The Red Sox will not win the World Series. This may not be a startling prediction, but it does serve a function: to prevent me from getting my hopes up.
The Patriots will not win the Super Bowl. See No. 1.
The situation in Iraq — particularly the U.S. troop levels will remain more or less the same, unless it doesn’t. We’ll see a lot of news about involving "temporary" increases and decreases in deployment of troops, but it will more-or-less be the same.
The Bush Administration will do an about face on global warming. Many, however, will wonder if it is just talk or if they are actually prepared to do something about it.
Dick Cheney will have a heart attack, and resign from office. Elizabeth Dole will be replaced as Vice President.
Second Life will surge in popularity, eclipsing even MySpace. Blogging, by the way, will have peaked as a fad. [Sidenote: Billmon, a pioneer and staple of political blogs, apparently signed off for good last night]
The "silly season" that will eventually become the 2008 Presidential Election will unofficially kickoff in December 2007. (The Iowa Caucus actually is in January 2008).
Joe Biden will announce his run for the presidency, but give up before the end of the year when he doesn’t raise enough money. Nobody will notice, or even care.
Rudy Guiliani will announce and drop out as well, due to his inability to get past questions regarding his personal life.
Despite far more important news, the entire nation/media will become obsessed with some Terri Schiavo-like story during the summer. It will not be a missing blonde white girl, nor will it involve a celebrity. But it will involve a single person and will spark a national debate. Like — I’ll go on a limb here — the kidnapping of an abortion doctor.
We’ll also put up with a couple of weeks in May/June where there will seem to be a rash of school shootings a la Columbine.
No terrorist attacks in the United States (thank God), although our embassies will be bombed in places not in the Middle East. (I’m thinking Phillipines).
A major plane crash in some Midwest city. This will not be one of your run-of the-mill crashes at an airport, but something right in the heart of a major city.
Corporate scandals on the upsurge again, starting with Apple Computer. The Dow’s surge upward is anemic at best.
Although cloned food has been deemed to be perfectly healthy and safe, many will still be nervous about it, and demand that cloned meats and veggies be labeled as such.
Unexpected celebrity deaths: Abe Vigoda (okay, it’s not that unexpected), Carol Burnett (car accident), Macauley Culkin (drug overdose), Paul Simon, Roslynn Carter (complications from stroke), James Garner (heart attack) and several drummers from various 1990’s bands. One of the cast members of Friends will be shot in a restaurant by a deranged fan, starting a national discussion (again) on celebrity stalking. Reese Witherspoon will get in a near-fatal car accident and have a leg or arm amputated.
The next winner on American Idol will be a Spanish/Mexican woman from the West Coast, probably Washington.
"You’re The One That I Want" will start off well in the ratings, and then tank. I’ll still be watching. By the way, the Broadway show revival of Grease (the grand prize) will suck at levels of suckitude heretofore unknown in theatrical history.
The Academy Award for Best Picture of 2007 (which will be handed out in 2008) will have the name of an animal in the title.
"24" and "Lost" will be cancelled when ratings fall off, as people get bored of the concept. Science fiction/space shows will make a comeback.
Bell bottoms make (yet another) comeback, although this time their renaissance isn’t confined to jeans.
