Schaeffer's call trumps Pats
Stefani Schaeffer called it.
“My head tells me the Patriots, but my heart is with the Giants,” the winner of Season 6 Apprentice and an executive of Trump International in Las Vegas said a few days before the Super Bowl. “The Patriots’ toughest game of the season was the Giants game and I’m a huge Giants fan.” She took the Giants by three, 30-27. Schaeffer was among the few Las Vegas celebs to take part in Scripps Howard News Service’s annual Super Bowl Poll. Though Schaeffer was a bit high on the total, she was among the righteous minority who picked the Giants. Sixty-three of the 100 celeb prognosticators (which works out to, let’s see … 63 percent) took the Patriots.
Among Vegas celebrities who took part in the survey, only Phantom – Las Vegas Spectacular co-lead Brent Barrett joined Schaeffer by taking the Giants (35-21). Those who took the Pats were Wayne Newton (35-30), Chippendales lead Bryan Cheatham (36-28), Hell’s Kitchen champ Chef Rock Harper (49-30) and Mayor Oscar Goodman (24-10).
The closest handicapper in the 100-celeb field was evangelist Pat Robertson, who recovered from his ill-advised endorsement of Rudy Guiliani to take the Giants 20-14. Country artist (but can we really call him an “artist”?) Dierks Bentley and tenor Placido Domingo joined Schaeffer in taking the Giants by three. Bentley had it 27-24; Domingo had it 24-21. Tobin Bell nailed the final score – 17-14 – but had the Pats winning.
I picked the wrong side for the fourth time in the past 10 Super Bowls. Each time I’ve missed, the Pats have been involved. But I did pick up some make-good money when the Giants scored last, so it wasn’t a total wash. I also made a few bucks on the “over” on total sacks -- the line was four and there were eight, total. But the most suspenseful bet was the “under” on the total penalties, which was set at 10 at Stations Casinos. The 10th penalty was issued with 11:05 left in the game, a holding call against Pats’ Russ Hochstein. And you don’t realize how many penalties go unflagged until you have a dollar on just one more.
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PL8 in my head: OUR CAR on a silver Toyota Avalon.
Fabulous Las Vegas appears at this Web site. John Katsilometes, who also hosts Our Metropolis, a weekly issues and affairs show, each Tuesday at 6 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM, can be reached at 990-7720, 812-9812 or at [email protected]