Even I Can Be Right... Sometimes
Look closely at this offshore sportsbook and casino and see the newly added wing which they plan to name in my honor.They say that it's not easy always being right. Not that I'd know because often, too often, I'm wrong. And so will admit anyone who tries to predict the actions of others, that is, if they are being honest.
For those who pick sports publicly, there is no denying the inability to do so correctly with any consistently. Video evidence exists of ESPN's Chris Berman (or, "The Swami") and his consecutive, but incorrect, preseason guesses of a Buffalo Bills vs. San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Nowadays thanks to the Internet (and, according to him, Al Gore) mine and others leave a paper, err, I mean, an online trail of our missteps.
How wrong we can be and how available it is for others to see.
This IHSAA football season, our very own Jeremiah Johnson was flooded with emails from fans in southern Indiana following his semi-state playoffs prediction that Cathedral would clobber Evansville Reitz (42-7). Not only did Evansville Reitz crush Cathedral (31-10) but the Panthers would go on to defeat Lowell in the Class 4A championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Despite a 56 point swing in his semi-state game prediction, Jeremiah was hardly the goat of this football-guessing year. One NFL.com analyst (Bucky Brooks) made a preseason prediction that the 2009 Indianapolis Colts would finish 8-8 and in 4th place of the AFC South. It took only 9 games for the Colts to buck Bucky's win total.
You don't have to dig very far to read how wrong I've been, either. Just last week in this very same column I addressed the potential of Indianapolis being the first NFL team ever to accomplish a 19-0 season and that, despite the team's public denial, making history was important to all of them.
Well, we all know how that one turned out. (My apologies for further infuriating those who still disagree with the team management for their personal decisions in the 2nd half of that loss to the Jets). Furthermore, back in April when the 2009 NFL schedule was officially released, I half-heartedly prognosticated an undefeated regular season for the Indianapolis Colts.
Try not to be too hard on me for that one.
(In September, I later amended my ambitious prediction with an 11-5 record and 1st place finish in the AFC South for the Colts. For that one, you can go ahead and take your open shots at me.)
I was off on some other "educated guesses" this NFL year as well. My mock draft from April, my visions of seeing Michael Vick play in the UFL from August, my pregame prediction of the Week 4 Titans/Jets game from September and, of course, my predictions and pursuit of perfection for the Indianapolis Colts.
As the 2009 National Football League regular season comes to a close this Sunday, it's only fair that I too recognize those few instances when I was actually correct. While you'll have to take my word on some of those calls (like Brett Favre not actually retiring despite another press conference announcing he was, of Aaron Rodgers being the highest-scoring quarterback for this fantasy football season, the Pittsburgh Steelers not defending their NFC North title and the Denver Broncos not winning the AFC West despite a 6-0 start), a quick Internet search will show that I wasn't too far off when it came to the Bears' trade for Jay Cutler, Indianapolis defeating Tennessee in Week 13 despite the Titans more needing the win or, at least the overwhelming public feelings toward, the Colts' pursuit of perfection.
Wow, that's not an awful lot. Is it?
Well soon enough we will know how right or wrong it was for me to dispel the fashionable notion that the Houston Texans would finally make the playoffs or of Brett Favre's value when it's time to actually play in the postseason.
Predicting NFL outcomes isn't easy. But, hey, I'm just a fan. Unlike Tom Benson, he is the owner of the New Orleans Saints. Forget him trying to guess what will occur in the future, poor Tom wasn't even able to decipher what had actually already happened as he accidentally celebrated a potential, but missed, game-winning field goal in his team's Week 16 loss to the Tamp Bay Buccaneers.
For those who pick sports publicly, there is no denying the inability to do so correctly with any consistently. Video evidence exists of ESPN's Chris Berman (or, "The Swami") and his consecutive, but incorrect, preseason guesses of a Buffalo Bills vs. San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Nowadays thanks to the Internet (and, according to him, Al Gore) mine and others leave a paper, err, I mean, an online trail of our missteps.
How wrong we can be and how available it is for others to see.
This IHSAA football season, our very own Jeremiah Johnson was flooded with emails from fans in southern Indiana following his semi-state playoffs prediction that Cathedral would clobber Evansville Reitz (42-7). Not only did Evansville Reitz crush Cathedral (31-10) but the Panthers would go on to defeat Lowell in the Class 4A championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Despite a 56 point swing in his semi-state game prediction, Jeremiah was hardly the goat of this football-guessing year. One NFL.com analyst (Bucky Brooks) made a preseason prediction that the 2009 Indianapolis Colts would finish 8-8 and in 4th place of the AFC South. It took only 9 games for the Colts to buck Bucky's win total.
You don't have to dig very far to read how wrong I've been, either. Just last week in this very same column I addressed the potential of Indianapolis being the first NFL team ever to accomplish a 19-0 season and that, despite the team's public denial, making history was important to all of them.
Well, we all know how that one turned out. (My apologies for further infuriating those who still disagree with the team management for their personal decisions in the 2nd half of that loss to the Jets). Furthermore, back in April when the 2009 NFL schedule was officially released, I half-heartedly prognosticated an undefeated regular season for the Indianapolis Colts.
Try not to be too hard on me for that one.
(In September, I later amended my ambitious prediction with an 11-5 record and 1st place finish in the AFC South for the Colts. For that one, you can go ahead and take your open shots at me.)
I was off on some other "educated guesses" this NFL year as well. My mock draft from April, my visions of seeing Michael Vick play in the UFL from August, my pregame prediction of the Week 4 Titans/Jets game from September and, of course, my predictions and pursuit of perfection for the Indianapolis Colts.
As the 2009 National Football League regular season comes to a close this Sunday, it's only fair that I too recognize those few instances when I was actually correct. While you'll have to take my word on some of those calls (like Brett Favre not actually retiring despite another press conference announcing he was, of Aaron Rodgers being the highest-scoring quarterback for this fantasy football season, the Pittsburgh Steelers not defending their NFC North title and the Denver Broncos not winning the AFC West despite a 6-0 start), a quick Internet search will show that I wasn't too far off when it came to the Bears' trade for Jay Cutler, Indianapolis defeating Tennessee in Week 13 despite the Titans more needing the win or, at least the overwhelming public feelings toward, the Colts' pursuit of perfection.
Wow, that's not an awful lot. Is it?
Well soon enough we will know how right or wrong it was for me to dispel the fashionable notion that the Houston Texans would finally make the playoffs or of Brett Favre's value when it's time to actually play in the postseason.
Predicting NFL outcomes isn't easy. But, hey, I'm just a fan. Unlike Tom Benson, he is the owner of the New Orleans Saints. Forget him trying to guess what will occur in the future, poor Tom wasn't even able to decipher what had actually already happened as he accidentally celebrated a potential, but missed, game-winning field goal in his team's Week 16 loss to the Tamp Bay Buccaneers.
posted by Zakk at 8:53 AM
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