Sitting in the men’s locker room in the early ‘90’s at Marsh Landing Country Club, there was a steady stream of guys coming through as usual or a weekday afternoon. I knew most of them and we exchanged the normal pleasantries as they passed through. It’s not unusual to see guys in all levels of […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/george-hw-bush.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-12-01 13:36:112018-12-06 10:04:06An Encounter with President George H.W. Bush
So what happened? Last year’s Jaguars team was, according to Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin, “one whistle away” from going to the Super Bowl. And with virtually the same players, some free agents and draft picks sprinkled in, the Jaguars fell on their face in 2018. “Aren’t you going to fill other pieces […]
Friday, November 30th will mark twenty-five years since the NFL awarded Jacksonville the league’s 30th franchise. It’s still an amazing, improbable story: Mayor Jake Godbold realized, in the 1970’s, that the people in town didn’t think much of themselves or the city. He believed a pro sports team could change that. As a reporter following […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/jacksonville-jaguars-25.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-11-23 06:30:052018-11-22 13:36:21Jacksonville Gets a Team, 25 Years Later
To hear Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone’s comment about replacing players, it sounded eerily similar to Tom Coughlin’s answer to a similar question in 1995. “You’ve got to see if someone you put in there is going to be better,” Marrone said when asked about lineup changes, particularly at quarterback. “You can’t just replace people […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Paul-Posluszny.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-11-20 23:51:412018-11-20 23:51:41Missing Poz, and a Lot More
Walk into the Jaguars locker room during the “media availability” time on any given day and there will be a smattering of players arrayed in front of their lockers in various positions of repose with one thing in common: They’re all on their phones. Not talking on their phones, not texting, but looking at their […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/athletes-social-media.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-11-16 07:39:462018-11-16 07:39:46Social Media a Fact of Life in Pro Sports
At 3-6, this Jaguars team doesn’t resemble last year’s squad at all. It doesn’t feel like the ’96 team that was also 3-6 but made the playoffs. That team was young and playing with a bunch of exuberance that carried them through the second half of the season. It doesn’t even feel like some of […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/jacksonville-jaguars-colts.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-11-12 18:14:372018-11-12 21:58:08Only the Jaguars Can Stop the Slide
It seems not a day goes by without somebody asking about Blake Bortles. Is he the guy? Will the Jaguars address the QB position right away? Wait ‘till the draft? Eli Manning? Teddy Bridgewater? Buehler? Anyone? But here’s the truth: Blake is the right guy for this team. Built to play defense and run the […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/blake-bortles-2.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-11-10 16:34:452018-11-10 16:34:45Bortles is the Right Guy
There’s a big difference between a group of people and a team. Being a team is pretty simple: Everybody doing their job well toward a common goal. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Lately, the Jaguars are the opposite of that. The whole is lesser than the sum of their parts. […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/blue-angels.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-11-02 08:49:282018-11-02 08:49:28Jaguars Could Take a Lesson From the Blue Angels
In the five years the Jaguars have played in London, they’ve tried all kinds of different things to figure out how to give themselves the best chance to win. One year the team left directly after a game from Cincinnati. Dinner at the Montgomery Inn on the river, then a special TSA check, bus by […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/jacksonville-jaguars-london.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-10-26 14:11:442018-10-26 14:15:05Jaguars in London Pretty Routine
Among the questions that will need to be answered for the Jaguars before they go to London is about the starting quarterback. It’s nearly unheard of to take a QB out of the game because things aren’t going well. Yet Doug Marrone yanked Blake Bortles when things went south early in the second half against […]
Working in Charleston I got a chance to come to Jacksonville to cover the Gator Bowl in the late ‘70’s a couple of times. After the 1978 game between Clemson and Ohio State (the one where Woody Hayes famously punched Charlie Bauman on the sidelines) I asked an usher on the way out, “What else […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/news-georgia-florida-game-1.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-10-18 16:30:352018-10-18 16:43:53Georgia Florida is a Big Deal
It’s pretty simple math. Last year the Jaguars were 3-3 at this point in the season and finished 10-6. That means for the final 10 games of the year they went 7-3 and won the division. But even Head Coach Doug Marrone knows this year is different. “When you look back and we were 3-3 […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/news-jaguars-need-a-fix.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-10-16 09:23:592018-10-16 10:42:32Jaguars Need a Fix Fast
