By By Adam Robinson – sports editor
Well, the final four is now set. All No. 1 seeds have advanced to the final four for the first time ever. From the West bracket, we have UCLA; from the South bracket, we have Memphis, from the Midwest bracket we have Kansas; and from the East bracket, we have North Carolina.
North Carolina and Memphis are two of my final four picks, but my other two (Duke and Georgetown) have been out for a while now. But just for the record, I have North Carolina over Memphis in the finals next Monday. We will see in next Wednesday's edition if my pick came true or if really look like a goober.
Anyway, predictions are what I am writing this column about. As of Monday when I was writing this column for Wednesday's paper, I was 44 of 60 in correct picks.
That means of the 60 picks so far, I have predicted 44 correct. In a way that is kind of good. I have only missed 16 of 60. But in a way that is bad because overall in the Yahoo! picks for March Madness, I was ranked 811,346th nationwide.
Well, as you know, baseball season has started for the 2008 season. Actually it started last week in Japan with the Red Sox and Athletics splitting their two games. The U.S. opening day began Sunday night in Washington D.C. with President Bush tossing the first pitch at the Washington Nationals versus the Atlanta Braves in the new stadium in D.C., and the other teams started on Monday. The new stadium looked like a pretty nice stadium from what I saw on television.
Hopefully one day I can see it in person. It has always been a dream of mine to tour or go to a game in all the stadiums in Major League Baseball, and it is now my wife's dream along with mine.
Together we have been to Fenway Park in Boston (Yankees and Red Sox game on our honeymoon. I was surprised with tickets) and to Turner Field in Atlanta together even though that was before we were married, but it still counts, doesn't it?
Along with those two, I have been to Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park, old Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, Skydome in Toronto, the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis, if memory serves me.
I will be going to Yankee Stadium soon so I can mark that one off the list also. Only 22 more stadiums to go!
In the game Sunday night, the Nationals initiated the stadium in good fashion by winning on a Ryan Zimmerman walk-off homerun in the bottom of the ninth to win 3-2.
By the way, did you see the Braves' new road uniforms? Navy blue uniforms instead of the usual gray uni's. They looked pretty good, might I add. It is the first change since 1987 to the Braves' road uniforms.
Back to the topic of predictions.
According to 18 “experts” on ESPN and three on Yahoo!, the Tigers lead with five votes to win the World Series, followed by the Indians with four, the Red Sox and Mets with three, the Braves and Cubs with two and the Dodgers and Angels with one.
Just last week, Paul Finebaum predicted how the Auburn Tigers will do in football.
He predicts Auburn and Alabama's seasons every year based on their A-Day scrimmage.
This year, he predicts Auburn to go 8-4 and lose to Georgia, LSU, West Virginia, and Alabama.
I am anxious to see what he thinks about Alabama's 2008 season when their A-day game comes up pretty soon.
I have thought about doing a season prediction for our two area teams in football the week they have their spring games, but I know T.R. Miller's has already passed. Maybe we can do that next season.
I love to print out these predictions and actually see how they stack up against what is predicted and who actually wins.
Well, while we are on the subject of predicting and I have already thrown myself out to the wolves in my final four picks and national championship picks, I will just make my 2008 MLB season predictions.
Drum roll please