The 2010 Accountability Scoreboard: Wrong about everything!
Oh, woeful me. (Photo by Ben Gray; illustration by Mandi Albright)
The annual Accountability Scoreboard reflects, I’m afraid, a bleak House of Bradley. I was wrong about pretty much everything in 2010. Usually I’m only wrong about most things. A partial recap:
• Wrong about Georgia Tech beating Iowa in the Orange Bowl and beating Georgia in basketball. When your year starts with you being wrong about the same school twice on the night of Jan. 5, you should know you’re in for it. Though I was too stupid to know any such thing.
• Wrong about Texas beating Alabama in the BCS title game. Though I might have been right if not for Mack Brown’s SHOVEL PASS.
• Wrong about the Braves finishing third behind Florida and Philadelphia in the National League East.
• Wrong about Duke getting beat by Louisville in Round 2 of the NCAA tournament. Wrong also about three of my Final Four, being right only about West Virginia.
• Wrong about the Hawks beating Orlando in Round 2 of the NBA playoffs. Possibly the worst prediction ever.
• Wrong about the Celtics beating the Lakers in the NBA finals.
• Wrong about LeBron James staying in Cleveland.
• Wrong about the sun rising in the West. (I just made that up. Though it sounds like something I’d have predicted in Twenty Ten.)
• Wrong about those 8 reasons the Braves wouldn’t squander their division lead. I’d recanted my earlier skepticism, which only served to make me wrong about the same team twice. Yikes.
• Wrong about Georgia, which I had going 9-3, and Tech, which I picked to finish 8-4. Wrong about Auburn being overrated. Wrong about Florida winning the BCS title. (Good grief.) Wrong about some guy from Houston winning the Heisman.
• Wrong about Georgia beating Florida. This was also a recant. The lesson herein: Stick with your original gut feeling unless it involves Orlando losing to the Hawks.
• Wrong — by the scant margin of 40 points — about South Carolina beating Auburn in the SEC title game. Also possibly the worst prediction ever. It’s downright revoltin’ when one year brings two such howlers.
OK, now you’re asking: Did you get anything right? A few things, sort of.
• I tabbed South Carolina as the rising team in the SEC East and had the Gamecocks going 9-3, which they did. But I still had them second to Florida. (I have no idea why I was so high on the Gators. Maybe my jean shorts were too tight.)
• I had Tennessee winning its final four games to finish 6-6, which actually happened. But it was only Tennessee, so who cares?
• And I had the Falcons winning the NFC South, which they surely will, but I had them going 12-4 and they’ll do better than that. I also had them playing for the NFC title — against Dallas in Arlington, Texas.
The Falcons might well wind up in Arlington, but it won’t be for the NFC title game. It’ll be for the Super Bowl. But that’s not yet a prediction. Because I don’t want to jinx them just yet, and when you’ve had as lousy a year as I have, you get tired of being wrong. Which means I’m suspending, at least for the remainder of this calendar year, the Accountability Scoreboard tradition of offering a pick for the coming year.
For the record, last year’s look-ahead involved Georgia State’s game at Alabama. I boldly forecast that the Panthers would score — three whole points! They managed seven. Wrong again.
By Mark Bradley
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184 comments Add your comment
weezie
December 27th, 2010
6:47 am
hey mark-go ahead and look like a genius and pick ga bb in sweet 16!!!!!
TECH ENGINEER
December 27th, 2010
7:01 am
Take this to the bank for 2011: Tech beats Ga and wins the ACC. Tech is back! Ga—heading to another minor bowl somewhere cold.
fla dawg
December 27th, 2010
7:16 am
da double w g…. or whatever… that game is over and done. we have a lot more problems than convincing ANYONE that we are better than GT. let it go man!
Ted M
December 27th, 2010
10:11 am
Mark,
How come you haven’t made any predictions about the Hawks this season?
fieldofdreams
December 27th, 2010
10:27 am
Romans 3:23 — we’re all wrong about the thing that counts the most. Romans 10:10 – there is hope, though.
