Picking winners in high school football games isn’t my favorite thing to do.
Yet it’s a necessary thing to do.
The Salisbury Post once had a gap of a year between prep picks.
Ed Dupree, who had turned his weekly picks column into an art form with an elaborate system, retired, and no one felt up to stepping into those successful shoes.
So there were no picks for a year.
I believed fans would welcome the peace and quiet and the absence of inflammatory picks, but I was proven dead wrong. Every Friday, no matter what stadium I visited, someone demanded to know why there were no picks in Friday’s paper.
That’s when I arrived at the conclusion that even putrid picks were better than no picks. People love to read the picks, even though they often hate the pick, if that makes any sense.
Fans always will enjoy questioning the wisdom of the picks and they’ll always get a kick out of bashing picks that prove erroneous. And with Twitter, now they can bash them  a lot more quickly and publicly than they used to.
After that one pickless year, I accepted the responsibility of producing the picks, and like the Amazing Spider-Man, I accepted the great power that comes with responsibility. I fearlessly made the picks, for better or worse, for more than a decade.
Then I was thrilled to step down when Adam Houston was eager to take charge of the the picks prior to the 2014 season. Adam was smart enough not to heed some of my advice — “South Rowan never wins at Northwest Cabarrus,” comes to mind — but like any picker, he experienced his thrills of victory and agonies of defeat.
Dennis Davidson is our new sports editor, and the picks have been tossed back in my direction. Dennis said that he didn’t fear being the picker but said, “Mike, you’re so good at it.”

I appreciate the compliment but that remains to be seen.
I’ll make them even though I’m even older than when I last picked in 2013 and no wiser.
Just keep in mind that picks, especially Week 1 picks involving new quarterbacks and new head coaches, are guesses and predicting the actions of teenagers will never be an exact science.
Also keep in mind that a pick is only a reflection of who I think will win, not who I want to win. When two Rowan schools play each other, I’m the most neutral person on the planet.
A.L. Brown played Thursday (we can all pick that one correctly today). Carson starts next week.
The picks:
North Rowan 17, East Rowan 14
North’s veteran defense should make the difference. Both teams will start rookie quarterbacks.
Salisbury 34, South Rowan 17
The Hornets have a huge experience advantage and home field.
Mooresville 21, West Rowan 14
West might be really good, but it’s at Mooresville, and Mooresville has 35 lettermen back. Mooresville’s defense should be outstanding, and Mooresville has beaten the Falcons three of the last four years, including 49-21 last season in Mt. Ulla.
Page 42, Davie 35
Usually a shootout. Teams have alternated wins the past four seasons. It’s Page’s turn.