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World Sports Challenge 2007 |
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Sporting Links |
“The Greatest Sports Tipping Comp in the World” |
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Nathan “Roger”
Bannister 2007 Premier League Champion The Crying Tiger sums up the
THE POISON CHALICE OF INVOLVEMENT – VIEW FROM THE GRANDSTAND OF A
GRANDSTAND FINISH As I suggested in the quick update that most of you didn’t get,
but some of you got 3 times, the finish to the That’s what happens when you end with a golf event – the
proliferation of 100-point tips brings a large number of tipsters into play. It’s not the first time that has happened – in the 1997 The irony of the Shark delivering a Green Jacket should not be
lost on you. Anyway, in 2007, Greg Abbey looked reasonably impregnable
in the overall comp. The professionals were led by interim leader Rod
Lindsell, who’s cribbed together a point here and a point there in the
closing weeks to put his nose ahead of Rachel Williams – she was out
of the running for the top prize because her tip, Andrew Buckle, did just
that. If we were having a christening, which we’re not, he wouldn’t get an
invite. Permutations expert Niall Mulligan was lurking half a length
back, and then another 5 of us, including both The lead chopped and changed over the next few days, but Allenby
stayed out just ahead. A pack of us were still in contention heading into the
weekend, courtesy of O’Hern (Mulligan), Nitties (me), Lyle (Lindsell) and
Parry (Bannister) The third round featured some of the worst commentary and
coverage you’ve ever seen, with muppets on 7 covering more of themselves,
occasionally Allenby and Appleby or O’Hern, and missing some brilliant but
patchy golf by Lyle and Nitties, and especially Parry – he had a ridiculous
streak in the middle where he went something like birdie, bogey, birdie,
bogey, par, eagle (70 foot putt!), bogey, birdie, bogey. Meanwhile the
Channel 7 idiots droned on about how hard the course was playing etc etc.
They almost missed Nitties’ late run that made him equal leader with Allenby
going into the last round, with Appleby and O’Hern one behind and Parry a
shot further back. I tried to get some of the But it was Parry making hay, the same guy who told the assembled
media he was going home to “get blotto” when he won at Doral, and all along
the Parramatta River bottle shops began to worry. He was 11 under going to
17, was bunkered, laid up, pitched to 20 feet, and sank the putt. Never
looked like missing, despite my best efforts.
A simple par on 18 made him safe… but not quite. Back at 17 Nitties,
unseen by the 7 cameras, sank a bottler from off the green to get a sniff. 7
made a song and dance of his outside chance, and then promptly missed his tee
shot; which went into the rough; he was still close enough and went for
broke, putting a 6-iron long (all we amateurs were telling him to take 1-2
clubs less due to the rough and the adrenalin). That meant he had to chip in
to tie – 7 went for some long shot and actually missed him fluff it (the drop
zone was in the rough, uniquely.) He got up and down for par and a ripper
equal 5th, no points, meaning I went from first to last in the course of a
day. Such is the beauty of the That all meant that Nathan Bannister, as the name
suggests, had snuck through on the inside when we were all doing a John Landy
and looking outside. And for a competition using the pari-mutuel scoring
system, to win on the back of Parry makes a perverted sense. Congratulations
to Nathan, and also to former Champ Rod Lindsell, emerging star Niall
Mulligan, the ever-consistent Sunline Williams, the methodical
taxman Trevor Snape, and the elder Warrington boy for his inspired but
fatal Chakvetadze tips. Of course, Greg Abbey is the deserving winner of the
overall That brings us to the end of the 11th running of the bullshit,
and we’re thinking that we need a short break, work out some issues, give
people a chance to rethink their strategies etc (for instance, will I try and
replicate my 14 100-point tips, none of whom earned a point?). I suspect we’ll have a new comp running July 08-June 09 (possibly
Aug/Sept, to include the 2009 Ashes), with email reminders and teasers. In the meantime, get researching, tell your friends, keep your
emails updated etc. May you have a good start to the year, may Everton win a
trophy, Ms Williams and I expect the filly to arrive in mid-Feb and we’re
thinking of naming her Rosalita, as Serena is taken. We hope she’ll have her
sire’s legs and her dam’s kind eye and mane. She is expected to be a stayer
rather a sprinter. Wish us well! All the best The Crying Out Loud Tiger To find out how much your selection might score and who your main
challengers have selected, please go to the following links: ·
2007 WSC TIPS (Text format) ·
2007 WSC
Tips (Excel interactive format – for better
viewing) |
Premier League Top 10 –
2007 |
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1.
Nathan Bannister 89.4 |
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2.
Rodney Lindsell 86.2 |
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3.
Niall Mulligan 84.3 |
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4.
Rachel Williams 82.7 |
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5.
Michael Grosvenor 73.1 |
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6.
John Warrington 72.3 |
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7.
CK 68.8 |
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AUSTRALIAN SPORTS |
8.
Trevor Snape 63.8 |
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9.
Stuart Dalziel 62.3 |
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10.
Simon Taylor 62.2 |
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Amateur League Top 10 -
2007 |
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1.
Greg Abbey 201.1 |
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2.
Tom Fotheringham 182.3 |
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EUROPEAN SPORTS |
3.
Marc Trotter 170.1 |
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4.
Alistair Sutton 149.8 |
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5.
Mark Unwin 149.5 |
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6.
Keith Egan 149.5 |
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7.
Adam Taylor 129.0 |
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8.
Mats Strandberg 125.5 |
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9.
Rob Ilott 113.9 |
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10.
David Larkin 109.4 |
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GLOBAL SPORTS |
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Athletics |
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this takes a while to download |
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2006 – DAVID DOXEY 2005 – PETER 2004 – KAREN WYATT 2003 – 2002 – RODNEY LINDSELL 2000 – FRANK MILTHORPE 1999 – VIV HARTLEY 1998 – JULIE GEE 1997 – PETER 1996 – MICHAEL GROSVENOR |
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