Tuesday's Internet Edition, September 07, 2010.
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Sports writers, God bless them, ought to be ashamed of themselves. They unabashedly report the coaches’ vain-glorious predictions, their beliefs that THIS is their year.
It ain’t necessarily so.
In every game, half the teams lose. Usually, it’s the same teams over and over that do the losing.
We should learn.
This season’s lessons are the same as always: Given the opportunity, UNC will find a way to lose. Duke will always lose. Wake Forest will surprise you. And N.C. State can beat — or lose to — anybody.
Those are the axioms of college football in North Carolina. We all know that. Yet, many of our esteemed contest players picked ... Duke to win last week. Sure, they were playing a I-AA team, but the critical consideration was that they were “playing.” It doesn’t matter who or when or how. It’s a law of nature — like gravity — that Duke will lose.
There’s another constant:
MABEL SECHRIST, knows football.
Without fanfare, she has racked up a closet of our coveted caps and established herself as a steady player. She missed five games and hit the tie-breaker on the nose to secure her win.
Second place?
MATT REESE, COME ON DOWN!
It would have been good enough to win any other week. He missed five and missed the tie-breaker by only one point, but Reese has to settle for second this week.
Now for our coveted non cash winners:
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR AWARD: To others missing five — Joanne Clark, Susie Martin, Ron Lovelace, Cheryl O’Hara, Tommy Smith and Matt Wright.
BASKETBALL AWARD: To those missing the most, Donna Carter, dropping 15; honorable mention to Joel C. Davis of Raleigh, missing 14.
Gentle Readers, the Contest Director’s son is in the marching band at Davie High this year. He will be attending lots of high school football games as a result.
He was in the stands Friday night for the Davie County-West Rowan contest. It was a shoot-out, a 47-37 thriller, decided only when Davie intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. The game was much more exciting than the Miami-Florida State game on TV Monday night.
The Davie-West Forsyth contest figures to be a high-octane game later this fall — with a championship perhaps at stake.
How about that Mt. Tabor collapse Friday night? The Spartans, this year without Coach Bob Sapp, may have some early-season insecurities.
The Contest Director liked Titan player Wes Summers’ pre-season goal: “To show everybody we can beat Tabor in any weather.” Good luck to all.