Put down the pitchforks and torches St. John Woodchucks faithful, I did not in fact pick against the Chucks last weekend.
Somewhere between myself circling them on the picks sheet, the exchange of hands with our main sports copy desk guy - I won't mention any names, Rex - and being put on the page, my pick went down as Wells County instead of St. John.
Anybody that knows me, work-related and personally, knows that St. John is like a second home to me.
My dad works there, my godfather lives there, I have siblings there and extended family as well.
Plus it's only a deep pass from my hometown of Belcourt, so while I am impartial when it comes to writing about two area teams, I always take full advantage of my opportunities to show the home teams some love and respect.
It was my turn to decide on the 10 games for the week of picks, so I made sure to get the St. John vs. Wells County game on the list.
I knew it was going to be one of the best games of the week, and it was my chance to show some love for the Chucks, as they shoot for their second-straight 9-man Region 4 title.
I was going to pick the Chucks no matter what, just like I did when they played against a tough Mott-Regent team in last year's playoffs when no one else did, but also I had a good feeling about them winning that game.
And they did, in impressive fashion, making me look not only like a traitor, but a fool in the process.
About the only funny thing out of the whole situation was that my old man took more guff about it before I even realized a mistake had occured.
He weathered the brunt of the abuse after the game from some of the guys back home at the local pub, but I didn't even know about it the error until two days later.
I finally talked to the old man (he pretty much told me to pull my head out of my you know what) on Sunday and then I looked back and I saw the mistake.
I knew it was just a simple oversight, but the damage was done.
The target was on my back and the Chucks faithful were out for blood. They were taking me, my family (if anyone of relatives are reading this - approach anyone in green and black with caution) and anyone else who gets in their way down with me.
So now that truth be known, you can call off the hounds Chucks fans, I'm not a complete moron, though I'm sure I was called worse on Friday night.
No wonder my ears were ringing and I had dreams of being chased down and gnawed to death by woodchucks.
(T.J. Allick is a sports writer for the Minot Daily News. He can be reached via e-mail at tallick@minotdailynews.com).