After four joint replacements and other physical ailments over the past 7 years, I wanted to go on a bike trip this year to see how my body reacted. As some of you know, I’ve ridden my bike around the US and in several countries in Europe, sometimes just going on a trip with friends […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Two-Weeks-in-Italy-Following-the-Giro.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2026-05-31 20:58:162026-06-03 10:07:25Back On My Bike: Two Weeks in Italy Following the Giro
After moving into a tie for the lead at The Masters with a third round 65, Cam Young looked to be poised to win his first Major. After an opening 40 on the front nine of the first round, The Players champion righted himself with a stretch of forty-five holes played in -15. A two-time […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Invested-in-Rory.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2026-04-15 12:51:532026-04-15 12:51:53Dispatches from Augusta National: Invested in Rory, Part Two
There have been numerous iterations to accommodate the media covering The Masters at Augusta National. Bobby Jones considered the media an integral part of The Masters tournament, once saying that the competition owes much of its notoriety to the writing of his confidant and chronicler O.B. Keeler. When the Augusta Invitational first started in 1934, […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Dispatches-from-Augusta-National.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2026-04-12 18:44:312026-04-12 18:48:05Dispatches from Augusta National: How Did You Watch The Masters?
Every competitor who’s ever played in the Masters will tell you; no matter how much you practice, no matter how early you get to Augusta National, the golf course is completely different when you tee it up in the first tournament round on Thursday. Part of it is how the golf course it set up […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-masters-2021.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2026-04-10 19:52:032026-04-11 11:55:27Dispatches From The Masters: Augusta National and The Masters
It always drives me crazy and now it kind of makes me laugh when some reporter asks, “How does it feel? “Every athlete says, “It feels amazing! Unbelievable!” Or if I’m in a press conference and somebody says, “Tell us about such and such?” That’s not a question. That’s either uninformed or lazy. At Augusta […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/augusta-national-the-masters.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2026-04-09 10:25:312026-04-09 10:25:31Dispatches From Augusta National: The “Feel” of The Masters
I’ve made this drive a hundred times. Maybe two hundred. From my first trip in 1979 from Charleston to this year from Ponte Vedra Beach, it never gets old. Driving to Atlanta is all about interstates and traffic. Driving to Augusta is about savoring the countryside, the anticipation of what the week might bring, and […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/augusta-national-golf-club-the-masters.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2026-04-06 14:28:382026-04-06 14:28:38Dispatches From The Masters
It started off with a few guys sitting at Silver’s Drug Store talking about having a golf tournament. It’s been called the Greater Jacksonville Open, the GJO, the Tournament Players Championship, TPC, The Players Championship and The Players. It’s been known as a destination, a reunion spot, and for the Swingers Tent. And I once […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Players-Championship.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2026-03-15 08:58:062026-03-16 08:58:20The Players: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
It’s been a sport for a while, picking on the Jaguars and Jacksonville. From the time the league granted the franchise in November of ’93 in Chicago, it’s been an ongoing theme among those covering the game. “Jacksonville?” was the response when St. Louis, Baltimore and Memphis lost out for the thirtieth NFL franchise. “It’s […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Comfortable-In-Our-Own-Skin.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2025-12-22 18:36:172026-04-06 14:24:35Comfortable In Our Own Skin
Photo by Bryan Berlin “Hey, I ‘won’ a chance to buy Ryder Cup tickets,” my friend Dirk said on the other end of the phone one spring afternoon earlier this year. “Great,” I responded. “You should get them. Even if you don’t’ go, they’re worth something.” Ten minutes after our chat, my phone rang again […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Dispatches-From-The-Ryder-Cup.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2025-10-03 15:58:362025-10-03 15:58:36Dispatches From The Ryder Cup
If there were a combine report on the 2024 Jaguars, you’d think they were a lock to win the Super Bowl. They could run, they were fast, they could jump, and they could bench press forever. But could they play football? Not very well. That’s where talent evaluators differ in any sport. Are you focused […]
Watching the NCAA National Championship game in 2002, my alma mater, The University of Maryland, was locked in a tight battle in the second half. I was at my friend Peter’s house when I walked outside to grab a drink off the porch. Watching through the window, the Terps took a two-point lead as I […]
It’s almost amusing when you hear people talk about how Augusta has been “romanticized” beyond reality. Clearly, they’ve never been there. Attending my 45th Masters this week, I’ve been asked several times, “How has it changed?” While a dissertation on the litany of changes would take some time, the short answer is, “Everything isn’t just […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-masters-2021.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2025-04-10 12:09:572025-04-10 12:09:57Welcome to The Masters
I saw every play of Fred Taylor’s career, live, over the eleven years he played in Jacksonville. I didn’t think that was a big deal until I started researching his numbers and talking to people and realized, not a lot of people saw Fred play. He was on an expansion franchise that many NFL types […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Hall-of-Famers-Think-Fred-Taylor-Deserves-a-Gold-Jacket-1.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2025-01-21 12:55:132025-01-21 12:56:13Nobody Saw Him Play
It still seems backwards. I’m trying not to let the fact that Doug Pederson is a nice guy color my thoughts about this but Jaguars Owner Shad Khan’s decision to fire Doug and retain Trent Baalke as the General Manager seems like the opposite of what was necessary. In fact, it’s the third of three […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Talented-and-Good-Are-Not-the-Same-in-The-NFL.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2025-01-07 15:07:042025-01-07 15:07:04Talented and Good Are Not the Same in The NFL
With so much success and so much expectation, what’s happened to the Jaguars? Winning three games to finish the regular season in 2022 put the Jaguars in the playoffs and they looked like a team on the rise. A comeback playoff win against the Chargers at home and playing the Chiefs tough in Kansas City […]
Travel has always been intriguing to me. My wife, Linda, says I have true wanderlust. So, when we were invited by our friends Pat and Kristin to go on a cruise to Greece, Croatia and Italy, it didn’t take long for us to say yes. Even though we’re not cruise people. Well, we weren’t cruise […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/An-Odyssey.jpg7681024Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2024-09-04 15:54:312024-09-10 11:03:30An Odyssey: Is This How Ulysses Traveled?
