[November 20, 2009] The Eagle, Bryan, Texas, Robert Cessna column: Chip points out mistake but keeps pressure on Prog leaders Tweet Nov 20, 2009 (The Eagle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Sportsmanship is alive and well on The Eagle's 18-mammal Prognosticator Panel. KZNE SportsTalk's Chip Howard, the winningest picker in the panel's proud past, picked Kansas to upset Nebraska last week. He either had a premonition or indigestion from the lunch he ate with KU head football coach Mark Mangino. Rumor has it that Chip is negotiating Mangino's buyout with KU, which kinda tells you all you need to know about Jayhawk football. "Cheap" is the key word. Anyway, I digress. The gremlins who work the sports desk, though, typed in that Chip had picked Nebraska on the Prog page. Forget the fact that that's the team Chip should've picked. You know, he can be kind of stubborn. Chip could've waited until Monday to e-mail me and point out our error had Kansas won. Or he could've just forgotten it if Nebraska had won and taken credit for the pick. Chip, to his credit, took the high road. His e-mail was waiting when I returned from Norman, Okla. You can thank his wife, Debbie, for raising him so well. It's also interesting that Chip went a panel-best 14-6 to pull a pick closer to Eagle editor Donnis Baggett and Eagle sports editor Robert Premeaux. Donnis has been talking to Premo almost daily, either trying to distract him into picking some losers or pressuring him into backing off the boss. It's obviously not working. After all, Premo roots for the Cowboys, so he's oblivious to reality. He's listened to too many Wade Phillips' press conferences. Maybe Chip can get Mangino to replace Phillips. Chip has clearly proven to be better than the panel's home builders, though Randy French, Randall Pitcock and Michael Schaefer continue their solid work to occupy the front row's final three spots. Randall has learned to laugh off the obscure games I throw out. "Let's hope I'll be thankful at the end of this weekend," Randall said. "SMU at Marshall? And they didn't make the Crummy Game of the Week? Are you trying to sell newspapers or what? But I guess, being fair, you probably aren't sure which plumber to call." Chip never calls a plumber; he does his own dirty work. "It seems the homebuilders have picked up the pace the last few weeks," Chip said. "I guess with the housing starts way down, they have more time to devote to the Prog. Of course, they'll never have as much time as Donnis to work on their picks." He's right again. Donnis had been working around the clock to build a championship newspaper. Now that he's accomplished that, he's devoting time to winning a second Prog championship. Someone who saw their championship run end last week was Michael Patranella, who suffered his own "Norman Nightmare" at 9-11. That bounced him back to the bottom row. "I see London I see France, last night I went and saw Riverdance," Michael wrote in his e-mail this week. "I should have stayed home to study my picks, 'cause last week I got beaten by the ugly stick. "Going 9-11, I had the worst week. Now my chances are slim -- the outlook is bleak. Why in the world did I pick Indy to lose? I haven't a guess. I haven't a clue. "My decision did not stand to reason, and now I foresee an unpleasant end to this season. It started out great; it started out grand, but as of this moment I want to bury my head in the sand. "Have I been humbled? Have I learned not to boast? I might as well move to the Barbary Coast. I may not be good; in fact, I'm quite bad, but I vow not to cry and not to be sad. "I've got one last prediction before I go: No one has done it, but I'm going to be 20-0!" Actually, Michael, Wonder Dog Rocky Cessna logged the Prog Panel's only 20-0 weekly record way back when. He bested Chip and former champ Charean Williams, who covers the NFL these days for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It's a curse that current Wonder Dog Buddy Cessna has to live with daily. So forget 20-0, Mike. It's been done. You might want focus on staying three picks head of Buddy. At least one picker has learned to deal with reality. Coulter Mariott continues to bring up the basement for the homebuilders. He's sandwiched between Eaglelets Larry Bowen and David Campbell -- now that's what I call indigestion. He's two back of Buddy. "I would love to have something cute to say, but when you spend this much time at the bottom, you run out of creativity," Coulter said. It's OK, Coulter. We ran out years ago. Robert Cessna's e-mail address is [email protected]. ------ To see more of The Eagle or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.theeagle.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Eagle, Bryan, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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