Even though he’s not superstitious, I know I shouldn’t be writing about Josh Lambo and kickers this week. Lambo hasn’t missed since last year, either a PAT or a field goal so if he misses today, it’ll be my fault. Kind of like talking to a pitcher who’s throwing a no-hitter. Nonetheless, Lambo has something […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Jaguars-Josh-Lambo.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-10-12 07:15:422018-10-11 21:17:35Kicking Is A Mental Game
It’s fair to say the Jaguars are a good team looking for answers. Sunday’s loss to Kansas City exposed some of their flaws and gave a blueprint to the rest of the league of the game plan that beats them. Four interceptions usually sinks a team’s chances for winning but when they needed a stop, […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/jaguars-kansas-city.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-10-09 07:46:342018-10-09 00:54:51Jaguars: More Questions Than Answers
What if over the last couple of years you became really good-looking? You know, you went to your 10-year high school reunion and you looked great! Would you know how to act? People would react differently to you; tell you how good you looked, asking if you’ve been working out or whatever. That’s the situation […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/blake-bortles.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-10-05 08:29:212018-10-05 08:29:21Jaguars: Act Like You’re Good
There’s something to be said for the resiliency of the Jaguars under Head Coach Doug Marrone. With their 31-12 win over the Jets on Sunday, the Jaguars are 8-1 after a loss with Marrone leading the way. In other words, they’ve only lost back-to-back games once: Last year to Tennessee and San Francisco at the […]
Is it possible for an entire city to have a hangover for a whole week? It sure seemed like it last Sunday when the Jaguars took on the Tennessee Titans at the stadium. The week before, the Jaguars, with huge vocal support from their fans, exorcized the demon Patriots, the only thing standing between them […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/jacksonville-jaguars-fans.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-09-28 11:15:172018-09-28 11:15:31Can a Whole Town Have a Hangover?
There’s a scene in Godfather II where Vito Corleone is in his dimly lit apartment worried about his son Fredo. Fredo has pneumonia and is being tended to by his mother and a nursemaid using a glass tumbler with a flame underneath. The thought was it would suck the illness out of his tiny body. […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/jacksonville-jaguars-injury-recovery.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-09-21 08:26:162018-09-21 11:33:02Recovery is the Latest in the NFL
On the day after the win over the Patriots, Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone was moving forward. While some teams talk about the “24-hour rule” to bask or wallow in the previous day’s result, Marrone was already preparing for the Titans. He’s doing so with a new starter on the offensive line with the loss […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/doug-marrone-jacksonville-jaguars.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-09-18 08:40:172018-09-18 10:10:56Marrone Spreads The Credit Around
As a boss “Dirty Carl” was nearly the ideal kind of guy to run a bar in DC. Well dressed, older than the staff, he commanded a level of respect because of his age and he knew the business. He’d sit at the end of the bar, stay out of your way and hand out […]
https://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/news-sports-book.jpg10001400Sam Kouvarishttps://www.samsportsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/sam-kavouris-sam-sportsline.pngSam Kouvaris2018-09-13 09:08:092018-09-13 09:08:55Football Gambler: A Day in the Life
An Encounter with President George H.W. Bush
/in SamSports Headlines/by Sam KouvarisSitting in the men’s locker room in the early ‘90’s at Marsh Landing Country Club, there was a steady stream of guys coming through as usual or a weekday afternoon. I knew most of them and we exchanged the normal pleasantries as they passed through. It’s not unusual to see guys in all levels of […]
In Retirement, Poz Still Knows
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisSo what happened? Last year’s Jaguars team was, according to Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin, “one whistle away” from going to the Super Bowl. And with virtually the same players, some free agents and draft picks sprinkled in, the Jaguars fell on their face in 2018. “Aren’t you going to fill other pieces […]
Jacksonville Gets a Team, 25 Years Later
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisFriday, November 30th will mark twenty-five years since the NFL awarded Jacksonville the league’s 30th franchise. It’s still an amazing, improbable story: Mayor Jake Godbold realized, in the 1970’s, that the people in town didn’t think much of themselves or the city. He believed a pro sports team could change that. As a reporter following […]
Missing Poz, and a Lot More
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisTo hear Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone’s comment about replacing players, it sounded eerily similar to Tom Coughlin’s answer to a similar question in 1995. “You’ve got to see if someone you put in there is going to be better,” Marrone said when asked about lineup changes, particularly at quarterback. “You can’t just replace people […]
Social Media a Fact of Life in Pro Sports
/in Baseball, Basketball, Football, Golf, Jacksonville Jaguars, NASCAR, Tennis/by Sam KouvarisWalk into the Jaguars locker room during the “media availability” time on any given day and there will be a smattering of players arrayed in front of their lockers in various positions of repose with one thing in common: They’re all on their phones. Not talking on their phones, not texting, but looking at their […]
