Baffoe: Why Can't Players Like Anthony Rizzo Make Predictions?

By Tim Baffoe-

(CBS) Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo has had quite the "Aw shucks, just happy to be here" thing about him his whole time in blue pinstripes without ever playing the jerk. At least until Thursday, to some.

"It's going to happen this year," Rizzo said of winning the divisional title. "It's what we're going to do. We're going to play, we're going to win the NL Central. Quote me on that. We should be the team, with all due respect to every other team, they're just as good talent wise, but we're going to do some things this year. That's what we're expecting. That's what we're putting our sights on. We're not going to accept anything else."

And then come the finger-wagging pieces on why he's wrong and/or shouldn't do that or the ones that suggest to "Get a load of this jerk."

But why? What is so galling about athletes making predictions?

Doughy ginger wins a contest and gets to tell you what he thinks is going to happen, and that's fine. If he's right, he'll gloat. If he's wrong — like when he wrote glowingly about Marc Trestman's future with the Bears or how Brandon Marshall was stepping up as a leader in the locker room — nobody gets out the pitchforks and torches later on.

But an athlete like Rizzo — a man whose job it is to do his very best to win and then works hard enough to instill confidence in himself that he and his teammates are capable of winning — claims his team is going to win, and it's "Ohmigosh, I can't believe he would actually say that!"

It's as though people are afraid of overdosing on confidence. Talk about how good you feel going into the season, how you expect special things from this team, give the clichés that fill beat article inches and then … wait … no, what are you doing? Oh, heavens, no, don't make a prediction. No, stop! Somebody stop him! He knows not what he does!

Those same people make up an interesting Venn diagram of they who also chide players when it's evident the players' hearts aren't in it or when it's assumed the players have mailed it in. Yet confidence we regulate.

There's nothing tangible to what Rizzo said. It isn't going to make him or the rest of the Cubs try harder or pitch pitchier or hit hittier. All of the Cubs will know on opening night what kind of team they have, and The Rizzo Prediction, sure to find its way into the big book of Cub mythology, will have no bearing on their very long season.

The youngins could all struggle, and the Cubs could finish dead last, and the issue still wouldn't be a prediction, try as the columnists might. They could be kind of good but not quite good enough yet, which is the safe bet most are taking, and it won't be because of something Rizzo said while doing charity work at an elementary school in January. The Cubs could get lucky, overachieve and somehow find their way with a World Series title in 2015, fulfilling the prophecy of Back to the Future: Part II that in no way will get tired and annoying as a meme this year. (Realize, though, that prophecies aren't predictions. Nope. No way.)

Maybe Rizzo becomes Joe Namath -- or maybe more likely he becomes one of the dozens of player predictions we don't even remember because they were wrong and harmless.

The Cubs Convention kicks off tonight, and it will be full of weirdos who go to those sorts of things, true. But like any convention, it will be abuzz with good vibes and high hopes, maybe more so than in a long time with the hire of manager Joe Madden, the signing of ace Jon Lester and the prospects who have been patiently waited on finally ready to blossom. Positivity, optimism and confidence should be flowing, because what the hell else do we want in our favorite teams when they so obviously are on the cusp of something potentially great?

And if it doesn't manifest into a division title this year — not exactly the boldest of possible predictions to make anyway, if you really think about it — so be it. And then Anthony Rizzo will approach 2016 with the same mentality he did 2015.

Because he's confident. And he has every reason to be. That's how it's supposed to be.

Tim Baffoe is a columnist for CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimBaffoe.