Bold Predictions
Posted by Mark Smith – 4 Comments
Everyone in sports loves a good prediction. Whether predictions are totally wrong like in the case of Rory Sabatini who claimed last year that Tiger Woods, “is as beatable as ever”. Tiger went on to crush him along with the rest of the field. Likewise Rasheed Wallace loves to make the “Guaransheed” for the Pistons. Some have ended in wins while other games the Pistons fell short. On the other hand predictions can be great because when they come true whoever made it seems like a genius. Such was the case with Joe Namath and the Jets who made the bold prediction that New York would upset the heavily favored Colts to win the Super Bowl. Joe left the stadium that infamous day with his finger held up as he and his team left the field victorious. Plaxico Burress was blasted by the media for predicting that the Giants would win 21-17 over the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Was he supposed to say that he thought they would loose? He backed up his bold prediction with the winning touchdown reception.
This brings us to the new prediction made by Jason Smith of the Stix. In a recent comment posted on the sandlotillustrated.com website Jason was quoted saying, “I going for the triple crown this year!” It was noted that he placed an exclamation point at the end, not a question mark or even a simple period. He was out to prove a point and told the league to “recognize” with a double exclamation mark. Who knows if Jason’s guarantee will pan out, only time will tell.
I just thought that I would let Jason know that the Triple Crown does not mean that you lead the league in triples. You have to beat the homerun champ, which means you might have to strikeout like 20 times. You also have to lead in RBI. Not to name names but someone in the league has had a strong hold on those two categories for a few years now. Unless that player goes down with an injury or moves to Zimbabwe Jason and the rest of the league can fight for second place for those stats. Jason sounds a little like our friend Rory who said, “Tiger is as beatable as ever”. Well Jason, until you go in and knock the leader off you’ll fight for second.
I would like to thank Jason for his comments. No matter how Jason’s season fares it will be exciting to follow his story from start to finish. Predictions get people excited. Predictions stir up emotions. Predictions can make an athlete look like a genius or a flippin idiot. But no matter what happens predictions are great for sports.
So he is a shout out to the entire Bush League nation: Make some predictions. Make someone upset. Try to give your team a boost and something to look forward to in the up coming season. More than anything get ready to “Rock the Yard” and “Make it Great in ‘08”
Well, I would make a bold prediction except that I think you are suppose to try and actually back up what you say with some action so you don't look like an goof in front all of your friends, family, acquiantances, co-workers and the media, and since I lost a record number of games last season, most of them by one run or in a lousy blastoff, I feel that I am in no position or condition to make a bold prediction which in turn makes the whole reason I am writing this kind of pointless except that I want to say that I am going to try really, really, really, really, really hard to never strike out again and never ever hit a weak grounder down the third base line ever again if I can help it.
And now a very brief commentary on the "BOLD PREDICTIONS" already posted. First of all, I wouldn't call out Mark or Jason but that is just me. Mark has won the HR and RBI thing every year he has been in the league so he has what's called SCOREBOARD, which means nobody can say anything until they knock Mark off the top. On the other hand Jason could easily get a lot more ABs by August before Mark rolls back into town. Hypothetically speaking, If we played two games every other Saturday starting in March until the end of July Jason could realistically have around 150 ABs at least. Mark may play some in March when Craig and KImball come out and again in Utah when everyone is there for vacation, but that gives him probably 50 ABs at the most and he'd still be stuck in the minors. He'd have August and September to catch up, but by October it starts to get cold in the Gila Valley, and I mean cold, sometimes as low as 40 or 50 degrees. I just don't know if he could catch Jason at that point being behind that many ABs and will the weather the way it is. Of course, there are a multitude of varialbles, intangibles and incontinence, or something like that, at play here so you can never say for sure what might happen because you just never know, you know what I mean? That's why they play the games as they say. And one other thing, what happens when you add Brandon to the mix. He's another one I would NOT recommend calling out. I try to stick to calling out guys I'm pretty sure I can beat like, 'Hey Dad, I'll race you to first base'. You know that kind of thing, but Brandon could just a easily beat Mark and Jason in HRs and RBIs.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I don't know what is going to happen, and I just love this time of year because right now the season is full of hope and there are no loses on record . . . yet. EVERYONE STILL HAS A CHANCE TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, even me, at least until the season starts and the games count, but that OK, because I love stickball anyway and that's all I'll wanted to say about that.
Beware: this post is laced with idle ramblings, deep-seeded sarcasm, random babblings, free associations, friendly banterings, light-hearted, whimsical jokes, a slew of run-on and fragmented sentence structures and pure, unadulterated nonsense mixed in with a dash of truth.
Tell me, did I just get the longest post ever?
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Clifton's gonna kill me.
Geesh, some people.
Craig, just stop it! You sound like Bill Walton. At the end of the year I am sure you will say, just like Bill would, that you called it and that guy is your new favorite player. Why didn't you use any HOOOOOOOORRIBLE phrase?
Congratulations, Craig, that is the longest comment ever on SLI. In fact, I think it's probably the longest comment on the Internet. You could have posted an entire article.
I agree that ABs are going to be the biggest factor this year. There's a significant chance that Mark is going to get held back into the minors, but by the time we know for sure, we'll be calling him Master Mark.
I still think we gotta start counting Wii Baseball stats so I can stay alive in the Year of the Double Baby Influx.
Peace out.