Steve was checking the paper for apartment listings that evening and was not paying to much attention to the TV, until he heard the NFL recap. He folded the paper, grabbed a beer, and turned the volume up.

"If the Lions are anything, they are consistent, they lost again, 35 to 21. The Rams keep on showing why they were SuperBowl winners, 42 to 10 over the Jets. Bret Farve showed up for the game, but the rest of the team missed the plane; Bears 27, Packers had the goose egg."

Steve was getting a strange sensation, that old dude was dead nuts right again. He realized he was smiling in amazement, curious about the old boy’s methods. He was thinking he would leave for the studio a little early tomorrow in hopes of quizzing the old fart some more.

Steve’s colleague, Bart Brady, was closing the broadcast. "Tune in tonight at 11, when we will have the results of the NFL Sunday night game and a full report on Tiger Woods amazing victory at the TPC."

Steve grabbed the telephone and called Bart on his direct line. "Let me guess, Tiger finished at 18 under."

"No guess to it, ABC carried it live. Yea, the kid is truly a superstar; birdie, eagle, par, birdie on the last 4 holes. Did you see that chip shot hit the pin on number……"

There weren’t many fans outside at that time of the morning, and worst of all, the old Guru wasn’t there. Steve signed autographs and chatted with the group for 20 minutes. He asked if anybody knew the old guy from this weekend, but they did not. One kid said the old boy is sometimes at Ike’s Diner, just up the street. With his bum knee, there was no way for a quick trot to Ike’s, so Steve thanked the crowd and went inside.

Steve wanted to sit down with the old gent, pick his brain or steal his crystal ball; his predictions were amazing and not obvious outcomes. It looked like he would have to wait for next weekend’s football results to see if the old man could keep it up. He would watch the Red Wing scores; they skated 3 times this week.

Don Douglas left a memo on Steve’s desk: "Good work, you hit 87 % and the group was at a solid 78%, Keep it up!"

The week was predictable; every day the old man failed to be outside the studio or at Ike’s, and every time the Red Wings played, they won. If the old guy had just missed one prediction, then you could figure he was human, but so far he has been 100%.

Steve was hedging his statement about a Buckeye victory over Penn State, but he just knew the Spartans would defeat Notre Dame. He was going to have to make his call and stick with it; he was about to host "You Make The Call" a viewer call-in show, where the public compared predictions with Chad and the crew.

As he picked up his index cards containing all the game notes, he noticed a Campbell’s Mushroom soup label on his desk. It was filthy and sticky and as he carefully picked it up to place it in the trash, he noticed some scribble on the back. The print was large and might have been done with a crayon.

"Chad, thought you might want a little help.

Steve had to sit down, this guy was not only giving the spread, he was giving the final score. He is still picking Penn State and Notre Dame, but he thinks Baylor (1 – 5) is going to beat Nebraska, who is undefeated. The Michigan game sounds about right, Red Wings could tie Colorado, but what is this double fatality at Daytona?

‘60 Seconds to live.’

Steve folded the soup label into his pocket, went to make-up and then sat down on the set. Then he did something new for the first time in his ESPD career. He went with somebody else’s predictions for part of his picks. He called all the rest of the games based on his research, but he went all the way with the old man, even giving the Michigan and Michigan State scores.

He was razzed for reversing his Notre Dame comment from last week, and he was pronounced ready for the nut house when he opted for Baylor over number 2, Nebraska. The callers told him he was drinking too much, he needed a vacation, and they wanted to know if he would be interested in a little waterfront property in the Everglades. Steve just laughed and reminded them that the proof of his sanity would be on display Saturday afternoon.

Well, for the very first time in the history of sports broadcasting, a perfect 100% was achieved for predicting football winners, including being correct on the final scores of both Michigan teams. Winning the SuperBowl could not be any sweeter than the glory that rained over Steve for the last two days. He even got a telephone call from the President of the United States, and he took it live during the Saturday recap show.

He was a celebrity; he got telegrams and calls from Governors and Senators.

Don Douglas and the network Vice President called him, one with news of a substantial bonus and the other informing him of his new increased pay rate.

With that bonus, he did not have to move, he’d buy a condo. About time his luck turned around! As an extra bonus, they were flying him to Miami to do the play by play for the ESPD Sunday night game. "Bonnie, eat your heart out!" Steve declared as he drifted off to sleep to the drone of the cessna’s engines.