Intuiting Round Five

Well when I had a go at analysing our collective results a couple of weeks ago I surmised that we were collectively less accurate than a random generator might be. I think we've improved overall but I'm afraid my own predictions appear to virtually guarantee another result. Rue it when I tip your team to win!

Just to step out of house for a second, for anyone who happens upon this blog, here's a recap. The Blogger's Cup is a tipping competition open to anyone but comprised mostly of people who blog about the A-League, all of whom are linked from here. As far as I'm concerned anyone can still join at the lowest score (ie my score... 3).

The prize is a bottle of single malt Irish whiskey or an A-League ball.

Each week before kickoff of the first game of the round you email or comment your tips for each of the coming round's games. You tip the score as well as a result, as a correct result (draw or winner) is worth a point and a correct result and score is worth three. The scores are tabulated here (and bookmarked on the right near the top of this page).

This is the overall table:
Mike 15
Wes 14
Neil 11
Eamonn 9
Dane 9
Tony 8
Eric 8
John 7
Wayne 6
Jacob 5
Jeccy 5
Cecilia 4
Dave 4
Hamish 3

Special congratulations to Mike for getting a record nine points in Round Four. That record was held by Tony, with only six points, in Round 13 last season, and that six points was matched by Eamonn in Round 2 two weeks ago. You've set a much higher bar Mike.

Jeccy, when you joined this comp, you 'warned' us that you'd get 5 points all season. Congratulations for being the first of us to reach your personal target. It's all cop from here. ;)

Anyway, here's the business.

My tips for Round Five:
Newcastle vs Melbourne:
Draw 1:1

Wellington vs Adelaide:
Adelaide 1:2

Queensland vs Sydney:
The Bloody Roar 2:0

Central Coast vs Perth:
Central Coast 2:0

When I compose my brief prayer to the infinite, which of course has approximately zero impact on reality, it has me considering what we really want from our A-League weekends. Of course we want our teams to win, but as a pretty new (nearly a year - yes that new) fan I can report that one quickly gets the idea that every true football fan has to get used to losing a fair bit of the time and winning (on average) less than half the time, and different values emerge quite rapidly. So apart from our team winning, what do we want?

My own answer is a weekend where all of these boys really show us what they can do. They've all played soccer for years, in parks, schoolyards, at home and on fields. Every one of them was probably best in their class and school. Every one of them has shown enough brilliance to be noticed along the way. They've all had their days of pure class, otherwise they wouldn't be where they are. I want a weekend where all the players are on, get their drilled pieces right, play the coaches tactics without stifling their flair, stick to the rules (ie virtually no free kicks), and just show us what they can do, with no excuses available or required. And then, when all the players and all the teams are the variously oiled machines they're trying to be, I'd like to see the best team win.

This is the Platonic perfection which I think each game intrinsically aspires to, and it is the ideal to which some of us I think, subconsciously or not, compare and judge each game. That is, when we say, "That game was brilliant" or "That game was rubbish," we are making implicit reference to the way a game should be.

Clearly mine is not the only answer, and if anyone else wants to have a go at the question, "What, apart from my team winning, do I want from a soccer game?" do be my guest. I think it's an interesting question, but then again I'm a bit of a nut.

To the infinite, may the games be fair and entertaining this weekend, may there be good sportsmanship on and off the field and may there be no serious injuries.