Press Pigskin Prognosticators

Cameron currently the cat’s meow

By MIKE PATRICK

PPP Commissionerw

While The League turns its full investigative powers toward the mystery that’s grabbed the attention of every Press Pigskin Prognosticators fan — namely, how can a cat and a dog predict NFL outcomes better than a batch of reasonably intelligent humans? — the cat’s owner has finally loosened his tongue.

Steve Cameron, author of 13 sports books and a Coeur d’Alene Press sports columnist, is in first place, a cat’s whisker ahead of CDA Police Chief Lee White and his brilliant boxer, Buster.

When Cameron got off to an inauspicious start this season, he turned to Sammie The World’s Greatest Cat to make his picks. (STWGC is a rescue kitty made famous when Steve was writing news and feature columns at The Press.)

White confessed up front that he was no pro at picking NFL games, so he rolled over and begged his four-legged huntin’ buddy to do the picking for him. Rumor has it that Buster’s selection method involves the lifting of a leg and precise targets, but The League has been thus far unable to confirm. Nor does The League necessarily want to know.

All of a sudden, Cameron’s broken his longstanding silence. Informed by The League this week that he’s in the lead, a candid Cameron crowed.

“I took a bunch of wild swings last week,” he conceded in an exclusive Sports Illustrated interview. “Hey, nobody ever won by playing it safe!”

Pressed by old friend and fellow scribe Rick Reilly, Cameron almost blurted:

“At the beginning, I didn’t give a [Buster biproduct] about the picks,” he said. “Now? I would crawl to Saudi Arabia through broken glass to win. I’ve bet on dog races where I could make five grand that aren’t as important as this!”

The League beams.

But the question now is, will this become a Cameron-White grudge match right down to the wire? Will the local nonprofits they’re representing reap free Press advertising packages or parcels packed with heartbreak? Or will the peck of perplexed pickers right behind them make major moves down the home stretch?

Inside today’s Sports section, check out their selections (STWGC has Chicago tonight, Buster has the ‘Boys... Go Bears!) and meet the new kid on the Press Pigskin Prognosticators block. DeAnne Boegli has left TDS for a great health insurance job in Madison, Wis., where she’ll be close to her meatlocker men in Green Bay. DeAnne’s replacement off the bench sounds like a running back with serious jets: Vroom! BobbieJo Vroom, to be precise.

BobbieJo hails from Minnesota, Land of The Team That Cannot Win on Monday Nights. She’s the recently arrived commercial sales director for TDS in Coeur d’Alene, and she and her husband are building a home in Rathdrum.

BobbieJo admits to knowing a lot more about cooking and baking at home than shaking and baking on the frozen tundra, which makes her a perfect fit with this batch of pigskin pickers.

There’s always room for one more Vroom.