Predictions can be difficult to make...

...especially about the future. Okay, I borrowed that line from E. J. Dionne, but I'll bet he borrowed it from somebody else. Readers of this blog will know that I made my first ever prognostications yesterday in regards to the Illinois high school football playoffs. All in all, I did better than I expected, 9-6, a .600 winning percentage that I think anyone should be happy with. Granted, I stuck mostly with the favorites, but bracket seeds in high school football can be almost meaningless given how so few of the teams have common opponents. To recap, my winners were Warren, Maine South, Brother Rice, Naperville North, and Loyola in 8A. My losers were Glenbrook South and St. Patrick's. In 7A, Cary-Grove, Fenwick, and Geneva were all victorious; Steinmetz, St. Laurence, and Thornton-Fractional South went down in defeat. In the lower brackets, I split; Lemont beat Lake Forest but Sandwich fell to Coal City.

My early picks for next week (I'll have to wait for the full injury reports for these to be final) are as follows:

8A: Bartlett over Fremd (as my brother Tom once observed, "How often do you see the M and the D next to each other?");
Warren over Schaumburg (remember I said to watch that Warren team);
Maine South over Loyola;
Barrington over New Trier;
Hinsdale Central over Bolingbrook in my big upset of the week;
Brother Rice over Belleville East;
Naperville North over Marist; and
Lincoln-Way East over Mt. Carmel.

In 7A, I'll stick with Geneva, Cary-Grove, and Fenwick in a big upset over Glenbard West. I also like Carmel, Crystal Lake South, Downers Grove North, St. Rita, and my Cinderella team, De La Salle, in an upset over scary East St. Louis.

Nobody really cares about anything below 7A, but I want to give honorable mention to Highland Park (let's hear it for the future agents), Normal Community (sounds like something out of "Pleasantville"), Nazareth (a shout-out to my sister Joanne), Bishop McNamara (the team, not the individual), and Metropolis Massac County (which we can be sure is anything but a metropolis).

Stay tuned for further updates.