Friday, Dec. 10, 2004 | 10 a.m.
Sal DeFilippo's pro football picks column appears Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4076.
About five minutes before the kickoff of Monday night's game between Dallas and Seattle, my phone rings.
"Dude," says my friend Paul, who lives in Santa Barbara.
Whenever Paul calls, "Dude" often substitutes for "Hello."
He is tied for first place in a football pool and wants to get my thoughts on the upcoming game. And five minutes before the kickoff of every NFL game, I'm happy to be Johnny Analysis. I have a pretty good idea in my head as to how the game is going to play out. It's usually not until about five minutes after kickoff that I become completely baffled.
Anyway, he has Seattle, and I tell him I'm a little worried about his pick.
"I don't know, Paul. The Seahawks were spanked at Buffalo and have been inconsistent all season. I hate laying points with them, even at home. Dallas also had a couple of extra days of rest since they haven't played since Thanksgiving."
"Oh, dude," Paul replies.
Many times when Paul says "dude," he means, "Man, don't say that, I need Seattle to cover."
I tell him that the key will be how well Seattle plays at the start of the game. If the Seahawks stumble out of the box as they did against Buffalo, they won't recover. If they can get a couple of quick scores early, they might blow Dallas out. I told him to root for a fast start and to call me later. The game begins and the Seahawks jump out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter. After the Seahawks' second touchdown, the "Monday Night Football" theme begins chiming on my cell phone.
"DUDE!" is the greeting on the other end. This loosely translates to "What a great start! Time to pop open a Coors Light, kick back, and watch the rout unfold."
I tell him that the next big obstacle is to make it to halftime without Dallas gaining any momentum. He's still too overjoyed with the first 15 minutes to worry about the rest of the game.
"Did you see the big play that set up that last touchdown, dude? It was totally gnarly."
I have still yet to figure out whether something "gnarly" generally is good or bad, but at least in this instance, I presume it must be good. The Cowboys rebound with 16 unanswered points to take a 19-14 halftime advantage. This time, it was my turn to make the call. I figured he was probably pretty upset at the recent developments, and I wanted to remind him that Seattle is a streaky team that could regain the lead as easily as it gave it up. So I did.
"Dude," I said.
"I know, man, I can't believe it either," he replies. "Do you really think Seattle can come back?"
I reassured him that all the Seahawks needed was a quick start similar to the way the game began, and he'd be fine. However, when the Seahawks' Shaun Alexander fumbled on their first drive of the third quarter, leading to a Dallas touchdown, and the Cowboys added another field goal to make it 29-14, things were looking pretty grim.
"Oh, duuuude,"came the call. The elongated U almost always means despair, and there was no doubt in this case.
"They're getting smoked. This one is over, dude."
I've seen enough football in my life to know better than that, so I consoled him some more, trying to fill in whatever gaps the Coors Light likely was missing.
Seattle stormed back, scoring the next 25 points to take a commanding 39-29 lead with less than three minutes remaining. The roller-coaster ride continued, and so did the phone calls.
"Dude!" Paul screamed into the phone. Occasionally, "Dude!" can mean "Oh my God, I can't believe Seattle scored all those points!"
Now, he was brimming with confidence, even though he repeated a phrase from earlier.
"This one is over, dude."
I didn't have the heart to remind him of the colossal collapse by these same Seahawks against the Rams earlier this season, when they blew a 17-point lead at home in the fourth quarter. Or to bring up a Monday night game from last season when the Cowboys rallied in the final seconds to tie the Giants on the road, and won in overtime.
Dallas scored a quick touchdown, recovered the onside kick and scored again in the waning seconds to win 42-39. A great finish, unless you were backing the Seahawks. As Julius Jones reached for the goal line with the winning score for the Cowboys, I reached for the cordless phone. It rang before the extra-point team had made it onto the field. But this time, there was a different greeting, one I can't print in this space. Let's just say that it may be his favorite, but "dude" certainly isn't the only four-letter word in Paul's vocabulary. With that finish, I'm sure he wasn't alone.
This week's picks: After a long struggle with prosperity, a third consecutive 1-2 week has me firmly entrenched where I belong in Mediocrityville, with a season mark of 19-19-1. This week, let's try the Panthers-Rams over 44, the Chargers-Buccaneers over 43 and the Eagles-Redskins under 38.
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