Katherine
December 27th, 2010
10:28 am
I think it takes a big man to admit you were wrong…here’s hoping your 2011 predictions will be better for you
Skeezix
December 27th, 2010
10:47 am
Mark: This is proof that you need to brush up on college basketball–I mean you didn’t have that Duke team getting out of the second round? Geezz…
Mostly this just proves how hard it is to predict sports. By the way, now that most of the trading is over with, what is your prediction for the NL East? And, what is your prediction on when Tech will finally cut PH loose?
Game Chicken Lou
December 27th, 2010
10:48 am
Ther Chicken curse is still alive and the dawgs will lose again to this pathetic football program in 2011. Dawgs still get no respect.
Mark Richt won with Donnan players and BVG.
December 27th, 2010
10:54 am
I know Mr. Mark Bradley doesn’t necessarily buy into this truth but it will continue to pan out in 2011 .Thus the blind homers will be proven wrong once again in 2011 that CMR is the coach for UGA.
Hayseed Dixie
December 27th, 2010
11:19 am
Mark,
Being a Sportswriter in the 21st Century isn’t about accurate predictions, hell, any sociopathic parasite in Las Vegas can do that s—-.
IT IS, however, about provocative article titles that get you as many clicks as possible. And you’re pretty good on that front, so no worries.
(oh, and entertaining your readers comes in as a close second).
Happy New Year!
Mark Bradley
December 27th, 2010
11:20 am
Thanks, Hayseed Dixie.
Dawg Tired
December 27th, 2010
1:00 pm
Mark – The only perfect people are those folks on these blogs who make grand predictions, are usually wrong, and keep making the same type of asinine predictions again and again. However, you do have to admit one thing: they always believe they are right and will actually get in other folks’ faces very rudely if those other folks disagree with their asinine predictions.
UKUGA
December 27th, 2010
1:03 pm
Read your Lakers-Celtics article for the first time.
Pretty poor analysis. Ignoring the impact of home court was pretty ridiculous. Saying that the Celtics had already beaten two teams that were better than LA, also ridiculous.
tyger
December 27th, 2010
2:23 pm
I’ve been telling you that for years!!!!
42-34 73-72
December 27th, 2010
2:29 pm
The only thing that Trek engineers have ever developed is the shake weight and the mall of America field roof
42-34 73-72
December 27th, 2010
2:34 pm
The shake weight was the most natural motion known by Trekkie’s
That is why you see so many GT girls flooding Athens on weekends
Have fun losing another bowl tonight
61-39-5
KK
December 27th, 2010
4:25 pm
Mark: What you predict for me in 2011?
Skeezix
December 27th, 2010
4:29 pm
Mark: When was the last time a Georgia team made it to the sweet 16?
Ben Cook
December 27th, 2010
4:57 pm
That’s OK Mark, even when you bring up what you predicted as wrong you still make it entertaining and that’s reasonably all anybody can ask for.
Steve
December 27th, 2010
5:24 pm
You were also wrong about bashing the Javier Vazquez trade, but so were abotu 95% of the posters on these boards … AND I HAVE YET TO SEE ANYONE FULLY ADMIT IT. Plenty of folks qualifying their ineptitude by refusing to encompass the entire trade, which was jsut more than the five players immediately traded (Logan, Vazquez, Cabrera, Dunn and Vizzie).
Anyone just trying to say the trade was mostly a wash because these five players evened otu is refusing to see the whole picture. The Braves saved over $8 million on that trade. Money that was used to offset the signings of Hinske, Glaus, and partially offset the upgrades in the back end of the bullpen. Or, you could look at it as the Braves having enough free money midway thru the year to bring in Ankiel, Lee, and most importantly to get rid of the lazy can of recycled food Escobar.
Or, you could also see it as the Braves knowing they were trading one year of a player from a position of depth to further establish that same position with multiple year controlled future depth while rolling the dice on a possible outfield upgrade.
