Insight: Gazing again into my psychic crystal ball

By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor

I probably don’t follow many traditions about New Year’s Eve, but back in the 1990s I never missed a Dec. 31 episode of ABC’s Nightline television program because that was their annual predictions show.

The Nightline anchor at the time, Ted Koppel, would host a distinguished prognostication panel every year that featured Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and former presidential speechwriter William Safire; economist Arthur Laffer, the so-called “architect of the 1980s supply side economics” movement; and former Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford, the dean of American sports commentary. Koppel would lead the panel through a discussion of their thoughts about the coming year in various topics and then each panelist would each make three bold predictions for the new year after a review of their previous yearly predictions.

This was always a fast-moving hour of television, and I’ve always appreciated the keen insight of Koppel, who was able to move with ease from topics ranging from politics to religion to business to sports, all while keeping panelist egos in check and discussions clearly focused on what would be in the news in the unknown year ahead.

When Koppel retired as Nightline host in 2005, the annual prediction show came to an end. Safire died of pancreatic cancer in 2009 and Deford passed away at age 78 in 2017 from pneumonia.

On New Year’s Eve in 2021, I revived the spirit of Nightline’s annual predictions show by sharing a few annual predictions of my own right here in the newspaper’s weekly Insight column.

To recap my predictions for 2025 in The Windham Eagle, it’s always interesting to see how accurate or lacking my sixth sense for the past year.

I predicted that “Conclave” would win the Academy Award for Best Picture with Timothée Chalamet winning Best Actor for “A Complete Unknown,” Kate Winslet winning Best Actress for “Lee” and Ridley Scott winning Best Director for “Gladiator II.” I’m sorry to say that none of those predictions were correct.

In sports, I envisioned Houston beating Mississippi State to win the NCAA men’s college basketball championship, the Baltimore Ravens defeating the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl in February, the Atlanta Braves knocking off the Kansas City Royals to win the World Series, and Notre Dame downing Oregon to win the NCAA College Football Championship last January. I was wrong on all four predictions, but Houston and Notre Dame each reached NCAA football and basketball title games, and Philadelphia actually won the Super Bowl.

In another prediction, I foresaw two different hurricanes striking Miami Beach, Florida in September. For the first time since 2015, no hurricanes hit the U.S mainland, so I was wrong with that one.

Here are my new predictions for 2026 and when we revisit this end-of-year column in The Windham Eagle once again a year from now, let’s see how accurate my conjectures turn out to be.

** A magnitude 7.6 earthquake will strike near Blytheville, Arkansas early in the year and leave thousands without food or shelter for weeks as flooding from the Mississippi River will produce treacherous conditions for searchers looking for survivors.

** Violent clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan led to a nationwide conflict that has become one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Right now nearly half of Sudan’s population requires some form of humanitarian assistance and the situation shows no signs of improving. An initiative launched by French President Emmanuel Macron will bring lasting peace to Sudan.

** Rhea Seehorn will win the Emmy Award as Best Actress for her role as Carol Sturka in television’s “Pluribus.” In an upset, “Hamnet” will win the Academy Award for Best Picture in March. Ethan Hawke will win the Academy Award for Best Actor for “Blue Moon.” Jessie Buckley will win the Academy Award for Best Actress for “Hamnet.”

** NASA’s Artemis II astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen will successfully complete a 10-day flyby mission to circle the moon and return safely to earth in February, igniting America’s renewed interest in the exploration of space.

** The Seattle Seahawks will defeat the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl in February while the Carolina Hurricanes will knock off the Colorado Avalanche to win hockey’s Stanley Cup in June. Iowa State will edge Arizona to win the NCAA men’s college basketball championship in April. The Oklahoma City Thunder will beat the Detroit Pistons to win the NBA title in June. The Detroit Tigers will win baseball’s World Series toppling the San Francisco Giants in October.

** Solar tiles will start to be embedded in public roads and highway surfaces in 2026 and will become a significant improvement for towns and cities across America. The embedded solar tiles will be used to power municipal streetlights, roadway signs and traffic signals, and their use will save communities thousands in monthly electric bills.

While I may not be in the league of Nostradamus or the distinguished celebrity Nightline panel in making predictions for the year ahead, as deep thinker Yogi Berra once said, “The future ain’t what it used to be."

Wishing a Happy New Year in 2026 to one and all. <