Sam’s Commentary

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Dick Stratton: 1927-2005

Long time Jacksonville television personality and social pioneer Dick Stratton died on Sunday 11/06/05 after a lengthy illness. He Was 78. Sam remembers his long-time friend and mentor below. Dick Stratton: 1927-2005 Jacksonville’s First “Star” Dick Stratton There’s a plaque on the wall in the press box of the stadium that reads: “Dick’s career spanned […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Jacksonville’s Jaguars

No surprise that the Jaguars and the City resolved their differences in a fact-to-face meeting between Wayne Weaver and John Peyton. Once they got into the room together, Peyton knew he needed to figure out a way to get the deal done, and Weaver knew he had all of the legal cards on his side […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Jacksonville Vs. Jaguars

Thinking back to the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s when the NFL was talking about expansion and Jacksonville was doing everything it could to be noticed, a stadium lease and an agreement between the city and any NFL team was an afterthought. That idea went right to the forefront though when the people trying to […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Rashean Mathis, Star

When Jacksonville was awarded a franchise in the NFL I was as excited as anybody as a sports fan. As a journalist, the field was open and the possibilities were endless. A lot of that didn’t work out, and a lot of it did, the one constant being our Monday night show, “The End Zone.” […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Urban Challenge

After they beat Kentucky, I went on the air and talked about how the Gators were now Urban Meyer’s team. Not the remnants of the Steve Spurrier era, not a bunch of Ron Zook’s recruits but rather actually Urban Meyer’s team. The offense had the looks of confidence needed to run that spread option and […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Jack’s Woes

Coaching is an interesting profession. There are all kinds of people who become coaches and all kinds of different motivations to become a coach. The best are innovative about their game, like to teach, are very competitive, and understand the strengths and weaknesses of the people and players around them. I almost laughed out loud […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Meyer(ed) In Gainseville

It was electrifying. From the inaugural “Gator Walk” to the first run out of the tunnel through the alumni players, the hype was huge. The largest crowd to ever see a football game in the state, 90, 707 were in attendance to get the “Urban” experience. But when it finally started, when they actually kicked […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Owen’s Folly

Generally, this whole professional sports business has changed. It hasn’t happened overnight, but rather an evolution over the last 25 years or so. Call it a revolution if you will. Sure, there have always been selfish, self-centered pros, but it’s at a whole new level. If there was ever any question in the past, it’s […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Baseball’s New (and Old) Problem

I suppose you can’t come to any other conclusion than Rafael Palmeiro is lying. He sat in front of a congressional committee on March 17th, waved his finger and said, “I have never used steroids.” When Major League Baseball suspended him for 10 days last week, he altered that statement adding, “I have never intentionally […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Weaver’s Moves

You can’t really go by whatever anybody says in professional sports anymore. Everybody’s got an agenda. They’re saying one thing to influence another, playing both sides against the middle. That goes for players, coaches scouts and owners. Even though they constantly criticize the media as negative and meddling, they’re all trying to use the media […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Jack’s Farewell

To us, it’s the British Open. To the rest of the world, it’s just known as The Open Championship. The golf championship of the world as put on by the Royal and Ancient Golf club, commonly known as “the R&A.” I had a chance to attend the Open this year both as a reporter and […]

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Talented Skilled (And Spoiled)

I’ve always had a pet peeve about rude and spoiled people. It’s spilled over into my professional assessment of the people I cover, and usually colors my opinion about what they’re like. Not they’re accomplishments, or their talent or skill, but what they’re like, how they got where they are and what they’ll be like […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

A Baseball Town?

When the city announced that the ACC baseball championship would be contested at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville in 2005, there was a small amount of excitement in town. Not a lot, but not a collective yawn either. Nice event, nothing spectacular. Wrong. The ACC championship drew over 66,000 fans over the five days, and […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

T.O. K.O.

“There are a lot of things I think about every day,” said Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeff Lurie, “but that’s not one of them.” Lurie was responding to a question about a possible renegotiation of Terrell Owens’ contract. “It’s not an issue,” the Eagles owner continued. “It’s a non-issue.” That’s about as straight forward as you […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Belgium On My Bike

I learned a long time ago that I have eclectic tastes in just about everything. Music, art and even sports. As big a fan as I am of baseball, football, basketball and other traditional sports, I also follow English Soccer and Pro Cycling will an equal fervor. So I’ve always had it in my head […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

One Of Funk’s Punks

I try not to root for any particular player or team when I’m covering an event. I always like to see the home team win. It makes the fans happy, most of my friends are happy and certainly it makes a reporter’s job easier. Players and coaches are much more willing to talk after a […]

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Time To Move On

It’s not unexpected, this “better than it should be” run that comes to a sudden end. But when you’re in a bit over your head, you know it from the beginning. Eventually, that pretty girl that took a liking to you is going to dump you out on the street, and without a lot of […]

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Gators Get It Right …

As the ball bounced around the rim on Kentucky’s last shot, you couldn’t help but wonder how if it went in it, whether it would change either team’s season. For the Wildcats, the ball in the basket means a win, some momentum, the continuation of a streak against Florida, but perhaps more importantly, almost a […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Baseball, Steroids And You

It’s not hard to discount anything and everything Jose Canseco says. He’s been a self promoter and a characiture for most of his career. In a nutshell, he’s not smart. But he has admitted to using steroids during his career in Major League Baseball, and has implicated most of the big names in baseball in […]

Jacksonville Sports News, Sam Kouvaris - SamSportsline.com

Weaver’s Take?

Make no mistake about it: despite all of the talk, positive and negative about Jacksonville hosting the Super Bowl, there are only 32 opinions that count, those of the NFL owners. They vote on where to put the game, they decide what kind of business deal it needs to be and they decide if a […]