Being a Jinx: Why My Predictions Are Bad Luck

Posted by Iroquois Plisken

It is doubtless that faithful readers of the blog noted that the one week we failed to mention Iowa, they go down to a scrappy Northwestern team. I also summarily wrecked any Josh Nesbitt H---man chances, a mere day after I wrote:

Crouch: 1,500 yards passing with 7 TD's and a 134 rating while rushing for 1,100 yards with 18 TD's.
Nesbitt (current): 1,172 yards passing with 6 TD's and a 158 rating while rushing for 763 yards with 13 TD's.
Nesbitt (projected): 1,563 yards passing with 8 TDs and a 158 rating while rushing for 1,018 yards with 18 TD's.

In a year with no runaway candidate, why not Nesbitt, especially if Ga Tech wins the ACC?

Sure enough, he goes out and stinks up the joint against Wake Forest, though he was incredibly clutch when he needed to be. Further on the point, regular readers surely know that I crushed the playoff hopes of the Braves (and likely the rest of the teams that I predicted would do well), in addition to my misguided call of Dodgers in 6.

So, why does it seem like most calls that I (or perhaps you) make end up being wrong? Perhaps we just exist so that Vegas can make money, though most might call things differently with money on the line. There's some fairly accurate predictor of presidential elections (I forget where I saw it; I'm sure some Google expert can find it) that has people guess who will win the presidency on two levels. First, the pollees are asked who they want to win. Next, they ask if, they were to put money on the line, who they think will win. More often than not, people's money-line predictions tend to be truer to form than their gut instinct. Of course, I realize elections and sports don't parallel and has a much smaller sample size, but I find it interesting at the very least.

Perhaps I'm just not good at this prognostication thing. This is probably true. It makes the so-called expert/analyst predictions all the better when they hit a high clip of their predictions. Most likely, though, it just speaks to the thrill of the sport and to the nature of humans to try and rationalize their problems basing themselves as the root cause. We all want to believe we're great on some level, and for some, their sports prediction knowledge is what they metaphorically hang their hat on. Failure at this equivocates to failure at life.

I don't pride myself on knowing everything about sports. Like most, I have opinions about sports, some more correct than others, and I have my predispositions to teams/events/coaches. But, mostly...

I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHY I CAN'T WIN $1M FOR FAILING TO PICK 30 IN A ROW CORRECT ON ESPN'S STREAK FOR THE CASH. IT'S JUST AS HARD TO BE WRONG 30 TIMES IN A ROW AS IT IS TO BE RIGHT 30 TIMES IN A ROW!

Titular Joys: Combining Potluck Sports with Potlucks and Sports

Posted by Iroquois Plisken

In a rare moment of ironic self-awareness, I hosted a pot luck tailgate at my house during Saturday's Florida/LSU showdown and it never occurred to me that this sort of thing is, in part, the twin aims of the blog, though not necessarily in conjunction. A potluck tailgate is a bit of an odd creature: potlucks in general require, well, luck, but tailgates have a specific set of foods that are normally acceptable. Combining the staunch rigidity of commonly-accepted tailgate items along with the dynamic and unpredictable nature of a potluck surely would go off as well as an old guy and a midget (or, if you prefer, the present state of American partisan politics).

Having said that, the result was nothing short of enjoyable, exogenous of the outcome of the game (in full disclosure: Florida won, which has no bearing on how fun the gathering actually was). Here, as best as I can recall, was the result of the potluck.

Chips and Salsa - standard tailgate appetizer selection. I believe there were three dips (one mild salsa, one medium roasted pepper/bean salsa, and one queso), all of which were summarily dispatched before the game began.

Chicken Wings - in a little bit of schadenfreude, mere coincidence, or just plain tastiness, Crystal Louisiana Hot Sauce was the only marinade or seasoning used for these delicious morsels. There were quite a few made and quite a few left over. The rest of the tailgate's menu should indicate why. Note that it wasn't lack of flavor or bad taste that left so many wings preserved; it was the sheer volume of food brought above and beyond what was expected. And alcohol. That takes up room, too.

Show me Potato Salad! - Your standard red potato salad with all your standard ingredients plus bacon. Who doesn't like bacon? Even devout Jews eat bacon. Bacon makes everything better. Dogs like bacon (so they think!). You can't go wrong with bacon.

State Fair Corn Dogs - Here was the true schadenfreude. As previously mentioned, though LSU fans do NOT, in fact, eat corn dogs at their tailgates, they do still smell as such. So, we served these delicate little morsels. Their inherent deliciousness was only exceeded by the thought that every time I ate one, I ate away part of their SEC West hopes.

Coconut Chicken with Pina Colada sauce - This was the (somewhat) surprising entrant. None of us really counted on a meal of such intricacy to be present, but who are we to complain at the generosity of our business invitees? In the interest of being honest, I loathe coconut. I did find, however, this meal to be enjoyable in spite of my predetermined feelings towards coconut. The PC sauce, though, was gone before I could sample it.

Brownies - Brownies are great. To preempt, no, they were not special, nor made of Girl Scouts. Sickos.

For the libations, there was cheap American macrobrews. There was also a wonderful rendition of homemade tea ("sweet tea", for you Northern heathens) and bourbon.

All in all, a very enjoyable experience. I myself would have liked a shade more notice so I could attempt to prepare something requiring a bit more skill (like the beef brisket that went over VERY well at the UF/UT game, or perhaps my dry-rub rib recipe), but the food, company, and result of the game were most enjoyable.