Author: Alpha43	Added: Apr 08 2005	Views/Reads: 3578/2326	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Sometimes you can be told more than you want to hear.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


By far, Steve’s biggest worry came to light last Monday morning. The
Station Manager, Don Douglas, called in the entire College Football 
commentator team, informing them that his granddaughter could pick more 
winners than any one of this group. If they were bored or lacked the 
enthusiasm to do a little research and check the probabilities for 
victory, then there were only about 3 million American men waiting to 
replace them. 

Everybody was dismissed except Steve. 

Don just paced for a while and then he asked Steve if he had any idea
how many correct football final score picks he had made this season? 
Steve started to remind Don of the unusual number of upsets and last 
minute turnovers, but Don interrupted; “23 percent,” Don Bitched. “You 
have been correct 23 percent of the time. You almost have to try to be 
that far off, and your pals are not much better at guessing collegiate 
football outcomes. 

“We are supposed to be the Experts. People are supposed to look to us
for accurate predictions, for some honest insight into the 
probabilities for victory. We not only should be able to be consistent 
predictors, but we should be able to tell these fans why their school 
is going to win or lose. Sports Illustrated just ran their weekly 
Collegiate picks and managed to include ESPD in their summary, I quote; 
‘If you need a little extra cash, watch ESPD for their picks, reverse 
the bet and you could be on easy street.’ 

“Well, starting this week, we are going to challenge them. We are going
to record our picks and keep track of them on a scoreboard, 
individually, and as a group, and if anybody hits or falls below 50%, 
It’s been nice knowing you. Now go out there and tell that group of 
sports expert ‘want-to-be’s’ about the new format, and they had better 
take this seriously!” 

Steve heard somebody yell ‘60 seconds to live’ as he finished up in the
can. 

Was this really the end, could he be thrown out in the street after so
many great years in sports? Ohio’s All State High School Football Team, 
4 years of record breaking play at Michigan, 2 of those years as an 
‘All American.’ The Blue Gray Game, Senior Bowl, 2 Rose Bowl victories. 
3 years as a first string receiver with the 49er’s. A crushed vertebrae 
ended that career but he was in the broadcast booth by the following 
September. 2 years of ABC play-by-play and then a dream contract with 
ESPD. Could his career be taking the same route as the swirling water 
he just left in the John? 

“Thanks Tom, coach Flanders has a much broader vocabulary than I
assumed, hot tempered is somewhat of an understatement. “Wait until 
next weeks’ lose to Michigan State and you will really hear some Irish 
language. 

“As I predicted, Indiana put a whipping on Northwestern. The final score
is not indicative of the real game action, as Indiana’s bench allowed a 
late Northwestern touchdown; 35 to 33. 

Staying with the Big Ten, Illinois and Penn State tried to give away the
game with a total of 8 turnovers, 4 of them interceptions, but Penn 
State pulled it out, 17 to 14. Penn State is going to need more than 
home field advantage to stay up with Ohio State next week. 

“The Michigan defense is good, and for their size, fast; but Minnesota’s
quarterback, Dirk Patterson found that out ‘up close and personal’ 
after he was carried off the field mid-way through the 2nd quarter. 
Patterson showed up during the 4th quarter, but in street clothes. In 
Minnesota, Joyce Meredith has the first of two reports about Patterson 
and the Wolverines; Joyce.” 

The show had about 6 minutes more to run and all of the broadcast crew
was in the upper 60 percentile for correct game outcomes. ‘Chad’, Steve 
was at 82 percent. As a group they were at 74 percent. 

2 commercials, then a review of the polls and Steve found himself
saying, “Join me tomorrow morning for a complete collegiate recap and a 
check on the new polls and there should be a number of changes. Have a 
Great night and I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

6:48 AM Sunday, October 14 

“Chad, could you sign this ‘For Pete’? Thanks! Great predictions this
week Chad, what about UCLA next Saturday?” 

“UCLA, but close; I’m sorry about yesterday, I was so late I didn’t have
time to talk with greatest fans in the Midwest, who else needs an 
autograph?” 

“What did I tell you about Sampson’s 3rd round TKO? Bears will upset
Green Bay by 27.” 

Those have got to be the greatest fans in the world to stand out there
in the rain for an autograph thought an upbeat Steve. 

Steve went to the teletypes and checked for late international sports
news and settled down at his desk to review the entire collegiate 
football scene. 

