The fortune has spoken

The quirky, fun and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny messages inside those tasty fortune cookies are usually good for mostly that – a chuckle.
However, the nine-word prediction I opened up Saturday almost had that cookie lodged in my windpipe.
“Your sports team will be very successful this year.”
This better not be a joke. It’s not funny and I’m signaling for backup. This is life-changing stuff we’re talking about here. 
This is the single-greatest fortune I’ve come across in my Chinese cuisine experience. I have no idea what kind of all-time batting average I am sporting on my fortune cookie, but if one is going to hit, I want, no, NEED it to be this one.
But it’s just vague enough to leave you wondering. My favorite sports team, sure, but which one?
Obviously, the thought of the Nebraska football team reaching the 2025 college football playoff immediately came to mind. This is my official memo to coach Matt Rhule and company -- the fortune cookie has spoken. 
I was 9 years old the last time Nebraska sniffed a chance at the national championship, only to have my hopes and dreams dashed by what we now know as a semi-pro Miami Hurricanes team that was surely illegal in some way. 
That’s it. All I have to cling onto from my “fondest” memories has been heartbreak and blowout central the past two decades. That’s all I remember. A nightmare, right?
When watching championship games, I’ve wondered what my emotions would be like with a dog in the fight and how I would handle it. Probably not well, but shouldn’t we find out anyway?
What if it wasn’t referring to the Huskers. Then what?
A buddy of mine joked as we were discussing this newfound fortune that it would end up catapulting the Boston Celtics to another championship and lead Baylor Scheierman to a ring in his rookie season. 
Listen, he’s a New England native trying to cash in on my good fortune, but I won’t argue with sound logic. Seeing the hometown hero as part of a championship team would be one of the top all-time sports moments of my lifetime.
The only other logical explanation is my local heroes. Four schools, a bevy of teams that I root for unconditionally (even if I’m not supposed to). 
Could the Aurora boys basketball team rally through a magical run in March? After what we watched them do last week in back-to-back overtime games, don’t bet against a team with Canon Allen and Ryan Staehr on it. Oh, and a 6-9 monster who swats basketballs into the upper deck. Could the High Plains girls basketball team do what it’s never done before -- put together a sound postseason performance and qualify for its first-ever state basketball tournament in its quarter-century history? Emma Brown is the enforcer, nobody is tougher than Courtney Carlstrom, Rylee Ackerson is the glue, Gahvi Lesiak is clutch and Peyton Hofmann always makes the right play at the right time. 
What if the Hampton football team makes a run through the state playoffs this fall in what could potentially be the last time in its current makeup as the Hawks? We may have more on that later.
Giltner’s track team always seems to show up in the spring led by one of the all-time greats. Don’t count out the Hornets.
It could be any of them. Hopefully, it’s all of them. The fortune has spoken. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.