Predicting the future by Joey Martin - posted Thursday, December 20th, 2012 @ 10:07 am  E-mail Story |  Print Story  Oops, sorry about that. Almost missed out on writing a column this week. I figured I am only going to be here for a couple of more days. For that matter, you are only going to be here a couple more days. But just in case a fella named Goodell was in charge of that Mayan calendar or whatever back then, I'll proceed on with what I look to happen in 2013. By the way, next year will be the first year to be denoted by four different digits in 26 years (since 1987). Who says you can't be educated reading the sports pages? Actually, I hope you didn't spend as much time trying to figure that one out as I did. Also, March 31, 2013 is the last day (13 Ahau) of the last Tzolk'in calendar to begin before the end of the current creation's 13th b'ak'tun. Some believe that this date is more significant than that of December 21, 2012 (4 Ahau) because both calendar cycles will be complete. Talk about your March Madness. I sent a tweet to Dick Vitale to let me know if it's going down. Yeah, I can hear it now THE WORLD'S ENDING BABBBBEEEEEE. OH MY! EVERYBODY FOLLOW THE ACC TO THE PROMISED LAND! Of course, the sun will come up on April 1 (no fooling) and we'll wait on the next end of the world day. Some may argue that the world ended when conference expansion began. A lot of folks will be glad to see the end of the BCS at the end of the year. But there will still be problems. You know, the bowls weren't that big of a problem in the beginning. It's when the greedy folks running them began wanting to be bigger than all other bowls and made deals with the conferences which led to more deals which led to restrictions which led to what we have now — chaos. But the BCS has dodged the big bullet the past few years thanks to three or four teams choking down the stretch. You change the outcome of three games this year and you have an even bigger mess. LSU Sports Information Director Michael Bonnette said it best last month when he said the regular season used to mean a lot - now apparently it doesn't. But it is what it is. As Gomer would say, I just pump the gas. And I also try to predict who is going to be visiting the White House after 2013 is said and done (hopefully not in March). In college basketball, don't count Kentucky out yet. But don't count on them defending their title. Indiana and Duke will reach the Final Four. Who will Cinderella be this season? Maybe the Oregon Duck basketball team can do what the football team couldn't do. Murray State? Wyoming? New Mexico? In the end, a familiar coach will be cutting down some nets. Well, at least a playoff system is in place here. Well, I guess I can cross the Lakers off my preseason favorite to meet Lebron and Dwyane. Oklahoma City brings down the Thunder. And Stephen A. Smith is devastated not to be able to talk to Kobe or Lebron. As for college baseball, two words — Stony Brook. OK, maybe not. Is there a Johnny Baseball at Texas A&M? The addition of the Aggies makes the SEC even more formidable. South Carolina and LSU should join Stanford in Omaha. Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Georgia will battle for the third spot. I believe Paul Manieri gets his second NCAA title when the dust settles. By the way, former Southeastern Conference star pitchers David Price (Vanderbilt) and R.A. Dickey (Tennessee) were voted Cy Young Award winners, as the best pitchers in the American and National Leagues respectively, this year. Price went 20-5 with a Major League leading 2.54 earned run average for the Tampa Bay Rays this season.   In his 2012 season, Dickey used his knuckleball to set new career bests in games started (33), wins (20), complete games (5), shutouts (3), innings pitched (233.2), strikeouts (230) and ERA (2.73).   Speaking of the Major Leagues, the winds of change swept through in a big way during the offseason after a unpredictable 2012 San Francisco's World Series sweep of Detritt certainly didn't help America's favorite pastime move forward. Give me the Anaheim Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers in a seven game Series this year. It won't be the only state championship. Which brings us back to football. And back to Alabama. A.J. McCarron's returns sets up the stage for another BCS title appearance for the Crimson Tide. Alabama has Virginia Tech in Atlanta, an open date, and then a game at Texas A&M which will have Tide fans frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog (not UGA next year). Get past those two and the Tide will have another one-loss season, good enough to meet Florida in the SEC championship game. But it's the Gators continuing the SEC trend, beating Ohio State in Pasadena. And all the way back to the NFL. Natchez's Stevan Ridley just may be adding an NFL ring to his high school (Trinity) and college (LSU) state championship rings if he doesn't do that in New Orleans in February. Actually, this one may be the toughest to call. Parity seems to have landed in the NFL. Everyone around here was counting on New Orleans being the first team to play a Super Bowl on its home field. The Super Bowl will be in New Jersey in 2014. OK, one year later - New York Giants versus New York Jets. State Championship, The Sequel. Don't ask me who is quarterbacking the Jets. If we're still here, that is.