John Kastilometes on the very winning ways of ‘Phantom’ Anthony Crivello, who picked them best in a football contest

Friday, Jan. 12, 2007 | 7 a.m.

In June, when it came time to determine which actor would portray the lead character on opening night for "Phantom - Las Vegas Spectacular," producers simply flipped a coin. The winner was Anthony Crivello, who splits time with Brent Barrett as the Phantom in the $40 million production at the Venetian.

But for more important decisions - such as determining his picks for the weekend's NFL games - Crivello leaves little to chance. And his homework has paid off (but not literally, as Crivello does not actually wager on the NFL) as Crivello beat back nine other challengers to win this year's NFL celebrity handicapping contest in Las Vegas Weekly. He hit 60 percent of his picks against the spread, going 30-20-1 and beating second-place Penn & Teller (29-21-1) by a single game. Pro handicappers consider 55 percent very good, so Crivello is ... better than very good. (Disclosure alert! LV Weekly is owned by the Greenspun family, which also owns the Las Vegas Sun.)

"I look at the schedule every week and pick the six games I might like," Crivello said during a phone interview Thursday morning. "From there I'll try to do a bit more research and whittle it down to the three games I like. I just know the teams and follow it through the year. I check the injury reports, matchups, coaches, home-field advantage, records. Once in a while I get hunches, I see a team primed for an upset." But Crivello likes a favorite - the San Diego Chargers - to win the Super Bowl.

Crivello has been a Green Bay Packers fan since he was a kid growing up in Milwaukee. He is rare among Tony Award-winning performers in that he is also part-owner of an NFL franchise, having purchased a single share (at the going rate of $200) of the publicly owned Packers. Crivello can converse at length about his team and the league - he spent 40 minutes doing just that on Thursday - and could host a sports-talk show.

Crivello's magic touch has not gone unnoticed. He related that once when friends visited Las Vegas, they told a cab driver they were in town to see "Phantom" and had a friend in the cast. When the cabbie learned it was Crivello, he said, "I've made a lot of money piggybacking his NFL picks."

NoteMart

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Reader in Summerlin jotted down this plate on a white Yukon GL, LUV2SUE. It's either litigious, or a gift lovingly presented to someone named Sue.