It’s time to roll out the ‘Fearless Friday Football Forecast’
When I began covering high school football at the Reading Eagle a while back — oh, like 40 years back — members of the sports staff participated in the weekly “Pigskin Picks.” We picked winners in the local games — and our readers loved it.
Some of the guys on the staff weren’t so crazy about the idea; they knew they’d hear about it if they picked the wrong team. Fans love to mention that stuff to you. Coaches do, too, trust me. They’ll say it doesn’t matter to them, but it does.
No one likes to be counted out.
Once, when I found myself behind in the standings late in the season, I went out on the limb and picked a big underdog, hoping to make up ground on the leaders. They lost, but their head coach appreciated my faith in his team. He even thanked me for it after the game. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was just throwing a Hail Mary! with that pick.
I’m not sure why but that popular weekly feature, like a lot of good things at the Eagle, went away.
This website is an effort to bring back a lot of that lost local coverage and bringing back a version of the “Pigskin Picks” seems like a good way to do it.
Starting Friday the rapidly expanding staff at MikeDragoSports.com will make weekly predictions on local high school games. We’re calling it the “Fearless Friday Football Forecast.”
Jeff Reinhart of LNP | LancasterOnline, our football teammates this season, will be joining the MikeDragoSports.com team in picking games. I know for a fact Jeff’s been studying these Week 1 games since February; he’s the early line favorite to win this thing.
We’ll pick all the games involving Berks teams, plus a few bonus Lancaster-Lebanon League games of interest. This week we’re adding Manheim Township at Cumberland Valley and Warwick at Cocalico to the slate. With 11 Berks games, we’ll have 13 total picks this week.
To spice things up, each Fearless Forecaster will have the option of “doubling down” on one game each week. Get it right, it counts as two wins. Get it wrong and . . . well, you’re gonna hear about it, pal.
Note: Forecasters are allowed to “double down” on the same team just once during the regular season (and a second time during the postseason), so use your Wyo pick judiciously. (This could get tough come Week 8 or 9.)
The stakes are high. The Fearless Forecaster who has the best record at the end of the season — playoffs included — will win a big, though as yet undefined prize. I’m thinking maybe a MikeDragoSports.com “Player of the Week” T-shirt and a four-foot sub from Mays Sandwich Shop.
Joe Mays, the former Bulldogs linebacker and a frequent photo contributor for the website, is picking games, too. I suggested the big sub as a prize; haven’t heard back about that yet.
Just keep in mind: It’s all in fun, and it’s all for the love of the game. No hard feelings if we don’t pick your team every week.
The guys on the MikeDragoSports.com writing team are champing at the bit to get to kickoff. Friday night can’t come fast enough.
