On New Year’s Day, when I wrote my Sports Predictions for 2015 blog, I didn’t expect to arrive at this the year’s halfway point with not one correct pick. On March 28th, I wrote a quarterly update blog about being Oh for Three.  It was mostly light hearted fare.  I figured in Quarter 2 I’d get at least one pick right.  The result? It’s been another lousy quarter for my sports prognostications.  I’m now oh for six and looking for a bloop single in Q3.  There’s still time to salvage my year.  It’s getting serious now.  Let’s review my predictions and the outcomes for the last 3 months.

No, Tiger Woods didn’t win the Master’s Tournament in April. Damn it!  With a -5 score for the tournament, Tiger finished in a tie for 17th place.  Not too bad for most golfers but not for Tiger.  Who could’ve predicted Jordan Spieth would win his first major? With his score of -18 Spieth tied the 72-hole record set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and became the second youngest to win the Masters, behind Woods. And, what makes this even worse is Spieth is sponsored by UA. Boo!

In May, I was just as mistaken. No, Circassian didn’t win the Kentucky Derby. She didn’t even make the 19 horse field. I missed the mark so much I couldn’t find hay if I fell into a barn. Not only did American Pharoah win the Kentucky Derby, he went on to win the Preakness and Belmont too. He is the first American Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 and only the twelfth in history.  Obviously, I’m not in the know about Thoroughbreds.

How could I have picked against my own team?  I know.  Never bet against the USA.  It’s just, I thought the #1 ranked team in Women’s Football was going all the way.  Oh Scheisse! On the last day of June, the USA National Team beat my pick 2-0 to make it to the Final of this year’s Women’s World Cup.  The blonde haired, blue eyed, fraulines from Germany let me down!  The USA now will face their arch rival from the last World Cup, Japan.  Yes, of course, NOW I’m predicting the red, white, and blue!

Well, this just goes to show you about the beauty of sport.  It’s unpredictability is why you play the games.  There really are never any guarantees in a sports contest.  Of anyone, I should know.  I’ve built my life around sports.  I’ve literally been playing ball since I was 5 years old and have never stopped.  I played high school and intercollegiate football and baseball.  I work at NIKE.  If a news item isn’t on Sports Center, I don’t know about it.  My favorite TV program is any game.  I have 15 Sports Apps on my mobile phone.  I love sports.  I know sports. I’m not only connected, I live for sports.  I just can’t predict the outcomes and neither can you.  Isn’t it glorious?

Sports have been around since the very existence of human life.  There are cave paintings from 17,300 years ago depicting sprinting and wrestling.  You can’t tell me way back then the cavemen and cavewomen watching those events weren’t trying to predict the winner of those games and getting just as frustrated as I am today most of their guesses were wrong.  And yet, 1,730 decades later, we’re still playing and we’re still guessing incorrectly.