By Eric Emery

Last week I covered NYG/SEA and ATL/NO. Just in case you wondered. I hope you forgot my picks.
What we should not forget about is Katrina. The Monday Night crew waxed poetic on how game relieved the pathos of New Orleans. Except that few of those who spent time the SuperShelter actually attended the game. This fact was not lost on my wife, who said after the countless crowd reaction shots, “So, how many people were affected by Katrina, yet then all the white people get a concert?”

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Posted on September 28, 2006

By Eric Emery

It’s hard to be funny when you are angry. But I will try.
Let’s start with the good news. Pittsburgh/Jacksonville was exciting if you enjoyed watching a team getting beat down like a rented mule. Washington/Dallas was never close, but for two different reasons than I expected. Special thanks to Joe Gibbs for ruling Clinton Portis out after I released last week’s column. That ruled. By picking losers, I was 5-0-1. So things are looking up.

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Posted on September 21, 2006

By Eric Emery

It’s always good to hone one’s skills, and given that the midterm elections loom just weeks away, I must work to master a very important skill: Pandering. Pandering to Chicago. Pandering to Chicago more than Jim Belushi.

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Posted on September 13, 2006

By Eric Emery

As a kid, I used to scan the Sears catalog for all the toys I wanted for Christmas. I would leave notes in the catalog, with the hopes for a pile of gifts just for me. By Christmas Eve , the gifts, though somewhat disappointing in volume, placated me. Unlike the nights previous to Christmas Eve, sleep came easily, knowing what was actually in those packages.
As an adult, the excitement of Christmas waned and moved to football. Much like Christmas, I began to wonder what each new season had in store. I would spend quite a bit of my free time reading about the various teams, hoping to successfully put my finger on the pulse of the coming season. As the years have gone by, though, I have figured out that most of the excitement and interest generated by the media isn’t wisdom and intelligence and genuine enthusiasm, but something altogether different: Hype.

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Posted on September 7, 2006

By Eric Emery

I’m convinced that football coverage is much like any sort of coverage, in that some outlet gets hold of a story, and others say “I’m not sure if this is actually going to make the world a better place, much less if it’s true, but it might get people talking.” So they ride the “story” until complete exhaustion. Sports radio has a lot of hours to fill.
If the story doesn’t have legs, there is always the carpet bomb approach – throw out as many provocative statements as possible and hope something strikes a group frayed nerve.
All told, it’s hard to seperate what is really important in football – especially when it comes to the Bears. That’s where we come in. We’re here to help. That’s what Over/Under is all about.

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Posted on September 3, 2006