Bob Dunbar was Boston-based. He was a terrible football picker, but one of the great writers of tout irony that ever lived.
He used to manufacture "associates" who would be on the scene of every college game. It would go something like this: "Our West Coast editor, Blinky Rudolph, was at the Arizona game, and Coach Twomy invited Blinky to the locker room to talk to the players at halftime. After a rousing speech by Blinky, the Wildcats went out and won, and gave our parlay players a huge payday!"
That kind of stuff - it was funny. (And amazing that morons actually believed him.)
He would invent little stories to sell his patented four team parlays. these were alleged letters he'd received from desperate people who'd been bailed out by winning one of Dunbar's parlays. Real heart-warming stuff, the guy should have been in Hwood writing scripts.
I once wrote a parody and sent it to him. I have it around here somewhere, but to reconstruct from memory: "Bob, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I was in Death Row, with the Grim Reaper staring me in the face in less than a month.
"Bob, I borrowed a thousand dollars from my lawyer and bet it all on your fabulous four team parlay. It hit! Naturally! You never miss. Well, with my newfound money I hired a new and much better attorney, got a hearing, and a reversal of my conviction. I'm now a free man! Thanks to you and your famous Four Team Parlay!"
Of course, as a scamming tout he should like Saddam be the guest of honor at a necktie party. But he did have a vivid imagination, and a brassy total contempt for the intelligence of his clientele. Gotta have a sneaking respect for that.