Notice anything different? Predictions game loses a player

Something is not right today. I feel a little strange.

For many years, I spent this particular week pounding out a massive state boys basketball tournament column.

And I do mean massive. The column ranged anywhere from 80-100 inches.

It was like writing a couple of term papers within a few hours on deadline.

I would predict winners of the eight Class AA games in Champaign and later Peoria, trying to provide some background on each team to make the tournament more enjoyable for fans who watched in person or on television.

I would predict the four winners on Friday, and then, of course, the rest of the weekend's selections were dictated by results of the first four games.

That really sounds simple enough, but there was more to it than that.

I couldn't start the column until I knew what teams were in the Elite Eight. That meant arriving very early on Wednesday morning and just pounding at the computer until finished.

It was nonstop writing from about 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. I usually skipped lunch.

I had to have the column finished in midafternoon because it dictated page designs for our Sports Extra sections in all five circulation zones.

How many clever lines could I come up with? Did I use too many adjectives? Did I have the right players on the right teams? Was it interesting for the readers?

When you write that fast, it's also very easy to make mistakes, factual and grammatical.

What always concerned me was that I hadn't seen all eight teams play, particularly those arriving from southern Illinois.

What made me an expert?

Last year O'Fallon arrived in the Elite Eight. I didn't even know where O'Fallon was, much less what kind of basketball team it had.

O'Fallon was playing Lockport in the quarterfinals. Now I knew something about Lockport, a familiar name in Illinois basketball. They had placed fourth in the state in 1973 and won it all in 1978 at 33-0.

"I like Lockport," I wrote, not even worrying about this prediction.

O'Fallon won 48-45.

When the state expanded to four classes and the Elite Eight became the Final Four, I decided this was the perfect time to break from tradition. It was time to "retire" from the predictions game.

I had done the predictions column long enough. I felt we needed a change in our Sports Extra, a fresh approach to how we previewed the tournament.

I must admit the predictions game had its moments over all those years.

Yes, I got them all right on a few occasions, very few.

Yes, I missed all four quarterfinal games a few times, which meant I had every game wrong over two days.

Yes, I was accused of being a homer when I picked local teams to do well at state.

I was so caught up with Hersey's Elite Eight appearance in 1974, the first time a team from the Northwest suburbs had gone to Champaign, that I brazenly picked coach Roger Steingraber's Huskies to win it all.

"Can Huskies go all the way? Why not!"

That was the big headline over my column on March 22, 1974.

"You gotta believe.

"I believe."

That's the way Bob Frisk, the homer columnist, started the column.

Hersey lost 56-51 to Bloom in the quarterfinals.

However, I almost had the last laugh in 2001.

Schaumburg's run to the state title followed that homer approach when I picked coach Bob Williams' Saxons to win both the quarterfinal and semifinal games.

I was on a roll as they knocked off Aurora West by 13 and LaGrange by 1.

That's when I stopped. Why? Homers don't stop.

I picked Thornwood and Eddy Curry to beat the Saxons for the state title.

Schaumburg won 66-54.

I apologized to Williams and the Saxons at the Daily Herald's basketball banquet for jumping off the homer bandwagon.

There were some years in the predictions game when I thought I had a lock on picking the state champion. I was confident, even cocky.

In 1995 Chicago Farragut had superstars Kevin Garnett and Ronnie Fields, both all-staters. How could they lose? This was a slam-dunk for me. I had them winning it all.

Thornton beat Farragut in the quarterfinals 46-43.

For somebody who doesn't gamble on anything, I admittedly was totally out of my element with a predictions column. It was time to stop.

Now I can relax and let somebody else look foolish.