Honestly, we weren’t picking on you

By Tony Zonca — MikeDragoSports.com senior contributor

If memory serves correct — not a given these days — it was the mid-1970s when somebody in the sports department of the Reading Eagle came up with an idea meant to improve readership of the section.

We were a week away from the scholastic football season and as a staff we were asked to make our picks of each week’s games.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.

We made our picks, which were published in box form each Friday.

Successful?  You decide.

Everything seemed normal until we showed up to cover the games.  As the season unfolded we were looked on as mostly villains but hardly oracles.

In games that were one-sided not much was said by fans, players or coaches.  Those were no-brainers and we received little acclaim for making the right pick.  However, if a school was having a losing season, they all seemed to conspire to somehow blame us for their mounting losses.

“Nice pick, Zonca, I hope you’re bleeping happy,” was one of the nicer comments I heard on the way to my postgame interviews.

There were times when fans and coaches acted as though I had just thrown Lassie down the well.

Especially after the so-called rivalry games that dotted the schedule — Wilson-Mifflin, Central Catholic-Holy Name, for example.

Losers of these hotly contested matchups were never in a good mood.  If you made the right pick you were merely tolerated; otherwise you were regarded as a home invader.

Some coaches confided that our weekly picks only added to the pressure to succeed.  Others admitted they used the picks as motivation.

We were just trying to sell more newspapers.

Fans are fans; they are mostly out of touch with reality and need somebody to blame for misfortune.  We were easy prey.  The players?  Well, they were only responding to what they were being fed.

The reaction of a handful of coaches surprised us.  We were regarded as the enemy, and they made our job difficult if we visited the losing locker room.  There was a definite chill in the air, and the temperature outside had nothing to do with it.  Some coaches were downright disdainful.

Once, though, I was the only one to pick an upset.  When I opened the door to the locker room the players were chanting:  “Zonca, Zonca, Zonca!”

Once.

Coaches such as John Gurski of Wilson, Ferdie Kuczala of Conrad Weiser, Don Thomas of Exeter and Dave Rugh of Holy Name were cool about the concept.  A few acted as though we had stolen their playbook and shared it with their opponent.  At least one coach, who shall go nameless, was outright hostile toward our staff, but that was his nature during the best of times.

Finally, when I gained some clout in the department, I put an end to publishing our picks.  I feared some guys were planning to enter the FBI’s Witness Protection Program.  Over the years as sportswriters we could never seem to convince certain schools and their backers that we had no rooting interest in the outcome of games.  Heck, most of us grew up outside the county.  We were just doing our job.

Truth is, the only interest we shared in making those picks was winning the pot — we each contributed $5 each week — for having the best record.

And that DID make me happy.