They risk weekly public ridicule and personal anxiety.

They’re already extremely busy people with challenging new deadlines to meet. They must make major decisions in little time based on insufficient information.

And for all their effort, they get what, exactly?

Well, a lot.

The Coeur d’Alene Press All-Star Pigskin Prognosticators get to have more fun with their fellow gridiron guessers than you’ll ever know. We shared some of the delightful digs they’ve taken at each other during various twists and turns of the long, hard professional football season. But we respected their privacy — and lunacy — by declining to disclose some of the serious sideline antics dating back to last September. During a photo session at The Press last Friday, the camaraderie this disparate group had developed over five months was as evident as the size of the crowd at a presidential inauguration. Check that; it was as evident as voter fraud in a presidential election. Oh, shoot. It was evident as heck, OK?

This year’s prognosticators followed in the footsteps of their founding football fathers. The original group, their names indelibly etched in a Valhalla table, was as follows:

Shawn Amos. Jon Ness. Rick Rasmussen. Kelly Nosworthy. Chris Carper. Ron Jacobson. Mike White. Steve Widmyer. Van Troxel. Big Al Williams. Mark Nelke. Jim Addis.

Super citizens, if not super stars. And if you think they didn’t have fun while taking the weekly prognostication stuff seriously, we quote Mr. Nosworthy when he was informed by The League that his term had officially expired after one (1) season. In the shortest press conference ever, Nosworthy said: “That’s bull****.”

There was plenty of bull throughout the second campaign, too, thanks to some witty yet gracious competitors. The Press wishes to formally thank the Team of Twelve that wrapped up Season Two on Super Sunday:

Mark Koerner. Jeff Runge. Eve Knudtsen. Rob Smith. Steve Griffitts. Vic Holmes. Duffy Smock. John Beutler. Blaine Bennett. Tim Kiefer. Jeff Conroy. Ryan Davis.

They did a lot of work trying to help a dozen local charities. In our hearts, if not the record books, the 2016-17 season ended in a 12-way tie for first place.