Group of Death it is

Denmark has made its mark that there are FOUR great teams in the group. Germany finally broke through with a 1-0 victory as well.   SalsaKing was the only to pick Denmark while 31 picked Germany. The same six still top the leaderboard. 32 got one correct today. Was late to Gymboree as Portugal was threatening late.

The leaders thus far:

Rnk	NAME	Correct->	RND1
1	BigRedMessi1		3
	BigRedMessi2		3
	Jay		3
	Sisyphus13		3
	Walleye		3
	XaviOzil		3

Polling & Distribution

Our poll has closed and 13 put in a vote as to who will win EURO 2012 and Germany led the way with 6 with Spain and Holland tied for second with 3 each.  And no one picked England?  So, now, what would be a good poll question to put up?  I'm taking suggestions.

The site has been updated with more information as we now have the current standings up (click on "Standings" above).  The goal is to update it soon after the last match is played, but with work and two demanding kids, it probably won't be updated until late at night.  I've tailored it from our HWCI World Cup files, so it's still a work in progress.

Next, if you want to see how many entries picked Germany (14) as their champion, then click on the "Distribution" menu item above.  It'll list all 16 teams and you'll find some gems like every team was picked at least two times to make the Quarterfinals but four teams were predicted to not reach the Semis.  Denmark, in the Group of Death is the odd man out as only two entries picked them into the Quarterfinals over Germany, Holland, and Portugal.  Six teams are picked to win it all while only eight teams had someone pick them through to the final.  Someone picked Ukraine into the Semis.

In the menu of that file, you can also see how everyone picked each Round Robin match and bracket.   You can visually scan the table to find which entry picked Ukraine into the Semis or which two entries picked Denmark to advance to the Quarters.

And now, the "Your Picks" menu item above now is complete and sorted by name and by nickname so you can find your friends and family members easier.  You can also make fun of people's nicknames or praise them on our Facebook group or any item on this blog.  Since there are links to your individual brackets, this may be referred to as the Brackets page as well.

Wild First Day - Six tied for 1st

What a topsy-turvy first match.  Seemed like co-host Poland was going to blow out Greece, especially when the refs generously sent a Greek off with two soft yellows, giving 18 entries a first taste of victory to start the pool.  Then Greece tied it with super sub Dimitris Salpigidis equalized early in the second half putting 10 entries closer to the win column.  Then the Polish GK took down Salpigidis for a PK and 11 who picked Greece were getting ready to celebrate their two points.  But the backup GK saved it and in the end, 10 entries got it correct -- a tie.  The first tie of our soccer pools where you could earn points and it happened in the very first game.  So instead of 18 entries losing a chance for points in a wash (no points for anyone), 10 picked up two points.  Of course, I was one of those 18 who are now 2 points behind instead of tied with everyone.  How bizzare must it be for the Polish fans to hear a goal celebration song when Greece scored in their own stadium.

In the nightcap (in Poland at least), Russia showed they are the team to beat in Group A by thumping the Czech Republic 4-1.  Roman Pavlyuchenko's one-man effort (for the 4th goal) was so great it reminded me of someone like Kobe Bryant taking on the entire opposing team and still scoring.  So 27 of the 39 entries picked Russia and in the end, six are on top of the standings with 4 points while eight entries are still pointless.  You can now find the daily standings in the menu above (usually by the next morning, but hopefully always earlier).  We are unofficially at 39 entries which is more than the 20-25 I expected.  We should be official by Monday evening when I check the PO Box for any more mailed entries (we had 2).

Refs off to a bad start; Poland off to a great one

Co-host Poland is having a ton of chances but can only put away one, leading 1-0 at the half over Greece,  Meanwhile, the refs are having a run of questionable calls, unfortuantely both on the same player putting Greece down a man (after already having to sub one of its starters due to injury).  One missed handball (saving Greece) and one non-call handball (ref looked to be correct, accidental), thelatter which sent Greece into a frenzy, earning yet another yellow card.  What a start!  Maybe Ukraine has a chance then?

