Throughout the regular season, I was among the worst pickers in the “Fearless Forecasters” contest. I didn’t come in last, but I came close.
To me, picking the teams I know probably hurts me. I lost a few games because I was being a homer when picking Auburn or against Alabama.
That cost me several games for sure. You can put the LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M games on that list for me when picking against Bama. I also whiffed on Texas winning this year’s game. So, I lost a combined 5 games there.
Then with Auburn, I tried to support the home team, and I lost A&M, Ole Miss, LSU and New Mexico State (how the heck did that happen?). Just because of being a fan, I immediately had a near 10-game issue.
But I redeemed myself in the bowl picking. I bested everyone in the field by one game to beat all participants and the Forecasters.
Here’s the scary thing, my national championship score was nearly perfect (33-13). I can’t believe it.
Though I originally picked Bama and Texas to advance. (I probably picked Bama out of superstition hoping that they would lose because I picked them.) I just felt like the Rose Bowl winner would likely be the champion. I really badly wanted Washington to win it all, but they just picked the wrong time to have an off game where the Huskies missed on several plays that they would normally make.
But since I didn’t pick the national championship game correctly (I’m not sure anyone did in our pool).
I guess I do better with teams I don’t know about. I guess a blind picker gets one right every now and then.
Brent Maze can be reached at bmaze@newtoncountyappeal.com.