It sounded funny to hear it out loud, even though the words had come out of my mouth. “I’ve covered half of these you know,” I said with a chuckle to my colleague as we sat for a chat about my memories of The Masters Tournament. “Now you’re going for the second half,” he laughed. […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/augusta-national-the-masters.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2024-04-11 15:36:372024-04-11 15:36:37You’ve Covered Half of The Masters?
When the Jaguars were and early expansion franchise, they were competitive, but not a national draw on TV. Most of their games were what is called “point-to-point” broadcasts. Only the home market and the visiting team city received the broadcast of the game, and as many of you remember, blackouts were still a part of […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Hall-of-Famers-Think-Fred-Taylor-Deserves-a-Gold-Jacket-1.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2024-01-17 13:53:312024-01-23 08:04:25Hall of Famers Think Fred Taylor Deserves a Gold Jacket
When I asked Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu what it was like to stand on the other side of the line from Fred Taylor, he paused and said, “I think he’s the best running back I ever faced.” When I noted that was a big statement, he didn’t waver. “I think he was always the […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Where-Does-Fred-Taylor-Fit-In-The-PFHOF.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2024-01-14 14:29:232024-01-17 13:50:05Where Does Fred Taylor Fit In The PFHOF?
It didn’t take UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock long to figure out what he wanted to do when his fighting days were over. “I probably fought longer than I should have but I just loved it,” Shamrock explained. “I just couldn’t get through the training any longer. I had to step away but I […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Valor-Bare-Knuckle-Something-New-2.jpg7401400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2023-10-26 13:59:352023-10-26 13:59:35Valor Bare Knuckle: Something New
Back On My Bike: Two Weeks in Italy Following the Giro
/in Cycling/by Sam KouvarisAfter four joint replacements and other physical ailments over the past 7 years, I wanted to go on a bike trip this year to see how my body reacted. As some of you know, I’ve ridden my bike around the US and in several countries in Europe, sometimes just going on a trip with friends […]
Dispatches from Augusta National: Invested in Rory, Part Two
/in Golf/by Sam KouvarisAfter moving into a tie for the lead at The Masters with a third round 65, Cam Young looked to be poised to win his first Major. After an opening 40 on the front nine of the first round, The Players champion righted himself with a stretch of forty-five holes played in -15. A two-time […]
Dispatches from Augusta National: How Did You Watch The Masters?
