The Andrew Extravaganza

This post will remain at the top of the front page until May. Check in here for Smack-Off news, betting odds, and a review of the contest. Check out complete audio from past Smack-Offs at my History of the Smack-Off page.

The Announcement

The date of the 2008 Smack-Off was announced last week. The 14th edition of the annual event will take place on Friday, April 25th. Mark your calendars.


The Cablinasian Ruled Ineligible

The announcement was accompanied by a bombshell: Sean the Cablinasian, five-time winner of the event, will be ineligible to participate. The reason behind this ruling is that Sean is employed by a rival station to Rome's affiliate in the Houston market.

Listen to Jim explain the ruling on the 2/21/08 show.

Sean is the co-host (along with the extremely knowledgeable John Harris) of an afternoon show on 1560 The Game in Houston. It's a great show and you should take advantage of the streaming audio that is offered on their site. Unfortunately, the Jungle airs on Sports Radio 610, which is otherwise devoid of quality programming after Lance Zierlein and John Granato moved to the upstart independent 1560. I believe that Sean had every intention of calling this year, provided he was still invited, but it appears the bitches at 610 have made this impossible.

As a result of this development the 2008 crown is wide open for the taking; Seanie the smack juggernaut is out of action for the foreseeable future. Will this diminish the accomplishment of the new champion? Barring a legendary effort the answer is undoubtedly yes.

One positive is that the door is now open for Terrence in Sierra Madre or Greg in Vegas to lay claim to their first title. They had better take advantage of the opportunity before Sean breaks out his #45 jersey and returns hungrier than ever.

Finally, here is a post Sean made over at Stucknut:

For what it's worth, I am looking forward to the Smack-Off this year as much as any of you are, if not more so. It will actually be kind of fun to sit back and listen to the calls without sitting there and wondering what to say in my acceptance speech. (Sorry, I had to start this post with some sort of cocky "I am the man" comment. I'm not really that way -- most of the time.)

A few thoughts after reading all of the posts on this topic:

- The nickname "The Casually Aging" is pretty good, although anyone who has seen pictures of me from ten years ago and compares them to now knows that I am aging anything but casually. I"ve aged worse than Brian Doyle Murray between Caddyshack and Wayne's World. Personally, "The Babblinasian" is the runaway winner for best satirical Cablinasian nickname. For what it's worth, "Clone-inasian" from Iafrate was a reach and kind of lame.

- I get a kick out of how worked up everyone gets over the fact that I keep winning this thing despite the facts that (1) I call once a year, and (2) my calls are formulaic in nature (i.e. Duke take, Peter King take, "I am better than all of you" take, shake, WIN!, repeat). Don't you think that if there were a requirement for me to call once a month or once a week to defend my crown that I could do that? I mean it's not like it takes months to cook up a phone call to the Rome Show. It's not rocket science. My last three calls that have won the Smack-Off were concocted the morning of the event. But I have a lifetime exemption (or I did until last week) --- so I use it. As for the formulaic nature of my calls, I think that's been overblown a little bit by everyone. That said, if you've found something that works, wouldn't you repeat it? If a team ran the same play over and over again and it was working, why would they stop using it? The old saying goes that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I am the opposite of insanity; I've found something that works and I'll repeat it over and over again until someone stops me (or until I'm banned from the show for getting my own show on a competitor's station). If you don't like the content of my calls, that's one thing, but bashing me for using the same formula each year is silly because it obviously achieves the desired goal which is winning.

- I would tend to agree that it would be cool if Rome gave something like 1/5th of the vote for the Smack-Off to the listeners via a web poll (with himself, Travis, Jason, and Alvin being the other 4/5ths). It would be progressive and well received. That said, I'm pretty sure Terrence could fart into his phone for four minutes and get about 85% of the web vote. (For the record, I think Terrence is hilarious, but the love he has from web clones is off the charts.)

- For what it's worth, I actually think my two runner-up calls (2000, 2004) were better than at least two of my calls that won. And I probably didn't desrve all five of the titles I have, but I'm not giving any of them back. That big pile of nothing that I got for winning each of them? Well, it's MY pile of nothing, and I'm not giving it back.

- 2008 Smack-off Predictions: Vic actually makes a phone call this year, but Greg finally gets the elusive win.

- Thanks to everyone who has emailed me and listened to my show. If you've shared kind words with me about the show, I wholeheartedly agree with you that the show reeks of awesomeness. If you think my show is a steaming pile of turds, then I respect your first amendment rights (and your single digit Wonderlic score).

Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm getting my resume together so that I can at least be a guest Smack-Off color analyst this year for some network out there carrying the show.

Peace, Sean

The Odds

These early odds are a rough estimate and will be adjusted as the field of callers becomes more clear. This year's event should be wide open with seven or eight guys having a good look at winning it all.

Odds	Clone	Comments
5-1	Greg in Vegas	Consistently comes up big, he's the tragic hero of the Smack-Off
5-1	Joe in the O.C.	I've always thought of him as The Cablinasian Jr.
11-2	Iafrate	He always finds a spot in the top five
6-1	Terrence in Sierra Madre	The People's Champ, the Clone nation would be ecstatic if he takes home the crown
10-1	Steve Carbone	A classic screamer and former winner
10-1	Vic in NoCal	The Next Big Thing, but will Rome let him win after no-showing last year? Probably not.
12-1	Doc Mike DiTolla	Two-time winner, his last Smack-Off call was in 2003 but he's preparing for a comeback
17-1	Jeff in Richmond	No way that he wins, it just won't happen again
18-1	Rachel in Houston	Good caller but she doesn't have that extra gear
18-1	Jeff on carphone in Phoenix	A solid old school caller but he's a train wreck on the big day
19-1	Bill in Knoxville	Steady but not spectacular
20-1	Casey in Vegas	Brilliant in '03 and '04, but he's been off his game the last few attempts
22-1	Oren in Denver	Flamed out in his '06 debut, but he made a strong call last year
24-1	Trapper in Dana Point	No threat to win but he could figure in the top ten, if he calls
28-1	Jay Mohr	As a professional comedian Jay gets graded much tougher, not a lock to call either
30-1	Silk in Huntington Beach	Good contributor, but I doubt he cracks the top ten
50-1	The Field	Some legends might declare their intent to call. Some newer callers will have momentum going into the event. When that picture becomes more clear the odds will be revised. Until then you can pick from the leftovers going off at 50-1

Ugh. So Seanie went to a better station and now the Smack-Off is ruined. It's not legitimate anymore. You want to have to beat the best, not win in a weakened field. Hell, maybe Terence will now get the pity vote and win finally. I'd take those 6-1 odds.

The other one I might bet is 50-1 on the field. Why not? You'll be getting a few callers in "field" most likely, and one could come up with a big call. It's a much better bet than taking lower odds on individuals who may not even call.

Cablinasian or no Cablinasian, my money's on Vic in NoCal. Dude's been the best caller on the show for like a year and a half now and I see him bringing it.....if he calls.

Anyone been trying to listen live via the website the last week or two? It stopped working for me.

Just noticed it, but is Otis in Austin actually Matt Hullum (best known as Sarge in the geek-favorite "Red Vs Blue")? Don't know, but I noticed the similarities and thought I'd ask.

Sid: I have not tried listening live via the web. Lately I've had to listen via the podcast route.

Jim: I think I've seen one episode of Red Vs Blue, so I get the reference, but that's about it. I assume that Matt Hullum must be funny so that probably rules out the Otis in Austin connection. I vaguely remember seeing Otis at the Austin tour stop, but that was so long ago I couldn't possibly compare that memory to the photo of Hullum on his wikipedia page, though maybe someone else can.