Denver Post tells writers to stop making picks in games they cover

The Horoscope section could save newspapers! ???

 

Picking a score does not imply taking a side or rooting for a team. This is moronic. With this kind of thinking, the Post will soon be just as good as the Rocky.

 

I know on ESPN.com there are a couple games that the guys don't pick because they're one of the analysts that week.

Are picks columns the best things writers can do from a "journalism" standpoint? Of course not, but the readers love that shit and that should count for something.

 

To be fair, The Post has enough columnists that they can probably assemble 5-6 people to make the NFL picks.

 

Exactly. ...

My father-in-law, without fail, every Friday tells me what score our SE picked for his hometown high.
He always checks our Friday picks section .. And just to see who we picked to win. He wants to see the projected scores.
Fans also mention our picks ... I have a guy that calls me twice a week to discuss my picks.

FWIW:
Our staff is pretty damn good at predictions ... Picking 22-25 high school, college and occasional NFL, games no one is below 82 percent accuracy.

 

Fans don't necessarily want picks; they want a scapegoat.

If you pick home team, "he did it to fire up our opponent. He hates us."

If you pick the opponent, "What did you expect? He hates us."

Seen both angles repeatedly on college football message boards.

And I don't think a writer is any more qualified than a die-hard fan, who probably spends MORE of his time following the team than the writer (and not because he's getting a paycheck).

He mat not have the access the writer does, but that kind of access really doesn't lend itself to an advantage of knowing who's going to win anyway.

Back when we were a real newspaper and employed an NFL writer who made picks each week, he was something like 38% on his picks ATS.

When flipping a coin kicks your butt by 12%, it's time to forget any notion of expertise.

 

It's one thing to vote in awards that affect players' contracts, but how does making a prediction on a game affect anything?

 

When the picks suck, it's just more cause for feedback.

The odd thing is, I've never really heard of/known anybody who was absolutely spectacular with his/her picks.

 

Our weekly HS football picks of the games we preview is easily one of the most widely read/anticipated/talked about things we do.

 

And yes, I get lots of "I can't believe you picked against us!" during postgame Friday nights.
If that bothers you, you've no spine for this business, because there are a heckuva lot of worse things happening to us right now than fans firing back over football predictions.
Plus, if they're doing that, do you know what that means? They're reading!

One of my favorite stories to tell is football-prediction based. I picked against an area HS team playing in a state semifinal. They won in OT. While interviewing one of the elated players afterward, he references our paper picking them to lose, then says - no exaggeration - "The whole world was against us!"
I still smile when I think about that.

Even just this past week, I was interviewing a player after his area team won in the 2nd round of the playoffs. He ribbed me by pointing out I had picked them to lose in the 1st round. I softly shot back with a smile, "Hey, that was the only one I picked wrong out of 10 games. I should be mad at you guys!" He laughed.

Sounds like the kind of serious stuff we need to be worried about, right?

 

I've voted in AP polls, for Heisman Trophies, done picks columns at the college and pro levels, voted for every award in three major sports and the only time it was an issue was when the coach of one of the teams I covered got mad because he felt I was calling him a liar when I said that I expected a certain injured player to play even though the coach was saying all week he almost certainly would not.

The coach took issue with that and of course, the player in question played...

If handled well, there's no reason why voting for awards or polls or making picks has to be a conflict of interest.