During my time on The Campanile, I’ve witnessed Four Editorial Boards come and go. I’ve written stories, designed pages and crafted headlines for 20 cycles. Throughout this time on staff, one of my favorite parts was the prediction column we ran in the sports section. I’ve had quite a few takes, and it’s time to go over them one by one; the wins, the losses and the embarrassments. 

In September 2023, I predicted Manchester City would run away with the Premier League, followed by Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle. Other than Liverpool, who finished that season fifth with Man United in their place, that top four is spot on. I’ll take the early win. Prediction: 8/10. 

That November, former Sports Editor Neel Sharma and I took on the early NBA playoff predictions. We had the Warriors and Bucks facing off in the finals after beating the Nuggets and Celtics, respectively. That was a miss and a half. The Warriors finished 10th and failed to advance past the Play-In. The only correct pick was saying the Celtics would make it to the Eastern Conference finals. But we can’t even take too much credit there because they went on to win it all. Let’s move on. Prediction: 2/10. 

In February 2024, after a few months of marinating on September’s prediction, Manchester City was looking hot in England. Sports Editor Naveen Narayanswami and I took a look at that year’s European competition, the Champions League, and decided that City was fit to win that as well. They ended up getting knocked out in the quarterfinals by the eventual winners, Real Madrid. In our prediction, we gave Madrid second in the power rankings. It was nothing more than unfortunate that Madrid met Manchester so early in the knockout rounds. Overall, some bad luck and some bad picks. Prediction: 5/10. 

Apparently, I decided I was on a hot streak with soccer, and took a look at the UEFA European Championship in the summer of 2024. I predicted France would beat England in the finals — a very basic prediction at the time. England did make it to the finals, ahead of strong Portugal and Netherlands teams. France fell to Spain in the semifinals, though, before Spain beat England in an incredible final. I did namecheck Spain as a dark horse, so I’ll take that silver lining. Prediction: 6.5/10

After returning from summer break, in October, I noticed my Premier League predictions were pretty good — if you only look at the top four — so I leaned into it, looking at the top four in more European leagues. I predicted another Manchester City Premier League Title, Real Madrid in LaLiga, Bayern Munich in Bundesliga, Inter Milan in Serie A, and Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1. 

So far, I’m two for five, but I’m praying for some late retribution. PSG and Bayern were already crowned champions, with Liverpool taking the Premier League title this year. Serie A and LaLiga are still up for grabs, but Inter Milan is three points behind Napoli and Real Madrid is slipping behind Barcelona with a handful of games left. Prediction: 6/10 

In the next cycle, I took a look at one of my favorite sports: Major League Baseball, where I predicted a Phillies win over the Yankees in the World Series. My American League prediction was spot on — but to be fair, the Yankees are an easy shout. 

Perhaps out of hope, I said the Dodgers would choke. Of course, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman made me eat my words. The Phillies were the real chokers, as they got crushed by the Mets.  Aaron Judge was looking more like Aaron Pudge in the World Series as the Dodgers took the series in five. Prediction: 5/10. 

After the last few team-up predictions ended in failure, Photo Editor Rahul Shetty and I were determined to get the NFL right. We were 100% correct with the important seeds, calling the AFC’s Chiefs winning the first seed and the Bills snagging second, and the Lions winning the NFC’s first seed with the Eagles winning the second. However, we predicted the Chiefs and the Lions to meet in the Super Bowl. The Lions lost to the Commanders early, and the Eagles won the Super Bowl for the NFC. Could be better, could be worse. Prediction: 7/10

Then, with one redemption in the books, I had to come back to the NBA. This time, I didn’t predict who would win. Only who would make the playoffs and their seeds. While the playoffs are currently unfolding, I can take a look at the bracket and say I went seven for eight in both the East and the West. I didn’t foresee the Clippers making the playoffs over the Mavericks, nor the Pistons making it over the Hawks, but it’s still a strong prediction. Prediction: 9/10

Then, moving out of my comfort zone, I predicted that Justin Gaethje would beat Dan Hooker by TKO and Alex Pereira would KO Magomed Ankaelev in the Ultimate Fighting Championship 313. Hooker ended up dropping out, but Gaethje did beat substitute Rafael Fizief. So, half a win? That’s the only bright spot as Ankaelev outmatched Pereira in the Main Card. Additionally, both wins were by decision. Prediction: 4/10

In March, I had to take a look at March Madness. On this one, I was expecting a horrid result, as that is just the nature of March Madness, but it was worse than I thought. Albeit my picks of Kansas, Michigan State, Duke and Tennessee in the Final Four were logical ones, somehow every one seed made the Final Four. I blame NIL, because in March Madness, all the high seeds doing well is more rare than at least one falling short. My bracket was ranked horribly; around three millionth out of all the brackets. 3/10. 

Then, in April, after realizing my NBA Playoff Picture was a great prediction, I had to take a crack at the awards. I called Cade Cunningham as the Comeback Player of the Year, Stephon Castle as the Rookie of the Year, Draymond Green as Defensive Player of the Year and Nikola Jokić as the Most Valuable Player. 

Once again, predictions solely based on what I hoped would happen. And what actually happened was very different. Castle was the ROTY, but that was an easy shout after Jared McCain’s injury. Cunningham was a finalist, but the Most Improved Player was Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels. A fair shout. Evan Mobley beat out Green for DPOY, while Green instead won the Hustle Award. Also known as the “here, damn” award. Prediction: 4/10

The Campanile has been the fondest experience from my high school times. But over the years, I’ve only amounted to reporting the facts and butchering the forecasts. If nothing else, I’ve proven I’m consistent — just not in accuracy.