After California romped ASU this past weekend, I was reminded of a column I wrote near the end of last semester predicting that our beloved Sun Devils would finish above .500. I cited what I thought to be a weak schedule and a potentially huge breakout year for Vontaze Burfict.
While it’s still mathematically possible for ASU to finish above .500 and become eligible for a bowl game, I’m going to chalk that prediction up as wrong.
But this all got me thinking about some of the other bold predictions I wrote about in that column. It featured 15 bold predictions about the academic year to come. Less than halfway through the 2010-2011 school year, many of these predictions have already come true. Others, however, were wildly off the mark.
What I said: “Justin Bieber will officially hit puberty and no longer exist as a trending topic on Twitter.”
Verdict: Half right. The Biebz continues to prepubescently own the charts, but the Twitter gods smacked him down when they changed how their trending topics algorithm works just one month after my predictions column. Puberty has to be coming sometime soon, right?
What I said: “Kanye West will outdo his “Im’ma let you finish” outburst at the Video Music Awards by not letting Taylor Swift, or anyone else, finish. He’ll later apologize publicly by interrupting himself.”
Verdict: Right. I think it’s fair to say that Kanye outdid his theatrics at the 2009 VMAs. His performance at the 2010 VMAs was a year in the making and basically a way for him to metaphorically give the finger to all of his critics. Additionally, his bizarre 35-minute “Runaway” music-video movie is his way of telling us he’ll never stop doing things that leave us scratching our heads.
What I said: “Reinvigorated after passing sweeping health care reform, President Barack Obama will tackle a number of other “BFDs.” Joe Biden will have to invest in soap bars to clean his mouth.”
Verdict: Wrong. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” fizzled, and, thanks to the angry voters coalition, expectedly disastrous midterms are looming for the Dems. And Obama lost his right-hand Rahm-Bo.
What I said: “The iPad. ’Nuff said.”
Verdict: So right. Steve Jobs is taking over the world with his wizard-like gadgetry, and shares of Apple stock have gone up about 45 percent since I wrote those four prophetic words in April.
What I said: “Sparky the Sun Devil will finally get appropriate footwear. Goodbye, Reebok sneakers, hello devil hooves.”
Verdict: Disappointedly wrong. This still irks me. Our noble mascot needs something better than boring tennis shoes. I continue to believe the lack of appropriate footwear for Sparky is at the root of our football team’s demise.
What I said: “The 2010 elections will be exciting, and give ASU students a chance to hold the state legislature accountable for not playing nice with the education budget.”
Verdict: TBD. Election season has been exciting so far, but all indications are that the same people who don’t value money spent toward education are going to be in office next year. ASU students have been taking advantage of the early on-campus voting location, however, and the opportunity to turn out in big numbers on Tuesday is still there.
OK, maybe I can’t predict the future. So what?
But we all agree that Sparky’s footwear needs an upgrade, right?
Share some of your predictions with Dustin at dustin.volz@asu.edu
