Friday Celebrity 4th Quarter: JIMMY THE GREEK

As a new feature to the blog, we’re going to have a one-on-one interview with a great individual that fits the mold of what Scoops & Pliers are looking for. In this week’s “Friday Celebrity 4th Quarter,” Scoops had a chat with the legendary sports prognosticator Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder.

Scoops McCracken: I feel like I’m in the presence of a legend. Do you know that you pretty much are responsible for promoting the wonderful world of football gambling?
Jimmy The Greek: I don’t know about that. It wasn’t so much football gambling that I loved as much as it was gambling in general. You have to remember, my greatest wager was getting 17:1 odds and picking Harry Truman to defeat Thomas Dewey for the 1948 presidency. I put down $10K on that badboy and was able to turn that one into a winner.
Scoops McCracken: I was a youngster growing up when I watched you in your later years on “The NFL Today on CBS.” That was my first dose of the Greek, with Musberger & Irv Cross. But what I remember most of all is that you were wrong more often than you were right. What gave?
Jimmy The Greek: I don’t know the exact statistics, but it was a bit different from television to being in the sports book. I never gave the spreads while broadcasting on television, therefore I sometimes was going a different way than what I was picking. And Television, even back then was a whole different animal.
Scoops McCracken: Talk about the statement you made that got you fired from CBS. I will quote it directly:

“The black is a better athlete to begin with because he's been bred to be that way — because of his high thighs and big thighs that goes up into his back, and they can jump higher and run faster because of their bigger thighs. This goes back all the way to the Civil War when during the slave trading, the owner — the slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so that he could have a big black kid.”

Jimmy The Greek: I was speaking my opinion of what I’ve based some experience upon. I also said that that whites were holding on to coaching jobs because, with blacks dominating the playing fields, management was the only role left for them. I also said that young black athletes work harder than their white counterparts and that is the reason why certain proportions exist of who’s who.
Scoops McCracken: What are your opinion thus far of the college football season?
Jimmy The Greek: I like LSU because their thighs are much bigger and they’ve been bred for this type of southern domination since the 1800s.
Scoops McCracken: Do you like being called “The Greek?”
Jimmy The Greek: I don’t mind it. Musberger was the one that called me that or sometimes just “Greek” so it kind of stuck and I ran with it. I got no problem. It’s a bit easier than Dimetrios.
Scoops McCracken: What have you been up to lately?

Jimmy The Greek: Well, I died in 1996 of a heart attack. When I finally passed through the gates after promising I’d give them a few points off of a few teasers, I was troubled to find that Pete Axthelm already had the market cornered in terms of football wagering, so I had to become a bit innovative. I gave better odds, lower commission takes, and opened up a wider variety of potential wagers to the people here so I was able to capitalize on that. Little known secret is that I convinced Jesus to throw in a "Noonan" during Gary Anderson's potential game winning kick in the 1999 NFC Championship game. I cleaned everybody out after that one. I drove Ax out of business and now he’s shooting birds near the airport. I’ve done allright for myself. I got no complaints, other than I wish I had nice big thick thighs so I could jump higher & run faster.