He noted some of the late westcoast scores and the showcased Saturday
night games. Florida State 21 – Virginia Tech 18, UCLA 14 – USC 13, 

LSU 28 – Tulane 24. 

Another Rumanian Olympian tested positive for drugs, and an USA ski team
member cracked an ankle, but the big story was ‘Tiger’ Sampson’s 3rd 
round knock out of Middleweight Champion Jesse Johnson. Sampson mauled 
Johnson the entire last half of the second round and the corner threw 
in the towel at the bell for round 3; TKO, 1 second of the third round. 


Somebody predicted that, maybe it was CNN. 

Red Wings, Flyers, and Canadians all won, and Shaq was ejected from last
night’s game against the Detroit Pistons, but Detroit still lost. 
Jordan hit 22 free throws in the second half to finish with 64 points. 

It seems like someone predicted that also. 

Chad was confident that he had a good lead for the rest of the sports,
after reviewing the College football scores. He slid outside for a 
pinch of copenhagen and found most of the crowd had left the studio. A 
couple of kids were tossing a football and one old gent was stationed 
atop a trashcan. 

I told you Jordan would get 64 points and Sampson made me a little money
popping Johnson with a TKO in the third round of the Championship 
fight. 

Steve suddenly realized that this street person had been the one to
forecast all the correct scores and the fight outcome. He was not 
exactly a bum, but he was a long ways from being clean; his clothes 
were ragged and filthy, and it had been quite a while since his hair 
had seen a comb. 

“I remember you, LSU over Tulane, right? And something about the Bears
over Green Bay in today’s game?” 

Yep, LSU 4 over Tulane and put your money on the Bears, 27 over the
Packers. 

“Well my friend, I do not, and can not bet on anything, if I want to
stay employed with ESPD. You must read a lot and spend all your spare 
time figuring the odds. You’ve been pretty lucky just lately.” 

No luck to it my boy, and I only allow myself a few minutes every day
listening to your guesses, which have been pretty sorry until this 
week. 

“Guesses! I’ll have you know that I spend more time checking injury
reports, reviewing practices and scrimmages, and comparing schedules 
and outcomes than most people spend sleeping. Nobody can get all of 
them correct; I just had a run of bad luck.” 

Sorry Chad, like I said before, there is no luck involved, just skill.
By the way, Penn State is going to slip by Ohio State next Saturday. 
You called that one wrong and Notre Dame is not losing to Michigan 
State, Irish by 3. 

“I’ve got to get back, but you might want to lay off the sauce, the
Buckeyes should crush Penn State. I just made a comment, the 
predictions come Friday, that’s when it counts. Take care my friend”. 

I wished you were a gambling man, Penn State by 2, and Tiger Woods is
going to make up 6 strokes and more, It’s another Woods victory today 
at the TPC with 18 under par. Oh yeah, Red Wings won’t lose this week. 

Steve was able to yell, “Switch to beer, that wine is pickling your
brain” as the studio door closed. 

The rest of the broadcast went smooth, but Steve’s summary did not
repeat his previous Buckeye victory prediction, rather that the game 
could be a ‘Barn Burner’ and he reminded the fans that the game would 
be televised on ESPD II. 

7:50 PM Sunday, October14 

Steve was checking the newspaper for apartment listings that evening and
was not paying to much attention to the TV, until he heard the NFL 
recap. He folded the paper, grabbed a beer, and turned the volume up. 

“If the Lions are anything, they are consistent, they lost again, 35 to
21. The Rams keep on showing why they were SuperBowl winners, 42 to 10 
over the Jets. Bret Farve showed up for the game, but the rest of the 
team missed the plane; Bears 27, Packers had the goose egg.” 

Steve was getting a strange sensation, that old dude was dead nuts right
again. He realized he was smiling in amazement, curious about the old 
boy’s methods. He was thinking he would leave for the studio a little 
early tomorrow in hopes of quizzing the old fart some more. 

Steve’s colleague, Bart Brady, was closing the broadcast. “Tune in
tonight at 11, when we will have the results of the NFL Sunday night 
game and a full report on Tiger Woods amazing victory at the TPC.” 

Steve grabbed the telephone and called Bart on his direct line. “Let me
guess, Tiger finished at 18 under.” 

