Freezing Cold Takes creator reveals how it all started

Fred Segal has spent nearly 11 years turning bad sports predictions into entertainment through his popular Freezing Cold Takes brand.

Now, the creator of Old Takes Exposed is taking his work to the world of college football with his new book, Freezing Cold Takes: College Football – An Incomplete History of the Game’s Most Inaccurate Statements and Predictions. The 400-page book was released earlier this month.

Segal joined Sactown Sports’ Carmichael Dave and Jason Ross to discuss the origins of Freezing Cold Takes, media accountability and some of the most memorable predictions featured in his new book.

PRE-ORDER NOW: My new book “Freezing Cold Takes: College Football: An Incomplete History of the Game’s Most Inaccurate Statements and Predictions” is now available for pre-order ahead of an August 18 release date! It explores an innumerable amount of Cold Takes about coaches,… pic.twitter.com/wL7LPZsECJ

— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) June 30, 2026

More on Freezing Cold Takes

The idea behind the account started rather simply. Segal was scrolling through Twitter and noticed sports personalities highlighting their correct predictions while ignoring the ones that had gone horribly wrong.

“I was seeing journalists or personalities in sports would write on Twitter and post about their old posts and said, just like I predicted last week, this happened,” Segal explained. “And then I would say to myself, ‘Wait, this same person I saw two weeks ago post something that was completely wrong.’”

Originally, Segal said he created the account simply to mess with people.

“I was really just meant to mess with him. I’ll be the one who posts. I’ll create something and post it,” he said.

Nearly 11 years later, the concept has become much bigger. Segal said some media members now even police themselves, tagging Freezing Cold Takes when they make a prediction before the outcome is known.

Not everyone appreciates the accountability, though. Segal revealed that he occasionally receives private messages from people asking him to remove posts.

“They’ll post. They’ll tell me to take it down,” Segal said. “They’ll try to explain why it was wrong, explain what happened, or they’ll say they’re getting harassed, or they’ll just get mad at me and tell me how big of a loser I am.”

Segal’s new book expands the concept beyond the social media era. While Freezing Cold Takes is known for finding old tweets and posts, the college football book goes back decades, featuring predictions from newspapers in the 1970s and 1980s.

pic.twitter.com/NrsDJMigfS

— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) August 19, 2026

Among the examples are Beano Cook’s prediction that Ron Powlus would win at least two Heisman Trophies and Lee Corso’s infamous prediction that Nebraska would lose to Florida because the Cornhuskers weren’t accustomed to playing on grass.

Segal believes college football is particularly suited for this type of retrospective because of the sport’s passionate fan base and constant stream of predictions.

“I think that any college football fan goes back and reads the book, and they’re thinking to themselves, ‘Oh yeah, that happened,’” Segal said. “And then reminds themselves of all the nostalgia I have [for] this great sport, and why college football is probably the most hot take-centric sport.”

The conversation also touched on the bigger potential of Freezing Cold Takes. Could Segal eventually create a searchable database that tracks how accurate individual media personalities have been over their careers?

Segal admitted he has considered whether fans would actually care about accuracy ratings.

“Does anybody really care to see Stephen A. Smith get a 20% accuracy rating?” he asked. “It’s a great question.”

For now, Segal is focused on continuing to build Freezing Cold Takes, with his college football book providing another way to revisit some of the sport’s most memorable predictions — and see just how badly they aged.

Listen to The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross from 6 – 10 a.m. PDT, Monday through Friday, on Sactown Sports 1140.

Sactown Sports’ Carmichael Dave and Jason Ross

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Frankie Cartoscelli Lead Editor & Kings Beat Writer

Author Name: Franklin Cartoscelli Bio: Franklin 'Frankie' Cartoscelli is Sactown Sports 1140's Lead Editor, Sacramento Kings beat writer and co-host of the Return of the Roar podcast. Professional Background: Worked in professional sports… Read more