Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Half an hour played and I thought to myself "here we go again - another really close game. This is brilliant!". What happened next I'm not really sure. We just seemed to stop playing. I even heard someone call for full time with 15 minutes on the clock. WTF?!
The Tattie men attacked from deep and at pace and with the Mincers in another world entirely, they always had the extra man to slot the goal home. They also kept going right to the end and so more than deserved their victory. Let's just leave that there then shall we?
Next week Stuart is away but Gordo should be back so with any luck, it'll be an all Hardcore affair again.
So, remember those anonymous MOTM votes that (almost) helped me win MOTM a few weeks back and the one last week that cause Si such consternation? Well I've tracked down the culprit. My maw!
Scott and I were round at my folks for a Burns' supper on Sunday (and braw it was too) and got to talking, as we do, about Fitbaw and the extra MOTM votes. My mum suddenly tunes into this conversation and asks what was going on. When I explained about the extra votes, she proclaimed "Oh, that was me"!!! It seems she is an avid reader of the site (Hi Mum - go and make Dad some tea!) and decided to throw the odd vote in here and there. So a few weeks ago, I was the lucky recipient and last week, it was Si (who she's known for almost 27 years).
It seems this isn't the first time she's done it either as she remembers once voting for Martie and we all know how long it's been since the big chap played.
So there you go - mystery solved. She has promised not to do it again and did apologise as she didn't realise that she was doing anything wrong - no harm done I suppose, other than me being gutted the other week when I had to un-award myself the MOTM :(
Tonight's game is an all Hardcore affair with Gordo out with a slight chest infection and Foxy able to play. The Hat of Dooooom goes back in its drawer for now...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Foxy can't make tomorrow night's game which means there's no HoD for this week.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
No, I'm not going to another filming and no, I'm not paid by Simon Cowell to promote his shows (although that would be good) - this is all to do with the stats for this season.
The idea was to reward players who play more game, but only slightly. If you had the same ratio of points/games played as another player but had played more games, it stands to reason that you should be above that person in the table.
So, behold the new formula:
POTY Score = (((3 x w) + d) / p) + (p / (X x g))
w = number of games you've won
d = number of games you've drawn
p = number of games you've played
g = total number of games played
X = The X-Factor!
The first part of the formula is the same as it's been since we started this Fitbaw malarkey but now there is the extra part at the end added on. This season, the X-Factor is going to be 10. Neil has done some simulations (oooooh) against last year's final stats table and feels this is best number to use. The more games you play, the higher your extra bit added on is. Since the X-Factor is 10, the maximum the extra added on can be is 0.1.
If you have a look at the stats so far for this season you can see the benefits clearly. Andy, myself, Stuart and Wills have all won 100% of our games but Andy has played 3, me 2 and Stu and Wills just the one. Therefore, Andy leads the table due to the fact that he's played more games.
So there it is. The basic formula seems spot on and the only thing that could change would be the X-Factor but that's now set for the 2009 season but we could change it for next year depending on how this season goes.
I don't have any real chat from last night's game other than the Mince team move about better and while the Tatties were always pulling goals back, as soon as they did, the Mince got a few more towards the end.
Last week's MOTM wasn't won by me. It seems Craig didn't vote in the MOTM (bastard) so it's a three way tie between Jon, Andy and myself. Baws!
Next week we're back to 6:30pm but it's pitch 6 again (the bumpy one) but Kyle is going to take over the pitch booking and he's always in before 9 so we should hopefully always get a decent pitch at 6:30.
Kyle, Alan and myself should all be back which does leave us with a potential Hat of Dooooooooom situation! How exciting. Check the rules page to see if you're still in the Hat.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I'm on a half day today so I'll try and get the teams sorted before I go but in case I don't, please bring both tops with you and you can sort it out amongst yourselves.
This week sees the return of Gordo, Wills and Stuart but Kyle's got a sore neck, Alan can't do a 7pm kick off and I'm our for a beer with Ant and Dec. So the squad is:
Gordo
Foxy
Stuart
Neil
Si
Wills
Scott
Andy
Craigo
Steven
So 7pm on pitch 2, which is a wee one but I'm sure Gordo, Wills and Stuart will be happy about that.
Enjoy the game!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Although it finished with five in it, it was pretty much neck and neck for the majority of the game. Again, the Mince started stronger and, again, the Tatties pulled it back to level around the half way mark leaving it wide open for the second half.
Then the snow started in earnest blowing into the faces of the Tatties and it seemed like there were white Mince everywhere! At the same time, the Tatties also got that extra man in the form of the woodwork. Foxy alone must have hit the post twice and the crossbar twice too.
It was tit for tat for a while but the Tatties just managed to hold a lead and add a few at the end to make it look a lot more comfortable than it actually was. Well played to all as it was another good game with everyone battling right to the end in not the nicest of conditions.
Remember that next week's game is at 7pm but I'll do my best to get that changed if I can. So far, only Alan has told me he can't play. I can't either but that's because I'm off to "Britain's Got Talent". Don't worry, I'm only going to be in the audience, not performing!
Neil's done a bit more analysis on the stats and I hope to have them up by tomorrow at the latest. Now away and vote for the MOTM.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Gordo and Stu are still off this week - Stu's still got the cold and Gordo just landed from his trip to the States to needs to sleep after being up for 30 odd hours. That meant there was a chance of a rematch after last week's cracker. It was not to be, however, as Steven can't make it. That leaves a spot for Jon to make his season début. Pitch six tonight for a change.
Next week kick off is at 7pm. Foxy no longer gets it before 9am to book the pitch as he used to so very occasionally he doesn't get the slot or pitch we want. If there is anyone who is in before 9am and wants to take over the pitch booking from Foxy then that would be very helpful - it only takes 5 minutes or so.
If anyone can't make the 7pm kick off, then let me know via email. Tell me tonight and I'll just forget. Same goes for any week you can't make it - I need an email or you haven't officially told me.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Games don't come much closer than that (unless they are a draw). The Tatties started the stronger of the two teams going into an early 6-2 lead. This was pulled back pretty quickly by the Mince men, led by Steven and Foxy and soon it was 6-6. The Mince continues their run and went into their own 10-6 lead. That's 8 goals without reply! That was a wake up call for the Tatties who rallied and pulled it back to level again.
From that point onwards, it was anyone's game with both teams holding a one goal lead at some point but the Tatties held that crucial one goal advantage as the next game finally came on. A great game and well done to all then men for battling right to the end.
Next week I expect Stuart and Gordon back. Martie will be returning around April and Wills needs another two weeks off for his knee to fully recover.
This season, we were also looking at a new scoring system for the stats but more research is need at the moment. The idea is that the more games you play, the more points you can earn to try and reward guys (very slightly) that turn up week in, week out and give everyone an added incentive to play as much as possible. It should also stop guys that start the season mid way through romping up the table when they've played only half the number of games of other players.
At the moment, there won't be any stats posted until the final formula is decided upon - Neil and Stuart are doing a lot of the work on this at the moment.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
First game of the new season is tonight. Gordo, Martie, Wills and Stuart all miss out for various reasons so Craigo and Steven are the two replacements.
I bought a new ball for tonight's game - it looks just like a large golf ball so we'll see how that works out.
Teams will be up but not until the end of the day as I'm very busy at the moment. Bring both tops in cse and I'll see you all tonight on pitch 8.