Last week I was feeling lucky when I made my picks and went 2-4.

This week’s slate of games falls on Friday the 13th. I’m doomed.

But only 10 people (listed below) were able to ‘Beat Pete’ despite my performance. For all you skeptics out there, yes, more than 10 people participated.

Congratulations to Terry Breneman of Saline, this week’s winner of the $20 Domino’s Pizza gift card. Every week we will continue to pick one “Beat Pete” participant at random for the Domino’s gift card and every month AnnArbor.com will pick another participant at random and donate $150 to the school of their choice. (Official contest rules.)

Pete’s picks:

Records can be deceiving this time of year, making picking games a much more complicated science than just comparing the amount of wins and losses. Despite what coaches will tell you, not every win or loss is equal to the next.

Take, for example, this week’s game between the Saline and Huron boys basketball teams. Huron is 2-4, a record as bad as my picks last week, and Saline is 6-1. Slam dunk easy pick for the Hornets, right?

Wrong.

There's little Huron coach Waleed Samaha would rather not do than find the silver lining in a loss, but the fact of the matter is the four teams the River Rats lost to (Ypsilanti, Detroit Douglass, East Lansing and Saginaw) and the two teams they beat (River Rouge and Saginaw Arthur Hill) are at a different level than the opponents Saline's non-conference schedule was filled with.

Same holds true for the River Rats girls, who may have the same amount of losses on their record as Saline, but have gone into overtime with both last year's Class A state champions, Inkster, and this year's top-ranked team, Detroit Pershing.

Along with Samaha, Huron girls coach Steve Vinson is one of the last people looking for a silver lining in a loss, but the fact of the matter is, not all losses are created equal.

So my advice to you now that conference play is in full swing, look beyond the records when making picks.

Beat Pete Winners

Cherisa Allen
Lori Kintz
Chinney McGee
Sarah Clark
Kathleen Keeley
Jeff Gillow
Terry Breneman
Toney Cummer
Michael Spencer
Gabe Burdette

Pete's picks record: 20-8.

People who have "Beat Pete" so far: 20.

Contact Pete Cunningham at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.