with your latest Super Bowl XXXI prediction: Bengals-Niners???
What's giving you a rash this week?
The out-of-control arrogance in professional sports today? The latest in labor? The price of a lousy stadium hot dog?
An overpaid player? An underhanded agent? An owner who would sell the carpet from underneath his own mother's feet for the right amount of PSLs and luxury boxes?
Where can you get off your chest something boiling inside your belly?
Right here. Right now. Buckshots, a weekly dish-it-out-and-duck feature, is designed to give you, the subscriber, a chance to take your best shot at Ray Buck, national columnist for SportsLine USA.
Agree or disagree, let 'er rip. Sign your name -- if you dare -- and tell us a little about yourself: age, city, state, occupation/student. Just remember, Buck has the last word.
E-mail your comments to: buckshots@sportsline.com
"All your faithful readers, such as myself, figure you're just messing with us with your latest Super Bowl XXXI prediction: Bengals-Niners???
"Then again, you're the one who predicted a Braves-Yankees World Series. Aren't you?"
BUCKSHOT: Yes, I am! And thank you for reminding everyone. As you may or may not know, Johnny, most people are scared to death to bet with me. Well, gotta run. Dionne Warwick is on the other line.
"Speaking of done ... the Niners are finished. (Jerry) Rice will not finish the season. (Steve) Young will finish on the sidelines. They'll lose six regular-season games before losing in the first round of the playoffs.
"As for the Bengals ... that's a joke in itself. Big 'Duddy' Dan Wilkinson can't plug holes on defense; he actually creates them for the other team. Cincinnati's offensive line isn't strong enough to overpower teams (such as) Dallas and formerly San Francisco.
"So, you should start looking around now for a replacement article. Because the one you wrote was a joke."
BUCKSHOT: Bob, we charge $4.95 per month for exclusive commentary and insightful information. The jokes are free. Enjoy! Oh, by the way, you can go now ... I'm finished.
"True (Jeff) Blake, (Darnay) Scott and (Carl) Pickens are great, but that's not going to be enough. Dave Shula is not a good NFL coach. (In fact, I doubt he could coach Little League!) The AFC is not the 'Awful' conference, either. There are a lot of great AFC players. They beat the NFC in the Pro Bowl, didn't they?
"By the way, in case you didn't notice, Neil (O'Donnell), Bam (Morris), and Yancey (Thigpen) were in the Super Bowl XXX and should have won it. Where was Blake, Carter and Pickens?"
BUCKSHOT: Uh, I'm not sure about Carter and Pickens. But Blake wasn't spending Super Sunday making an MVP out of Larry Brown, I do know that.
"By the way, I went to high school with Carl Pickens and, though he was incredible, I never thought he'd be playing with the big boys back then.
"Well, hopefully, between Pickens and Carter, the field will be on fire in '96! I mean how can they miss with Jeff Blake behind the ball? I think Blake, although raw in some ways, has the ability to be one of the best ... so I'll just sit back, yell at the TV a lot and pray."
BUCKSHOT: Just one thing, Dan and Nikki. You've really got to yell louder and pray longer than you did Sunday against the Rams.
"I personally go with Green Bay, because by the end of the season, with the Niners' offensive line, Steve Young could be really beat up. And as you said, Packers head coach Mike Holmgren has the Niners' number.
"The real problem with your prediction is, of course, the Bengals. They are an explosive offensive team with Blake, Pickens, Darnay Scott, Tony McGee, Carter, and the newly acquired Garrison Hearst as insurance for Carter's knee problems.
"However, defense always wins championships, in all sports. Cincinnati's defense is terrible and, because of it, they will struggle to make the playoffs. San Francisco is a good example ... (since) few people recognize that the Niners have the best defense in the NFC.
"I do have to admit, Mr. Buck, that at least your Super Bowl prediction was unusual and intriguing, and it is not totally out of the realm of possibility."
BUCKSHOT: Thanks ... I think! That's a better backhand than Edberg's.
"Please, next column, tell us when it's an early April Fools."
BUCKSHOT: Did you ever consider a career in our Wiseguys Corner, Texkan?
has not really passed at all.
"I have continued to read how players must pass through waivers before they can be traded, yet quality players have obviously continued to move. After your column, it all makes sense now. If they would at least change the rule to the point where trades were negotiated first, and then players pass the waiver wire, teams such as the Texas Rangers, who are looking at their first legitimate contender in years, might stand up and block such a trade.
"The waiver rule is just another example of how baseball is not working to keep the game competitive."
BUCKSHOT: Your point is well taken, Bruce. But most pro sports owners are businessmen first, lodge members second, competitive sportsmen third. They don't want a rule that might cause them to actually get down and dirty.
"It just makes no sense."
BUCKSHOT: Give the Braves credit. They have the best organization in baseball. And you're right, the waiver system is nonsense.
"I don't follow the Twins like I used to, but I was really looking forward to seeing two of the classiest players in the game -- Paul Molitor and Kirby Puckett -- spend a season together. It's a shame Puckett never got the national exposure that his talent and personality deserved. Thanks again!"
BUCKSHOT: We're a nation that likes our heroes to be quotable, outrageous and, what the hell, it never hurts if they show up for book signings wearing a dress. By the way, Molitor's assault on 3,000 hits -- he's at 2,983 and counting last time we checked -- goes mostly unnoticed outside the Twin Cities.
than he is at real analysis," says Jason Smith of Hilo, Hawaii. "The little bit about Brian Blades was certainly funny, but we are talking about one of the most consistent receivers in the game.
"The operative word here is consistent.
"Combine that consistency (read: professionalism) with better players to support him, an off-season that ended on a better note than it started and all the motivation in the world to concentrate on football alone ... how could you possibly think this guy is done???
"Tragedy does not equal weakness, Dr. Kahn."
BUCKSHOT: A favorable verdict for your favorite sports hero doesn't always equal justice, either.
"What's the story here? Is this a fashion show or a race? Are these people athletes -- or what? I can understand the pros and their obsession to show the general public how rich and special they are.
"I found it a bit sickening to watch the fastest man in the world flaunt the fact that he is well paid for a natural talent that he had little to do with, in front of the athletes of the world that will probably not make enough money in their lifetime to afford the gold he wears when he runs in competition.
"Most athletes today have egos that couldn't fit through my front door ... but our Olympic athletes?"
BUCKSHOT: My suggestion, get a bigger door.
BUCKSHOT: Except Irvin makes a lot more money.