Night Owl Cards

I realize this will annoy avid followers of football, just as it does college basketball folks when someone who doesn't know a Cameron Crazy from a Zag wins the March Madness pool: I recently won a football card contest. Twice. Let me clarify something first, though. By "not following football" I mean that I'm not a fan and I don't sit and watch games. But I DO know what's going on in the sport most of the time. It's a requirement of my job. Every day I pour through story after story featuring sports that could disappear this instant without a word of regret from me (I'm looking at you, golf). So, information is bound to sneak into the ol' noggin. There is a reason why I know just about every NASCAR name without ever watching a single NASCAR race. So, yeah, I know football. Just don't ask me to enter a fantasy league. That little bit of knowledge enabled me to win Cobb and Halladay' s Super Bowl contest last month. I beat out a bunc...

As a writer of sports headlines, I am forever looking for a synonym for the word "surprise." Sports is all about drama, and there is nothing more dramatic than a victory by a team that wasn't supposed to win. So those games are going to get the big headlines. But you can't use the word "surprise" over and over again. "Miracle Mets Surprise Orioles," "U.S. Olympic Team Surprises Russians," "Douglas Surprises Tyson." That's boring. So, I am forever looking for synonyms. These are the words I turn to when "surprise" won't do: upset upend startle shock stun blindside ambush astonish astound jolt fool boggle bowl over overthrow You headline writers, feel free to use some of these. Or bail me out and give me some more synonyms. The reason I bring this up is that Joe sent me a surprise package of cards recently. Totally out of the blue. And I was trying to come up with a title for this post. The only thing I had was...