Yet .. I still hear almost everyone who blasted Wren for making that deal still defending their position. Sure, people are pattign Wren on the back for other stuff .. but it’s time everyone that bashed that deal admit that it worked out in 2010 .. not just that it might work out in the future.
noel malone
December 27th, 2010
11:53 pm
how do you keep a job?
re the season, 6-7, worst season since 1996. tragic. lost past six bowls- tragic. lost five of last six
games? did losing nesbitt make that much difference?
considering how lousy the basketball team is, I suggest we give up sports. MIT and Cal Tech don’t
bother with sports – why should we?
Noel Malone, class of 57.
Tech-is-my-bee-otch
December 28th, 2010
8:22 am
Is your love affair with CPJ mentioned? Shouldn’t you do what you would do if this was UGA; calling for Paul Johnson’s head and how his offense is rendered, like yourself, impotent. Tech lost five of its last six games and has dropped its past six bowl games, including the last three under Johnson. In those losses, Tech’s option offense has averaged 8 points and 263 yards.Time for him to go…he obviously can’t coach with the big boys..lost to Air Force…Air Force…..wow….
Logan Booker
December 28th, 2010
9:28 am
The Tech obsessed dawg fan is back on these blogs again using a variety of handles. How’s that Georgia Perimeter College degree going? Still sore about not getting into Tech and flunking UGA? LMAO
All I'm Saying Is...
December 28th, 2010
2:07 pm
No one—besides a local television meteorologist or one working for The Weather Channel—is paid to say so much that is so wrong so often yet never run the risk of losing their job like Mark Bradley. Obviously, the rest of us are in the wrong profession as his does not require any actual skill, knowledge, or expertise.
Captain Lou Albano
December 28th, 2010
7:21 pm
You were right Auburn was overrated. Cam Newton was underrated. And Mark, quit picking on Tennessee. Pick on Florida since they made you look so bad.
GTrek Season In Review
December 29th, 2010
3:22 pm
1. 9 of 10 – FAIL
2. 42-34- FAIL
3. But we’re a basketball school (73-72)- FAIL (also see Kennesaw State)
4. The triple joke (excuse me) option is unstoppable- FAIL
5. CPJ is smart by giving up an extra 7- FAIL
6. Nesbitt for Heisman- FAIL
7. We’ll sell out at least one game this year – FAIL
8. Free hot dogs are worth watching a 1940 offensive scheme – FAIL
9. Sure recruits will come to play for an offense shunned by the NFL and a defensive coordinator who’s coaching record is first mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls- FAIL
10. At least we’re not in Shreveport – FAIL
The Curse of the Tomahawk Chop
December 30th, 2010
11:28 am
That’s what’s so right about you you’re alway’s wromg.
Bradley Curse
December 30th, 2010
6:54 pm
“And I had the Falcons winning the NFC South, which they surely will, but I had them going 12-4 and they’ll do better than that. I also had them playing for the NFC title — against Dallas in Arlington, Texas”
there’s the jinx .. quote it if the Falcons have to play either the Rams or Seahawks in 2 weeks
Brazils
December 31st, 2010
11:12 am
Yeah, Bradley. Thanks for confirming it… that’ why when you have a new blog post I don’t even read it because you are soooooooo far removed from the sports world. Why don’t they fire you?!?!
YourGTBoss
December 31st, 2010
10:42 pm
GT owns UGA where it counts. In real life. Now get back to work, before I FIRE you.
GT BABy
January 1st, 2011
1:17 am
.
GT BABy
January 1st, 2011
1:18 am
HAHHAHA….Forget abot trying to beat florida every year, just beat Central Fla. hahaha. Im so glad your football proram is a joke, yall deserve it dbags!
Richard Dawson
January 1st, 2011
2:24 pm
You left out “Wrong about all my prior support of Mark Richt.” Well, that’s not a 2010 prediction, but still. Glad to see you turn the corner this season. I jumped off the Richt bandwagon early in the 2007 season when it was becoming apparent to me that he did not have the fire and intensity to compete long-term in the SEC. I was the lone voice crying in the wilderness at the time. Now, a few others have joined me.
FIRE MARK RICHT.
cloudmanjacket
January 1st, 2011
5:15 pm
Just admit you know nothing about sports.