Sam’s Commentary

Hall of Famers Think Fred Taylor Deserves a Gold Jacket

Hall of Famers Think Fred Taylor Deserves a Gold Jacket

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 […]

Where Does Fred Taylor Fit In The PFHOF?

Where Does Fred Taylor Fit In The PFHOF?

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 […]

Valor Bare Knuckle: Something New

Valor Bare Knuckle: Something New

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 […]

Trevor Year Three, Doug Year Two is a Good Match

Trevor Year Three, Doug Year Two is a Good Match

No matter where you look, if they’re talking about the NFL, they’re talking about the Jaguars. In year two of Doug Pederson’s tenure as the Jaguars Head Coach, he’s taken a franchise lost in every way possible and turned the team into a contender. His steady hand, as well as some solid acquisitions through free […]

Jaguars Draft Talent, Culture

Jaguars Draft Talent, Culture

It has been a while since the Jaguars went into the roster building phase of the year without a question mark at quarterback. Last year doesn’t count, since 2021 was such a detour from potential success with Urban Meyer in charge. Yes, we knew Trevor Lawrence was going to be the quarterback, but we didn’t […]

Sam Kouvaris Receives Masters Major Achievement Award

The Masters Never Disappoints

For golf fans and sports fans alike, the 2023 Masters finish wasn’t particularly exciting, but it was memorable. John Rahm played nearly flawless golf as Brooks Koepka faltered to win his second Major and his first Green Jacket as Masters Champion. In doing so, Rahm becomes the first European player to ever win the US […]

Was I There? - The Masters

Was I There?

I’d told the story so many times I thought I might have made it up. In the first year of The Players at The Stadium Course, Jerry Pate promised to throw course designer Pete Dye in the lake next to the 18th green if he won. Walking down the 18th fairway, Pate doubled-down on his […]

Jaguars, Pederson, Lawrence and a Turnaround

Jaguars, Pederson, Lawrence and a Turnaround

It’s been a while since anybody at the stadium said, “See you next week” after a game in January. But thanks to some stout defense, the Jaguars beat the Titans, 20-16 to win the AFC South Division Championship in their final regular season game. In front of a capacity crowd, perhaps the largest to see […]

Tony Boselli Pro Football Hall of Fame 2022

Pro Football Hall of Fame Boselli Yearbook 2022

It didn’t take long for Tony Boselli to fall in love with football. As a quarterback. “Oh, I thought I was a quarterback,” he recalled of his ninth-grade year in football at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado. “I played quarterback that year and the first day of training camp the varsity Head Coach, Sam […]

2022 Masters Tournament

A Big Week at The Masters

“You’ve had a big week,” my long-time friend “The Ghost” texted me on Sunday of this year’s Masters Tournament. And he was right. After a two-year delay, Augusta National and the Masters celebrated my more than four decades as a reporter at the tournament, presenting me with the Masters Major Achievement Award. I’m very grateful […]

Sam Kouvaris Receives Masters Major Achievement Award

Sam Kouvaris Receives Masters Major Achievement Award

Adam Schupak – GolfWeek AUGUSTA, Ga. – The wait is over for Sam Kouvaris to be honored at the Masters. In early 2020, Kouvaris received a letter in the mail from Augusta National Golf Club Chairman Fred Ridley congratulating him on his upcoming coverage of his 40th Masters and notifying him that he would be […]

Tony Boselli - Pro Football Hall of Fame 2022

What Took So Long

Although his career on the field was full of skill, technique, power and passion, Tony Boselli’s path to the Pro Football Hall of Fame was a numbers game. This was the sixth consecutive year Boselli has made the finalists list. The last five years he’s made the first cut to the final ten. In the […]

Shad Khan - Jacksonville Jaguars

A Jaguars Fix

One week to go in the Jaguars’ regular season and we’re looking at a dismal record (again) and the number one draft pick (again) in the 2022 NFL draft. Despite being the one to hire Urban Meyer, give Jaguars Owner Shad Khan credit for firing him when necessary. A captain knows when to make an […]

Urban Meyer - Jacksonville Jaguars

Jaguars Problem Can Be Fixed

It’s easy to see what kind of team is taking the field in professional sports just by walking into their locker room. Professional players are just that; professionals, mercenaries that are wearing a certain team’s colors for money and their livelihood. Some got there through the draft, some came as free agents or made the […]

Urban Meyer - Jaguars

A Galaxy of Difference

About every third time Jaguars Head Coach Urban Meyer meets with the media, he references how he’s learning the pro game. He admits he is surprised by some things and has hired a staff full of coaches with NFL experience to shepherd him through the process. While I admire the transparency, never Meyer’s strong suit, […]

Bobby Bowden

Bowden Stories

This week, reminiscing with friends about things that happened in the thirty years I knew Bobby Bowden, there was story after story, one funnier than the next. The one common thread in all of them? Everybody talked about the man, not the coach. And everybody has a Bobby Bowden story. Rather than tell you mine, […]

2020 Tokyo Olympics

Watch The Olympics!

Flipping through the channels the other night I came across some diving. Any other time in the last four years I’d have kept searching. But not this year. This year is the Olympic Year. And I unapologetically think the Olympics are great. I’ve been to a couple of Olympics. I took my kids to Atlanta […]

Trevor Lawrence - Jacksonville Jaguars

To Rate A Quarterback

When the Jaguars took Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft last April, he became the twenty-first quarterback taken with the top pick in the last three decades. Two of those twenty-one, Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman, are in the Hall of Fame. Only one other, Eli Manning has won a […]

Trevor Lawrence

Where Do The Wins Come From?

By the middle of this week, all thirty-two NFL teams will be in training camp. Hope springs eternal in the league this time of year. Fans are pouring over the schedule, looking at the starting lineups, the injuries, the rookies added, and the veterans traded to come up with idea about what their team could […]

Wood Bat Baseball in Town

Wood Bat Baseball in Town

There’s a familiarity when you walk onto a baseball field. You don’t even need to open your eyes to know where you are. The smell of cut grass, the feel of dirt under your cleats and the energy of a dugout the comes from baseballs and gloves in their own random, organized spaces. The familiar […]