Angry readers can’t keep a good man down …

Here’s my column from Friday, in case you missed it.

Last Friday night, the CIF-Southern Section playoffs for high school football began, and it seems the players weren’t the only with their game faces on.

Only minutes after the first final scores started to roll in did it begin. The vitriol was unprecedented. The San Gabriel Valley and its surrounding areas was alive and well with angry fans.

Did we get a score wrong? No.

Was the coverage not good enough? No.

Did some of our predictions go awry? Yes. And that’s all it took.

The allegations and demands were incredible.

“Go back to journalism school!”

“Wipe the egg off your face!”

“You know nothing!”

Why so harsh? I wasn’t aware you could bet San Gabriel Valley prep football games in Vegas. If so, how much did these people lose?

It didn’t just end on Friday night. It rolled over into the weekend and still burned bright earlier this week.

Readers begging not to have features done on their teams for fear of the same supposed jinx that got Mid-Valley Division top seed Azusa knocked off in the first round.

One local coach even turned down our request to do a story on one of his players this week because he didn’t want the extra attention. You know, because so many things are a secret at this time of year.

Here they were, the same people who scream at the top of their keyboards when their team does something big and they don’t see it splashed across the cover of the Tribune or Star-News not wanting coverage.

It seems to me that some fans need a reset. When a game prediction is given by myself or another of our writers, we do not root for the team we selected.

Some of the most fun I’ve had in this business has been when I was proven wrong and some player or coach from the team I picked against reminded me of that on the sideline.

While I’ll be the first to admit that prep football is very serious stuff, it’s also quite a bit of fun. The players aren’t playing for money, they’re playing for memories — good or bad.

Those are some pretty good stakes, and it’s an honor of ours to chronicle it.

Were SOME of this columnist’s predictions so bad last week that he should have had to turn in his notepad, recorder and pen for the season just like the losing teams turned in their gear? Absolutely.

But it doesn’t work like that. Fortunately, my editor doesn’t judge my performance in terms of prep football picks. So, I’m back. And since you can’t keep a good man down, I’m ready to step back out on a limb.

I’m ready to deliver the easiest prediction of the postseason. You ready? Here goes …

Because deep down you’re addicted to the blogs, because deep down you know how much this staff enjoys bringing the good word of local football to you, because nobody does it better, no matter what, you’ll keep reading.