By Tim Whyte
Signal Editor
In a lot of ways, I kind of want to tell 2019 “see ya’ — and don’t let the door hit you in the keister on the way out.”
I’m ready for good stuff to start happening.
Not that 2019 was all bad. On a personal level I had a great year. The kids are doing well in college and there’s a lot to be excited about.
Professionally, too, it’s been a year that makes me proud, especially when I think back on all the great work done by the team here at The Mighty Signal in this, the newspaper’s 100th year. It’s the circumstances that led to a lot of that great work, especially over the past few months, that I can live without.
So with that, we give 2019 a solid kick in the rear and welcome 2020 so long as it promises to behave itself.
I don’t do resolutions, though heavens knows I probably should. But in the interest of holding up the columnist’s obligation to either offer resolutions or predictions, how about some half-baked predictions?
In no particular order:
My L.A. Kings will miss the playoffs.
By the November election I’ll hate Facebook and its role in politics even more than I already do. And I already hate it with the heat of a thousand suns. That’s, like, a lot.
Valencia High School will win its 1,000th (or whatever it is) consecutive Foothill League football title. No one in a position to do anything about it will examine how many of the team’s players should be going to another school.
Hart High’s football program will backslide — at least temporarily —with the departure of the retiring head coach Mike Herrington, who has kept the Indians among Southern California’s elite for three decades. We saw it happen with Canyon when Harry Welch left, and it’ll happen at Hart, too.
State Assemblywoman Christy Smith will get elected to Congress. Twice. Once to fill out the remainder of Katie Hill’s term (you may recall the former congresswoman resigned a couple months back) and once in the November general election.
Smith, a Democrat, will face one of two Republicans — Mike Garcia or Steve Knight — after the primaries. The carpetbaggers in that race — Democrat Cenk Uygur and Republican George Papadopoulos — will be rightfully dealt a smackdown by voters.
Taking a flier just for fun on this one, but I’ve got to go out on at least one limb: Ken Dean will finally get elected to the City Council after decades of trying. I know, he’s not likely to be considered a frontrunner — but look at the results of the past two elections. The guy who gives me a hard time for once calling him a “perennial candidate” has been knocking at the door while running stealth campaigns. If it actually happens you saw it here first.
Super Bowl: Baltimore Ravens.
NBA champs: Ugh. Clippers.
World Series: Sorry. Not the Dodgers. I’ve officially lost faith.
A local government will violate the state’s open meeting laws and no one other than the newspaper and Steve Petzold will care.
Homeless encampments will spread from the Santa Clara River to more public, visible places.
We will get a dusting of snow for a day. It’ll stick long enough for a snowball fight or two.
And last but not least, 2020 will end on a high note in the SCV.
Tim Whyte is editor of The Signal. His column appears Sundays. On Twitter:
@TimWhyte.