Time's Up

So kickoff was 9:01, so you had a one minute grace period :-).  I think we have 39 entries, one short of 40.  But who knows.  I did get one entry in the PO Box last night so maybe by Monday, we'll know for sure what our final total is (postmarked yesterday).  Thanks to everyone! 

Now full laughter

For my main entries in any of the HWCI pools, the original "Fabone" has to be a part of the name.  This year, a rather boring Futbol Fabone Five.  But my second entry, which I have been doing more of, I can be more creative with the nickname (and it usually does a lot worse than my main entry).  For the soccer pools, I have been trying to tie it into the host country(s) culture.  In 2002 it was Man Eat Dog World in honor of Korea.  In 2006 (Germany) it was Ich Bin Amerikaner a twist on JFK's famous Ich Bin Ein Berliner phrase.  In 2010 (South Africa) it was Zulupalooza, a play on Lulupalooza with Zulu being a nod to southern Africa and Palooza being "party". So...

Here is my second entry SiemkoStrimkoPlinko! which the first two refer to the twin mascot names that came in second in fan balloting (the winners were Slavek and Slavko) and of course, the great game on the Price is Right.  And as I stated in my previous post, I went with France all the way.  I picked France to win in 1998 (got 3rd!) and 2002 (3rd from last).  Then I didn't pick them in 2006 (they made the final and their loss meant I dropped from 3rd to 4th).  I actually did okay with France in 2010 not picking them to do much.  So how will 2012 play out?

http://www.hwci.com/euro/2012/entries/SiemkoStrimkoPlinko!.htm

So how did you pick your nickname?

Edit:  Just realized that Futbol Fabone Five abbreviated is FFF, which is the French Football Federation!  I'm going to win!  Or lose badly.

Full disclosure (laughter to come later)

As always, I will always post my picks before the deadline.  Here is my first entry (Futbol Fabone Five) which was very ard to deviate from a Germany-Spain final with Germany winning.

http://www.hwci.com/euro/2012/entries/Futbol%20Fabone%20Five.htm

I will likely have a second entry, and I think I'm going with those darn French again.  That one you can laugh at.  BTW, we now have 33 entries.  We'll see about a early morning rush (doubt it).

12 hours left... tick, tock plus busy sports weekend

Just over 12 hours left until the EURO 2012 kicks off and with racism still a hot topic, what better teams than Poland (Polish jokes) and Greece (Greek jokes).  Sigh.  UEFA couldn't have planned it better.  Very interesting though that the refs have the power (and with their judgement, that's scary) to stop a game if they feel the fans are racist which I hope means pausing the game to kick out the stupid fans rather than take the teams into the locker rooms to hide and cry.  If it's the latter, seriously, wouldn't that be a tactic by the fans, if they want to stop the opposing team's momentum by chanting racist chants to stop the game and give their team a breather?  You would hope the ticket prices are so high that it keeps the riff-raff out of the stands.  Let's hope for a racist-chant free tournament, or, more accurately, what the refs misinterpret as racist-chant free tournament (we already question their eyesight, now are going to question their hearing)?

Anyway, we have 30 entries which is outstanding!  Still just the big 3 picked to win it all (okay, plus the one outlier with Portugal).  I'm actually getting excited.  My first full-blown EURO watching (which is another reason why I acquiesced and started this pool) and my DVR space has been cleared.  Thank you ESPN.  And this on a very busy sports weekend -- the LA Kings can win their first Stanley Cup!    I'll  Have Another can win the Triple Crown!  The hated LeBron vs. the hated Celtics in Game 7 for a trip to the Final!  The LA Galaxy will not lose for the 2nd straight weekend!  Maria Sharapova in the French Open Final!  Smiles all around!

Edit: Not a boxing fan, but another pretty big sports event is a Pac-Man fight on Saturday.

A to the Z SPORTS! # 2: The Co-Hosts

Visit's ALBERT's BLOG: http://atothezsports.blogspot.com/

THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2012

With Euro 2012 only hours away it’s only fitting that we take at look at the teams that will be hosting the month long football fest, Poland and Ukraine.