/in Golf/by Sam KouvarisThere have been numerous iterations to accommodate the media covering The Masters at Augusta National. Bobby Jones considered the media an integral part of The Masters tournament, once saying that the competition owes much of its notoriety to the writing of his confidant and chronicler O.B. Keeler. When the Augusta Invitational first started in 1934, […]
Dispatches From The Masters: Augusta National and The Masters
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisEvery competitor who’s ever played in the Masters will tell you; no matter how much you practice, no matter how early you get to Augusta National, the golf course is completely different when you tee it up in the first tournament round on Thursday. Part of it is how the golf course it set up […]
Dispatches From Augusta National: The “Feel” of The Masters
/in Golf/by Sam KouvarisIt always drives me crazy and now it kind of makes me laugh when some reporter asks, “How does it feel? “Every athlete says, “It feels amazing! Unbelievable!” Or if I’m in a press conference and somebody says, “Tell us about such and such?” That’s not a question. That’s either uninformed or lazy. At Augusta […]
Dispatches From The Masters
/in Golf/by Sam KouvarisI’ve made this drive a hundred times. Maybe two hundred. From my first trip in 1979 from Charleston to this year from Ponte Vedra Beach, it never gets old. Driving to Atlanta is all about interstates and traffic. Driving to Augusta is about savoring the countryside, the anticipation of what the week might bring, and […]
The Players: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
/in Golf/by Sam KouvarisIt started off with a few guys sitting at Silver’s Drug Store talking about having a golf tournament. It’s been called the Greater Jacksonville Open, the GJO, the Tournament Players Championship, TPC, The Players Championship and The Players. It’s been known as a destination, a reunion spot, and for the Swingers Tent. And I once […]
Comfortable In Our Own Skin
/in Featured/by Sam KouvarisIt’s been a sport for a while, picking on the Jaguars and Jacksonville. From the time the league granted the franchise in November of ’93 in Chicago, it’s been an ongoing theme among those covering the game. “Jacksonville?” was the response when St. Louis, Baltimore and Memphis lost out for the thirtieth NFL franchise. “It’s […]
Dispatches From The Ryder Cup
/in Golf/by Sam KouvarisPhoto by Bryan Berlin “Hey, I ‘won’ a chance to buy Ryder Cup tickets,” my friend Dirk said on the other end of the phone one spring afternoon earlier this year. “Great,” I responded. “You should get them. Even if you don’t’ go, they’re worth something.” Ten minutes after our chat, my phone rang again […]
A Shift in Jaguars Culture
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisIf there were a combine report on the 2024 Jaguars, you’d think they were a lock to win the Super Bowl. They could run, they were fast, they could jump, and they could bench press forever. But could they play football? Not very well. That’s where talent evaluators differ in any sport. Are you focused […]
An Investment in Rory
/in Golf/by Sam KouvarisWatching the NCAA National Championship game in 2002, my alma mater, The University of Maryland, was locked in a tight battle in the second half. I was at my friend Peter’s house when I walked outside to grab a drink off the porch. Watching through the window, the Terps took a two-point lead as I […]
Welcome to The Masters
/in Golf/by Sam KouvarisIt’s almost amusing when you hear people talk about how Augusta has been “romanticized” beyond reality. Clearly, they’ve never been there. Attending my 45th Masters this week, I’ve been asked several times, “How has it changed?” While a dissertation on the litany of changes would take some time, the short answer is, “Everything isn’t just […]
Nobody Saw Him Play
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisI saw every play of Fred Taylor’s career, live, over the eleven years he played in Jacksonville. I didn’t think that was a big deal until I started researching his numbers and talking to people and realized, not a lot of people saw Fred play. He was on an expansion franchise that many NFL types […]
Talented and Good Are Not the Same in The NFL
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisIt still seems backwards. I’m trying not to let the fact that Doug Pederson is a nice guy color my thoughts about this but Jaguars Owner Shad Khan’s decision to fire Doug and retain Trent Baalke as the General Manager seems like the opposite of what was necessary. In fact, it’s the third of three […]
Not Tough Enough: Jaguars Lack Grit
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisWith so much success and so much expectation, what’s happened to the Jaguars? Winning three games to finish the regular season in 2022 put the Jaguars in the playoffs and they looked like a team on the rise. A comeback playoff win against the Chargers at home and playing the Chiefs tough in Kansas City […]
An Odyssey: Is This How Ulysses Traveled?
/in Featured/by Sam KouvarisTravel has always been intriguing to me. My wife, Linda, says I have true wanderlust. So, when we were invited by our friends Pat and Kristin to go on a cruise to Greece, Croatia and Italy, it didn’t take long for us to say yes. Even though we’re not cruise people. Well, we weren’t cruise […]
You’ve Covered Half of The Masters?
/in Golf/by Sam KouvarisIt sounded funny to hear it out loud, even though the words had come out of my mouth. “I’ve covered half of these you know,” I said with a chuckle to my colleague as we sat for a chat about my memories of The Masters Tournament. “Now you’re going for the second half,” he laughed. […]
Hall of Famers Think Fred Taylor Deserves a Gold Jacket
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisWhen the Jaguars were and early expansion franchise, they were competitive, but not a national draw on TV. Most of their games were what is called “point-to-point” broadcasts. Only the home market and the visiting team city received the broadcast of the game, and as many of you remember, blackouts were still a part of […]
Where Does Fred Taylor Fit In The PFHOF?
/in Jacksonville Jaguars, SamSports Headlines/by Sam KouvarisWhen I asked Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu what it was like to stand on the other side of the line from Fred Taylor, he paused and said, “I think he’s the best running back I ever faced.” When I noted that was a big statement, he didn’t waver. “I think he was always the […]
Valor Bare Knuckle: Something New
/in SamSports Headlines/by Sam KouvarisIt didn’t take UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock long to figure out what he wanted to do when his fighting days were over. “I probably fought longer than I should have but I just loved it,” Shamrock explained. “I just couldn’t get through the training any longer. I had to step away but I […]