For the first time in, well, ever, I am happy to say it: I suck.
Apparently, as it was pointed out to me some 300 times over the course of last Saturday’s game by loyal Duck fans, I picked the Arizona State Sun Devils to beat the Oregon Ducks.
Needless to say, I was wrong. Oregon pulled off the 31-17 upset.
And unlike Duck fans out there who were also worried about Oregon’s chances against the Sun Devils in Tempe, my worries were printed in 8,500 copies of this paper.
Even worse, I picked against my own school and had my picture right above it.
I’ll see everyone in a few weeks; I’m entering the witness protection program.
I guess I could blame my shaky-at-best performance on jitters, as it was my first time making Pacific-10 Conference selections.
But, then again, there is no excuse for correctly picking only one out of four games.
I chose California to beat UCLA. I was wrong.
I picked Washington State to beat Stanford – wrong again.
In fact, the only game I picked correctly was USC over Arizona, but everyone and their dog picked the Trojans last week.
After all, USC entered the game winners of 26 straight and Arizona, which had lost 11 of its last 14 conference games, really had no chance.
To put my performance in perspective, journalism academic advisor Sally Garner, who by her own admission knew little about any of the games on Saturday, correctly picked three out of four games.
Her only loss came because pesky Stanford upset Washington State.
Congratulations Sally. Maybe we should switch jobs.
Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not bitter.
I was more pleased than anything that many of my conference picks went against me.
I was glad to see Cal finally play a quality opponent. Now Jeff Tedford and his Bears have been exposed after easily getting conference wins against Washington and Arizona and generously climbing the national polls.
I was also elated to see Stanford rebound with a win on the road at Washington State. The Cougars look very susceptible, and remember, Pullman is arguably Oregon’s toughest remaining road trip this season.
And, of course, it was the biggest win of the season for the Ducks against the No. 17-ranked Sun Devils. Saturday’s game in Tempe just may be the defining moment for this Oregon team in search of a return trip to a prominent bowl game.
But, you know how I am with predictions.
So if I happen to do something crazy like pick the Washington Huskies to beat the Ducks this weekend in Autzen, please don’t badger me about it – I did it for Oregon’s good.

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