When you finally get your 10,000 hours of predicting in, there is no point in continuing to keep track of being “right” or “wrong” because that’s not why we do what we do. When I wear my official League of Extraordinary Predictors badge and fanny pack around town and people see me, they know — right or wrong — that I am a man who predicts things, and they respect that.
One doesn’t simply “make prediction.” It takes hours of study and, in my experience, even more hours of procrastination. These things don’t “just happen.” They come from somewhere deep and it requires soul searching usually reserved for much more serious matters, which is why only 17 of us in the world are able to do this.
People will read last week’s five predictions and say, “Tony, you got four of your five predictions completely wrong.” To which I would say, “Only four? Make sure you don’t look at the bonus predictions.” I would then remind them of something that Thomas Edison said when he failed to invent the light bulb. I have not failed, I’ve just found four ways to be wrong about predictions.
Welcome back to my weekly game predictions! It has been a while, but I’m glad you have returned to once again have your Saturday action spoiled just a bit. The spring, I once again attended the annual Football Predictors Conference and Recital, and the keynote speech was delivered by a guy who was correct on 86% of his predictions last season.
The last thing my Prediction Master told me on his death bad was that he knew this was coming. The second-to-last thing he told me was that predicting college football is the most difficult soothsaying there is. For one, you can’t trust these dang millennials. For two, on any given play with 22 players on the field, at least 11 are screwing up.
The seventh thing they tell you at Predictor’s College is to use a bye week to start over fresh. If you have a losing record, let it go. No reason to let a losing record make people think you can’t predict good. I’ve never used this approach before because why scrap my usual 94% prediction rate? Now, however, I think it’s for the best.
I’ll be honest. I am completely lost as a predictor. I used to be around 92-94% in my predictions, but this year I am well under 75%. I have asked myself how this could happen to me and the answer I keep coming back to is “because of jerks.” Last week’s predictions are the worst I have ever done, but I’m not going to make…
I got a letter this week saying that my Predictor’s Guild dues were overdue, but they aren’t even due until the 23rd. However, I wasn’t planning on paying until the first of the month, which tells you how dang good the Predictor’s Guild is at predicting delinquent accounts. I haven’t really felt like much of a predictor lately…
On Monday, I sent out the October edition of the Predictor’s World Newsletter. It’s something that I came up with to bring America’s — and three of Canada’s — predictors together and to provide us with a forum for discussion, debate, and basic human contact. All via a monthly email. The theme of October’s newsletter is that the more incorrect your prediction, the more forceful your blame needs to be. If you ever want to make it as a predictor, then you have to…
The first thing they teach you at The Prediction Academy is that there is no such thing as an incorrect prediction. Instead, we are taught to explain that there are circumstances that kept some predictions from being correct. That is why I routinely receive angry emails and voicemails from the people at TPA who are irate…
When it comes to predicting things, the world is my oyster. I spend most of my waking hours predicting things. I predict things like when the microwave is going to finish making my pizza. I will stop watching the clock with about three minutes left, then purposely distract myself so I’m not counting down in my head, then — all the…
