The Chopping Block: Technology isn’t always awesome

Week 1 picks and district winners

By BRANDON HURLEY

@BrandonJHurley

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Technology can often be a beautiful thing. Not on Mondays, it seems. When your entire day, interview and content relies on it and the internet and your camera decide to take a crap, it can be quite demoralizing. 

The phrase “technical difficulties” is our best friend as journalists as we continue to move further and further into the digital age. And boy, did I lean on that phrase the other day. First the wifi was down, then Facebook wouldn’t load. And finally, the audio was completely nonexistent. I get it, I’m writing this #FirstWorldProbz column from a computer, I understand the irony (Shoutout Alanis, see you soon, girl), but sometimes, you just have to explain yourself. 

I was excited to share with the world the musings of Mitch Moore along with my ugly mug in front of the camera as part of The Two-point Conversion. I was fired up, anxious and a tad nervous. 

Everything that could go wrong, did. Mostly, I’m to blame, I was not as prepared as I thought I was. In all honesty, I thought the interview (which lasted nearly 60 minutes) went extremely well – just the part where sound and being able to broadcast didn’t pan out so much. 

I guess the moral of the story is – don’t trust technology. But do trust the news, just not Trump. We don’t support “Fake News” around here. Some times, you have to fail before you succeed. I won’t let technology get the best of me, though it may often let me down. 

If you bear with me, we will give The Two-point Conversion preseason show another try, today (Thursday, Aug. 24) at noon on Facebook Live, then again Monday afternoon (Aug. 28).

Without further adieu, welcome back!

Here we are, the second running of the annual “Chopping Block” column is back, albeit with a little hiccups here and there along the way. Today, I’ll predict the 3A district winners as well as 16 week one high school games. As always, I’ll keep track of my record so you can see how you stack up against me. 

Last year, I went 98-42 (or something like that). 

 

Good luck, everyone! 

 

3A District winners:

1: Spirit Lake

2: Ballard

3: Cedar Rapids Xavier

4: West Delaware

5: Solon

6: Pella

7: Harlan

 

Week 1 Games (Winners in Bold)

1. Kuemper Catholic at Greene County 

I have to go with the hometown squad here. New era, new uniforms. The opening night jitters are eliminated.

2. Creston-O/M at Boone

Both squads replace big-time offensive weapons. I’ll give Boone the edge at home. 

3. Dallas Center-Grimes at ADM

A battle of the ‘burbs. DC-G squeaks it out with just slightly more superior athletes. 

4. Iowa Falls-Alden at Hampton-Dumont 

Hampton-Dumont was pretty bad last year. IF-A wins easy. 

5. Carlisle at Ballard 

My pick to win district 2 rides the legs of Hunter Wright to victory. 

6. Perry at North Polk

Perry is in a downswing that doesn’t seem like it’ll be corrected anytime soon.

7. Roland-Story at Gilbert 

Both teams lost quite a bit, but with the facilities Gilbert has, I give them the edge. 

8. Webster City at Humboldt 

Running backs are grown in Webster City. They’ll definitely have another one. 

9. Lewis Central at Harlan 

Harlan will be much, much improved when they visit Jefferson next week, but they’ll struggle to contain the Max Duggan-led Lewis Central Titans.

10. South Central Calhoun at Carroll

Carroll, despite losing a big chunk of last year’s offense, is just too big for the Titans, who rely on speed. 

11. Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire at Glidden-Ralston

G-R is still rebuilding. GT/RA continues to crank out spectacular eight-man athletes. 

12. Newell-Fonda at Coon Rapids-Bayard

CR-B needs to replace to much to pull this one out. 

13. St. Mary’s, Remsen at Ar-We-Va

Ar-We-Va is a football school now, mark my words. (Ok, please don’t)

14. South Hardin at South Hamilton

South Hamilton returns a majority of their offensive output. I’m leaning with the Hawks.  

15. IKM-Manning at East Sac County 

A nice little battle here, IKM-Manning was just a few plays here and there away from having a very nice season last year. Wolves win it with their veteran offense. 

16. Southeast Valley at Eagle Grove 

The Jaguars win this one with ease. 

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