What Happens When a Sports Columnist Is Very, Very Wrong?

The Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson dunks the ball over the 76ers’ Joel Embiid in Game 3 of the second-round playoff series. Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

Usually, nothing. Our honorable scribe faces the music about a boneheaded Sixers prediction.

There are only two types of sports columnists (or any kind of columnist, for that matter).

Those who are wrong.
Those who are about to be wrong.

The boneheaded prediction is a sports hack’s loyal companion, and the reliable move is to ignore it, carry on, hope we all get mad about some other nonsense and forget it happened.

But sometimes you miss so catastrophically, so comically, so inexcusably it can’t be ignored—like last week, when I served a heaping plate of idiocy with a column predicting the Philadelphia 76ers were about to be a “dangerous” threat to the New York Knicks.

Yikes.

This wasn’t true. Not even close. This was like predicting laughs at an HR meeting, comfort in the middle seat, or Wisconsin in the College Football Playoff. The Sixers proved to be as dangerous as a warm basket of puppies.

Philadelphia wound up getting swept in four games in the best-of-7 series. Not just swept, but historically pummeled. The Knicks won Game 1 by 39 points and the series by an average of 22.3. Philly was never a problem. The Knicks are now in the lounge awaiting their opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals.

As misses go, it was egregious. And I promise I won’t do the weaselly thing and offer an excuse.

OK here’s an excuse: I got myself wound up after watching Philadelphia edge the Celtics in seven games with a reborn Joel Embiid and Paul George. Boston was good, and the Sixers pushed them around. I figured Embiid, George and young comet Tyrese Maxey would roll their underdog momentum straight into Madison Square Garden.

They didn’t roll anything into MSG. The Sixers surrendered on the spot. Game 1 was more or less the series. Philadelphia turned back into a pumpkin and Courtside Chalamet never stopped grinning. Embiid wound up missing Game 2, which was the only game the Sixers had a chance to win.

Jason Gay's column on the Sixers on May 4. WSJ

In my defense, the headline of my Sixers column wasn’t wrong. THE 76ers ARE SUDDENLY A PLAYOFF NIGHTMARE. That was quite accurate! Just not accurate in the way I assumed.

The Sixers were a playoff nightmare—for themselves. They went from being The Fun Team No One Thought They Could Be to the Grim Disaster Everyone Expected. Once more, Sixers home games sounded like they were happening on the NYC subway.

The optimism that followed the Celtics upset is erased by another season-ending pratfall. It’s a massive mood swing that will reshape Philly’s offseason.

And what happens when a columnist screws up like this? Is there an angry lunch with the boss? Nope. Accountability? Ha. There’s no penalty for getting it wrong in this bleak racket. In fact, if you’re wrong enough, you wind up getting a job on TV.

The public remembers, though. You should see my inbox. It’s full of sympathetic emails from New Yorkers telling me not to worry, that everyone gets it wrong sometimes, and I should shake it off and move on.

Alright, no it’s not. It’s a flaming pile of taunts. Deserved taunts from swaggering Knicks fans. And more than a few of my closest, meanest friends.

So I blew it. I will own this. I will not switch the topic to the NBA Lottery or the French Open or tell you about the northern pike my son caught this weekend at Lake Monona. Even if it was a pretty incredible northern pike, his first.

No, I will take full accountability and marinate in my stupidity. I will not wait for the circus to move onto its next clown. I will be the clown. If Knicks fans need me to stand in a public square and pummel me with rotten vegetables, please name the square and vegetable. I will do the honorable thing, and send our summer intern.

Knicks' fans hold up a photo as Embiid takes a free throw in Game 4. Matt Slocum/Associated Press

In the meantime, you all have my apology. You have my humility. You have my pledge I will never get it wrong, until the next time I get it wrong, which could be any minute now.

Which is why I’ll spare Knicks fans any further predictions. That’s the last thing they need, me hopping onto the bandwagon with Timmy C. and Benji Stiller, and getting ideas about the first championship in more than 50 years. It’s hard not to start getting ideas about these Knicks, who have been outrageously dominant.

I’ll resist. Knicks fans don’t want me anywhere near their beloved team. I’ll respect that for at least a few days. I’m a sports columnist, after all. I can’t help it. Being wrong is what I do.

Email: jason.gay@wsj.com