Only the Jaguars Can Stop the Slide
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisAt 3-6, this Jaguars team doesn’t resemble last year’s squad at all. It doesn’t feel like the ’96 team that was also 3-6 but made the playoffs. That team was young and playing with a bunch of exuberance that carried them through the second half of the season. It doesn’t even feel like some of […]
Bortles is the Right Guy
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisIt seems not a day goes by without somebody asking about Blake Bortles. Is he the guy? Will the Jaguars address the QB position right away? Wait ‘till the draft? Eli Manning? Teddy Bridgewater? Buehler? Anyone? But here’s the truth: Blake is the right guy for this team. Built to play defense and run the […]
Jaguars Could Take a Lesson From the Blue Angels
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisThere’s a big difference between a group of people and a team. Being a team is pretty simple: Everybody doing their job well toward a common goal. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Lately, the Jaguars are the opposite of that. The whole is lesser than the sum of their parts. […]
Jaguars in London Pretty Routine
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisIn the five years the Jaguars have played in London, they’ve tried all kinds of different things to figure out how to give themselves the best chance to win. One year the team left directly after a game from Cincinnati. Dinner at the Montgomery Inn on the river, then a special TSA check, bus by […]
Frustration, Expectations Dog Jaguars
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisAmong the questions that will need to be answered for the Jaguars before they go to London is about the starting quarterback. It’s nearly unheard of to take a QB out of the game because things aren’t going well. Yet Doug Marrone yanked Blake Bortles when things went south early in the second half against […]
Georgia Florida is a Big Deal
/in College Football, Football/by Sam KouvarisWorking in Charleston I got a chance to come to Jacksonville to cover the Gator Bowl in the late ‘70’s a couple of times. After the 1978 game between Clemson and Ohio State (the one where Woody Hayes famously punched Charlie Bauman on the sidelines) I asked an usher on the way out, “What else […]
Jaguars Need a Fix Fast
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisIt’s pretty simple math. Last year the Jaguars were 3-3 at this point in the season and finished 10-6. That means for the final 10 games of the year they went 7-3 and won the division. But even Head Coach Doug Marrone knows this year is different. “When you look back and we were 3-3 […]
Kicking Is A Mental Game
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisEven though he’s not superstitious, I know I shouldn’t be writing about Josh Lambo and kickers this week. Lambo hasn’t missed since last year, either a PAT or a field goal so if he misses today, it’ll be my fault. Kind of like talking to a pitcher who’s throwing a no-hitter. Nonetheless, Lambo has something […]
Jaguars: More Questions Than Answers
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisIt’s fair to say the Jaguars are a good team looking for answers. Sunday’s loss to Kansas City exposed some of their flaws and gave a blueprint to the rest of the league of the game plan that beats them. Four interceptions usually sinks a team’s chances for winning but when they needed a stop, […]
Jaguars: Act Like You’re Good
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisWhat if over the last couple of years you became really good-looking? You know, you went to your 10-year high school reunion and you looked great! Would you know how to act? People would react differently to you; tell you how good you looked, asking if you’ve been working out or whatever. That’s the situation […]
Jaguars Show Resilience, Beat Jets
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisThere’s something to be said for the resiliency of the Jaguars under Head Coach Doug Marrone. With their 31-12 win over the Jets on Sunday, the Jaguars are 8-1 after a loss with Marrone leading the way. In other words, they’ve only lost back-to-back games once: Last year to Tennessee and San Francisco at the […]
Can a Whole Town Have a Hangover?
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisIs it possible for an entire city to have a hangover for a whole week? It sure seemed like it last Sunday when the Jaguars took on the Tennessee Titans at the stadium. The week before, the Jaguars, with huge vocal support from their fans, exorcized the demon Patriots, the only thing standing between them […]
Recovery is the Latest in the NFL
/in Football, Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisThere’s a scene in Godfather II where Vito Corleone is in his dimly lit apartment worried about his son Fredo. Fredo has pneumonia and is being tended to by his mother and a nursemaid using a glass tumbler with a flame underneath. The thought was it would suck the illness out of his tiny body. […]
Marrone Spreads The Credit Around
/in Jacksonville Jaguars/by Sam KouvarisOn the day after the win over the Patriots, Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone was moving forward. While some teams talk about the “24-hour rule” to bask or wallow in the previous day’s result, Marrone was already preparing for the Titans. He’s doing so with a new starter on the offensive line with the loss […]
Football Gambler: A Day in the Life
/in Football, Gambling/by Sam KouvarisAs a boss “Dirty Carl” was nearly the ideal kind of guy to run a bar in DC. Well dressed, older than the staff, he commanded a level of respect because of his age and he knew the business. He’d sit at the end of the bar, stay out of your way and hand out […]