Recapped

These were my predictions from last year:

1. One of the following die in 2013

Castro
Chavez
Assad, B.
Pope Benedict (Joseph Ratzinger)
Queen Elizabeth
Scalia.

Result: Yes- Exactly one of those folks died.  One quit. One's possibly acting through his brother.  One's in the cross-hairs of a revolution. One's an old lady with diminishing relevance and one was overshadowed by the birth of her great grandson.

2. Bad weather, price fluctuations, scandals, accusations and condemnations.

Result: Yes.  I repeat this prediction for next year and from now until the end of time.  And thereafter.

3. Belichik fails to get SB #4.

Result: Yes- though I hardly remember last year's Super Bowl, I see from the internets that the dirty birds of Crabstown took the crown last year.

4. Bill O'Brien stays at Penn State.

Result: Yes for 2013.  Note- this will not be true for 2014,

5. The Fiscal Cliff (which I predicted would end as a Mediocre Bargain on Nov 5) will not result in "-cliff" becoming a political suffix like "-gate"

Result : Yes.  I think I can say "-cliff" did not become a meme.  It even failed to describe the budget issues halfway through the year as "sequester" superseded it. (Yes I know they are different things but they are close enough for casual conversation).   Since nobody's happy with the current budget deal, I also think you can fairly call the current deal "mediocre" at least

6. Lincoln wins best bicture- Oscar voters romanticize statesmanship.

Result: No.  Argo won because I think it had a better soundtrack ("She's my little rock & roll, ah-ah-ah...." stayed in my head for days afterward) and Ben Affleck sold himself as the future of the industry.


OK- So this year's 5-1 was purely a resume-building operation with lots of easy picks.  This year I will attempt more challenging & specific predictions for 2014 in the next couple of days   (Sample: The daily number on May 11 will be 4392. )