And that’s why they play the game
Sports editor Jeremy Stewart writes about game predictions in his column.
One of the concepts of sports media that I have a tough time accepting is the idea of the upset factor.
It’s supposedly a quantifiable aspect of a game upon which a person bases their expectations of the outcome. But everybody’s thoughts on what an upset absolutely is vary greatly. It’s really the opinion of a fan, a coach, a writer or an editor whether or not a win qualifies as an upset.
The idea of an upset does get a little more concrete when national rankings or polls are brought into the mix. But even those are usually voted on or influenced by a few individuals. And I’m not confident enough to say that my opinion is infallible, that’s for sure.
However, each Friday during football season, myself and a group consisting of fellow local writers, newspaper employees and media types share our predictions on who we think will win the weekend’s games in the Rome News-Tribune.
It’s a tradition that started way before I became a writer and I’ve done my part to try and keep it alive.
We make light-hearted jabs at each other now and then about a pick someone made, but it is all in fun. And sometimes it can add to the argument of whether a team’s win can be considered an upset. Take for instance Coosa’s 42-26 win over North Murray on Friday.
Coosa was chosen by five of the nine panelists to beat the Mountaineers, who had beaten the Eagles 56-27 last season and were coming off a 57-21 win over Christian Heritage to start the season. Coosa then found a groove and pulled out a great victory, proving four of us wrong. But is it fair to call that an upset? Coosa had just defeated Coahulla Creek 65-14 the week before and has always had some talented, physical players on its roster. I’m sure for Eagle fans and those associated with the team, the outcome was exactly what they believed would happen.
In full disclosure, we did refer to the win as an upset in our report of the game in Saturday’s paper, but I think we’ll be reevaluating that for future Coosa victories. Head coach Todd Wheeler and his program appear to have turned a corner.
And, yes, I chose North Murray to win. Add that to the list of things to learn from as well.
But I do know the weekly predictions in the RN-T have their followers. Sometimes they end up being the subjects of our stories from Friday night.
Years ago I went up to a high school head football coach after his team’s particularly stellar win over a tough opponent and asked him what pushed his guys to pull out the victory.
“Well, to be honest Jeremy,” the coach started, “I think it was that you picked against us in the paper today.”
As a still young writer at the time, my first reaction was one of slight terror and self loathing, but he laughed it off and continued his response. That’s when I started to realize that predictions, or even words like “upset” or “stunner,” do have a place in sports — as bulletin board material.