Poland will be playing in only its second Euro; it played its first one four years ago. Ukraine will be participating in its first ever Euro since it started competing as an independent football nation in 1992.

The former Soviet Union republic will be the third national team in Euro history to play in its first final tournament due to automatic qualification as a host nation. Sweden in 1992 and Austria in 2008 are the other teams.

Out of the two nations,

Issue # 2.0.2 "The Reign in Spain Falls Mainly in the..."

Less than 24 hours left to enter!  We are up to 22 entries which is about what I expected so with a late push, hopefully we can speed past 30.  Good luck!  Make sure to follow us on twitter!

http://www.hwci.com/euro/2012/e2012_02.htm
---

SPAIN STRUGGLES MAKING GERMANY THE FAVORITE Web Entry is up and less than 24 hours to go; Deadline 9 am Friday

Pick Ukraine and you can win!

Well, with 15 entries in, only 3 teams have been picked to win it all -- Germany (6), Spain (5), and the Dutch (4).  In the Final, just five teams make it (England and France each garnering one vote of confidence to lose in the Final).  So pick an underdog and you could win!  Will I pick France for the third time and will it be the good France leading me to a 3rd place finish in 1998 or the bad France in landing me 3rd from last in 2002? 

Also, since Michael W. (Walleye <- cool nickname!) brought it up, let me just reiterate that when you fill out your Quarterfinal bracket (picking the top 2 teams from each group), it doesn't matter how you picked the Group stage matches.  So, if you're a Dane, you can pick Denmark to win all 3 matches (so you don't have root against them) but NOT put them in your Quarterfinal bracket (or put them as Group B runner-up).  This was done to encourage novice fans to participate (don' t have to worry about calculating points) and allow flexibility if you were a homer for one of the countries or wanted to hedge your bet.  Also, for example, if you picked ties for all six Group A matches, all four teams would have 3 points so there is no way we could automatically advance the top 2 teams for you.  But, I may try to figure out how to calculate points on the fly and list them next to the team so you can see which two teams logically make sense to advance (again, you're not stuck to it). 

Foster’s Futbol Brew, Batch Number Two

June 5, 2012

Foster’s Futbol Brew, Batch Number Two:

Some of you follow the World Cup, but perhaps this is the first or second time following the European Championships.  Some of you who may not be as familiar with the tourney’s top players, nearly all of whom play for Club soccer somewhere in Europe.  For those of you who follow Club teams like me in the English Premier League (EPL), Serie A in Italy, La Liga in Spain and other European clubs, you've probably begun to hear about some rising stars.  For some European national sides, the next generation is here.  This is a sneak-peak at some of the rising stars to follow on their national squads that should have a big impact:

Gaining steam

We're slowly gaining momentum like Mexico (2-0 win over Brazil) but not like Spain (last-minute 1-0 win over China at home with a full squad).  We're up to 9 entries with more than 3 1/2 days to go and are on pace to surpass the 21 entries we had in our first HWCI World Cup pool in 1998 and the 23 we had in 2002.  Topping 44 in 2006?  Not likely, but maybe you all will surprise me.

So will we see a Spanish dynasty or will Greece win again.  I read someone's tweet that France missed the European Championships for 24 years before winning in 1984 while Greece missed 24 years (5 tournaments) before winning in 2004.  Which team's last European Championship appearance was 24 years ago?  Ireland.  Let's see how many pick them to win it all!

In the PDF fill-in form, Michael G. (FC Spermicidals) noted that he couldn't save... so if you only have Acrobat Reader, then you need to either do a print to PDF (e.g., CutePDF) or print and scan/photo and email.  Sorry about that.  Or you can just enter on-line which seems to be work reliably thus far.

Web Online Entry Up! (hopefully)

In addition to submitting your picks via interactive PDF or Word document (I still say scan/take photo and email works just as well), you can now enter online by clicking the "Web Entry" menu item above.  It's a simple form (there's no error checking, but I'll be double-checking everyone's entry anyway) but you can now enter with ease.  After submitting the form, information on how to pay and your picks are displayed.  If you have any questions or if you find bugs (just not the flying type), email me at worldcup[at]hwci.com.