“No guess to it, ABC carried it live. Yeah, the kid is truly a
superstar; birdie, eagle, par, birdie on the last 4 holes. Did you see 
that chip shot hit the pin on number......” 

6:23 AM Monday, October 15 

There weren’t many fans outside at this time of the morning, and worst
of all, the old Guru wasn’t there. Steve signed autographs and chatted 
with the group for 20 minutes. He asked if anybody knew the old guy 
from this weekend, but they did not. One kid said the old boy was 
sometimes at Ike’s Diner, just up the street. With his bum knee, there 
was no way for a quick trot to Ike’s, so Steve thanked the crowd and 
went inside. 

Steve wanted to sit down with the old gent, pick his brain or steal his
crystal ball; his predictions were amazing and not obvious outcomes. It 
looked like he would have to wait for next weekend’s football results 
to see if the old man could keep it up. He would watch the Red Wing’s 
predicted victories; they skated 3 times this week. 

Don Douglas left a memo on Steve’s desk: “Good work, you hit 87 % and
the group was at a solid 78%, Keep it up!” 

5:45 PM Friday, October 19 

The week was predictable; every day the old man failed to be outside the
studio or at Ike’s, and every time the Red Wings played, they won. If 
the old guy had just missed one prediction, then you could figure he 
was human, but so far he has been perfect. 

Steve was hedging his statement about a Buckeye victory over Penn State,
but he just knew the Spartans would defeat Notre Dame. He was going to 
have to make his picks and stick with it; he was about to host “You 
Make The Call” a viewer phone-in show, where the public compared 
predictions with Chad and the crew. 

As Steve picked up his index cards containing the game notes, he noticed
a Campbell’s Mushroom soup label on his desk. It was filthy, stained, 
and sticky. When he carefully picked it up to place it in the trash, he 
noticed some scribble on the back. The print was large and might have 
been done with a crayon. 

“Chad, thought you might want a little help. 

Notre Dame by 3 over Michigan State 21 - 18 

Penn State by 2 over Ohio State 9 - 7 

Michigan by 11 over Iowa 28 – 17 

The big upset – Baylor by 6 over Nebraska 24 – 18 

Oh yea, The Red Wings play to a tie Saturday night and there will be a
double fatality at Daytona Sunday! 

Steve had to sit down, this guy was not only giving the spread, he was
giving the final score. He is still picking Penn State and Notre Dame, 
but he thinks Baylor (1 – 5) is going to beat Nebraska, who is 
undefeated. The Michigan game sounds about right, Red Wings could tie 
Colorado, but what is this double fatality at Daytona? 

- - - ‘60 Seconds to live.’ 

Steve folded the soup label into his pocket, went to make-up, and then
sat down on the set. Then he did something new for the first time in 
his ESPD career. He went with somebody else’s predictions for part of 
his picks. He called all the rest of the games based on his research, 
but he went all the way with the old man, even giving the Michigan and 
Michigan State scores. 

He was razzed for reversing his Notre Dame comment from last week, and
he was pronounced ready for the nut house when he opted for Baylor over 
number 2, Nebraska. The callers told him he was drinking too much, he 
needed a vacation, and they wanted to know if he would be interested in 
a little waterfront property in the Everglades. Steve just laughed and 
reminded them that the proof of his sanity would be on display Saturday 
afternoon. 

1:20 PM Sunday, October 21 

Well, for the very first time in the history of sports broadcasting, a
perfect 100% was achieved for predicting football winners, including 
being correct on the final scores of both Michigan teams. Winning the 
SuperBowl could not be any sweeter than the glory that rained over 
Steve for the last two days. He even got a telephone call from the 
President of the United States, and he took that call live during the 
Saturday recap show. 

He was a celebrity; he got telegrams and calls from Governors and
Senators. 

Don Douglas and the network Vice President called him, one with news of
a substantial bonus and the other informing him of his new increased 
pay rate. 

With that bonus, he did not have to move, he’d buy a condo. About time
his luck turned around! As an extra bonus, they were flying him to 
Miami to do the ‘play by play’ for the ESPD Sunday night game. “Bonnie, 
eat your heart out!” Steve declared as he drifted off to sleep to the 
drone of the cessna’s engines. 

“Mr. Sterling. Mr. Sterling! I need you to buckle your seat belt, we
have a little vibration in the left engine. I’m going to drop down and 
get it checked out, which shouldn’t take long. We should be out of 
Daytona in an hour or less.” 


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