2007 Wrapup and Predictions Readback

Now that we’re here at the end of 2007, let’s take a look back at what I predicted would happen this year and see how close (or not close) I was.  Then, let’s look at my resolutions and see if I held true to any of them.

Predictions

Random thoughts

• Everyone will have exactly one birthday except people born on February 29th. No aging for you! true
• Americans will drive their cars an average of 14000 miles per family true
• Someone will try to claim a world record for yet another useless body feature (there were arm hair and eyebrow hair last year) possibly true. I need to verify

Celebrity Stuff

I’m not a huge gossip fan, but some things are irresistible — predicting the antics of our beloved celebrities is one of them.

• Jessica Simpson will get pregnant with her new husband. didn’t happen
• Eva Longoria will either get pregnant or divorced with/from Tony Parker didn’t happen (at least we don’t know if she’s pregnant)
• Tom Cruise will do something even more annoying than in 2006, possibly with Katie’s help true
• Hayden Panettiere will be rumored to be dating some diva’s husband despite being under 18. didn’t happen, but her lesbian affair comments came close.
• Miss USA 2006, Tara Conner, will be in Playboy after her reign is over. didn’t happen
• Paris Hilton will get pregnant. It’ll be a girl that ends up dating Britney’s younger son in about 10 years. didn’t happen, but she’s trying
• Angelina and Brad will adopt another baby from some third-world country true

Non-Celebrity Entertainment
Stuff that entertains us which isn’t about particular celebrities

• JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will become the best-selling children’s book of all time, and will be mostly read by adults 18-29. true
• Voldemort and Snape will be the 2 primary characters that die in the last HP book. this was true.  Technically Harry died as well, but he also lived.
• There will be more bad movies made than good ones “Blonde Ambition”? this was true.
• The season finale of Heroes will be an anti-climactic one that people hate.  true, because of the writer’s strike. Season 1 finale was pretty good.
• The new iPod will suck in a way where people hate it I think people like the iPod Touch.
• Nintendo’s Wii will continue to outdistance PS3 in sales, by a widening margin  very true.
• More movies will be watched via Comcast OnDemand than HBO and Showtime combined. also true. COD logged more than 1.5billion views this year.

National Affairs
These are classified as things that will happen around the country or in other countries related to US-stuff.

• At least 1000 more soldiers will be killed in action in Iraq. I’ll be having a morbid contest to let readers guess the exact total and, at the end of the year, the closest entry will win something (I need time to set this up)  true
• The President will make at least 10 more bad decisions to keep whoever the next President is from getting anything done because they’ll have to clean up his mess for 4 years. true.
• Muhammad Ali will succumb to his illness (I hate to predict death, but I see this coming). didn’t happen
• The price of gas will go back up to above $3/gal in the US for more than a month. Please understand if you’re viewing from a country where that seems cheap that the US doesn’t place much of a tax on energy and energy sources, like gasoline. Whereas in countries like Japan, energy is one of the most highly taxed things nationwide (and the cheap gas is about 110yen/liter). true; still true today

Sports
Sports-related predictions

• USC will be the NCAA football pre-season #1 team next season this was true
• My beloved Georgia Bulldogs will win the SEC championship and will finish the season in the top 5. they did not win the conference but they are the #5 team
• The Super Bowl will be won by either the Broncos or the Chargers, and preferably the Broncos. probably false 
• The Yankees will not win the World Series despite their payroll true; the Red Sox won.
• Mark McGwire will be on the Hall of Fame ballot but not get elected because of the whole performance enhancers issue (though Mark only took andro, which was legal when he took it). If I had a vote, he’d be in. true
• Barry Bonds will break Hank Aaron’s record, then he’ll sit out and whine about his knee the rest of the season he did break the record, but then he platooned
• Brett Favre will retire but still have the hunger for the game didn’t happen
• The Broncos will trade/cut/waive Jake Plummer true

Resolutions
I won’t make many, because I hate being held to my word if it’s convenient:

1. Of the 60% of resolutions I am serious about, 90% will be broken by March 31. At least 1 will hold until at least July 1.
2. Continue to prognosticate things that may happen.
3. Drink as much as I feel is appropriate for a situation.
4. 5000 hits on this blog!
5. Complete masters program.
6. Get a lunch date with Erin Andrews and Rachel Nichols. half true; I had lunch with Erin Andrews in July.
7. Get a lunch date with Nora Zehetner.  didn’t happen