COLUMN: Sometimes, it’s good to be wrong in sports

I love eating crow. It’s my favorite food, particularly when it pertains to sports and the absurd number of predictions and ponderings sent out into the void by its pundits on a daily basis.

The vast majority of these alleged assurances are born on the internet, whether it’s via The Forum Formerly Known As Twitter, where anyone can post their sports musings, or on a news website.

Other takes get thrown out on radio airwaves, as sports shows ranging in scale from hyperlocal to nationally-listened go on air for hours every day. Plenty more opinions sprout up in newspapers — like the one you may be holding right now, depending on where you read this — and other mediums.

These sports predictions, more often than not, are supposed to be correct. Some folks aim to be more inflammatory than accurate, of course, but at the end of the day the prophecies on game outcomes are intended to be true.

I am like this. I have to be. It is, in some cases, a sports editor’s job. I submit picks for the Creekside Sports website for local high school games. I’ve been on their radio show. Heck, you’re reading my column. This thing is filled with things that are, ultimately, just my opinion on a weekly basis.

So yeah, I want to be right. Everyone does. When you have a conversation with friends and someone tries to name an actor from a movie, and you get the actor’s name right, a pang of dopamine comes from within. It’s human nature.

But here’s a secret — I like to be wrong sometimes. I said it in the first sentence, I’ll say it again: I love eating crow, and I ain’t kidding.

I’ve spoken at length before about “the unexpected” being the reason sports are so captivating. This conversation has echoes of that sentiment, but it focuses more on the margins of the upset than the cataclysmic David vs. Goliath type clashes. 

Plenty of people were “wrong” in thinking Northern Illinois had no chance against Notre Dame this past weekend, for instance, but it’s not as if people were dying on that hill. When the preordained, inescapable talent chasm is so great between two teams, we lose interest.

I love being wrong about the close games. That’s where it really counts.

A big region upset

The Southwest Patriots pulled out a thrilling win over the Bleckley Royals last weekend, winning 30-29 thanks to a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute. Their quarterback, Steve Robinson — really a third-string emergency option, actually, he started the season as their best wide receiver before he had to take over as signal caller — had a fantastic game, finishing with 388 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns. The Royals had been ranked in the top 10 for 2A.

This was an upset, certainly, but not necessarily a high-profile one. But either way, boy, was I wrong. I picked against Southwest, despite the Patriots being a Bibb County team I regularly cover. I’d seen them compete twice already this year against Macon County and Northeast, and both times they showed flashes of skill in games Southwest ultimately lost.

I congratulated head coach Joe Dupree at the first Macon Touchdown Club meeting of the new season (at which, might I add, Robinson and his defensive lineman teammate Marquis Hutchings won Back and Lineman of the Week awards). It had been a special night, Dupree said. No doubt about that.

Of course I liked being wrong about that game, though. It was a Macon team winning a road game against a high-profile ranked team. That’s great for Bibb County and a fun story. What about when I’m wrong about something harsher?

The Central Chargers have not reached the football playoffs or had a winning season since 2020, when they went 6-4 and placed third in their region. Even then, it seemed like an outlier — Central’s last winning season before that 2020 year was in 2016.

Though my opinion did not make it to print, I thought relatively new Chargers coach Jarrett Laws would get the team moving this year. I’m a big fan of Laws, his track record as a coach and his attitude about the game, though my impression is admittedly limited; it’s not as if I know the coach personally, but I liked him when I’ve spoken to him.

Central has since started the season 0-4. Even against East Laurens, who I hoped they’d beat to earn their first win of the season, the Chargers faltered. As a Central alum, it does not make me happy to be wrong.

Here’s what it does instead: it gives the story a curve, a bend in the river that makes me, as an editor, think harder about winning, losing, coaching. 

Of course I’m biased as a fan, so I want it to work out. But from a writer’s perspective, what makes football teams tick? How can a team with a quarterback like Justin Releford, who can throw accurate passes, and a lengthy wide receiver like Joshua Pettigrew not at least win a few games early?

Granted, the Chargers have had a pretty tough opening schedule. They’ve already clashed with some of the region’s top teams, and Central’s only non-region game was its opening week matchup with 3A Dougherty, a powerful team.

Being wrong makes me think harder. That’s why I love it so much.

We had a conversation in the office recently about how sports are an imminently accessible form of social interaction for many men. Athletic prognoses have formed the foundation of many friendships, both temporary ones and those of the lifelong variety, my editor Caleb Slinkard agreed.

It’s because, I think, sports are infinitely discussable. Nearly everything is up for debate, even if you think it isn’t. 

Somebody could tell you Christian McCaffrey isn’t the best running back in the NFL, for example. The statement is wrong on its face, yes, but any number of caveats could be put on it to make it true — maybe if you wanted the best “pure runner,” you’d say another back was superior.

We all want to be right. Most of us do, at least. We all want to be the smartest guy in the room. It’s why fantasy sports exist, and why plenty of people — myself one of them — will reach for a player they believe will outperform the expectations of the masses.

Being wrong in fantasy is less fun. But on other sports divinations, be it baseball bets or football forecasts, sometimes the wrong answer is the most intriguing one.