I’m not what you might call a genius when it comes to sports prognosticating (I’m the guy, after all, who was certain Ryan Leaf would have a better pro career than Peyton Manning), so any time I have the opportunity to talk myself up when I am successful, rest assured I will.

And so it was the case last night. I’m in a bowl pick ‘em pool with 10 other people and I was the only one to pick Skip Holtz’s East Carolina Pirates to upset last year’s BCS-buster-movie-material-darlings Boise State in the Hawaii Bowl, and sure enough, the Pirates prevailed.

Even more delightful is the fact that a whopping 97.6% of College Bowl Mania players over at ESPN.com picked Boise State to win also. So at least for one night, I was smarter than almost 98% of all college football fans out there. I leave it up to you whether that’s saying much or not.

I also bring this all up as it gives me the chance to post this picture for the second time in a row:

*shiver*