Seven crucial exams for college teams tomorrow
February 2nd, 2010 by Kevin EganWednesday afternoon at 2pm might not be a time of day when many people have free time on their hands, but if you do happen to be at a loose end tomorrow, there are seven games taking place in the Sigerson Cup all around the country with some top quality games on offer. The Sigerson competition has traditionally been very good to this column and in the spirit of trying to continue that good run, here’s a quick rundown on the full card of action, with a view towards isolating the value.
GAA could do with studying Sky
January 29th, 2010 by Kevin EganThe world of soccer since the advent of Sky Sports is a very different environment to that which existed back in the seventies and eighties, and though some of the changes, such as the obsession with club finances and the lack of physical contact, may not appeal to everyone, no-one can argue that the games suffer from a lack of exposure or promotion. Indeed such has been the complete absorption of the media into the sport (or the sport into the media?) that it can be difficult to escape the constant barrage of team news and indeed player scandal, even when one has no interest in any of their affairs.
Though the GAA has evolved in the last few decades as well, most would say that the changes brought about have been largely for the better and introduced gradually, causing no real shock to the system. However one aspect where the administrators really need to take a look at themselves is in the area of marketing.
Championship Day Arrives
February 18th, 2009 by Kevin EganWe’ve all been there before. The trainer who all year long has been quietly preaching the virtues of personal discipline, mental agility, tactical awareness and all those other buzzwords, walks into a dressing room on the day of the championship and turns into a raving lunatic. The wisdom of overlapping wing backs and diagonal ball into the corner forwards morphs into “GEDOUTTHEREANDBATETHESCHITEOUTTATHEMTOWNIEBASHTURDS” (Sic).
Consider this my day to do just that. So far in this column we have preached about the battle between compiler and punter, applying logical thinking and mathematical reasoning to our bets. Well today championship has arrived – a bet of considerable opportunity has presented itself and it is time to throw off the shackles and wade in as if you were marking that fecker from the neighbouring club who had the cheek to cop off with your sister some Saturday night four years ago.
The Students have become the Studied
February 4th, 2009 by Kevin EganFollowing on from yesterday’s post, it appears that our site sponsors and a few other concerns have burst into life and priced up today’s Sigerson Cup clashes. Third level competitions are notoriously difficult to gauge correctly until every team has put some form on the board, but even allowing for the inherent unpredictability of these sides, there still looks to be a few games where the bookies’ choice for favouritism is somewhat suspect to say the least.
Obviously one can assume that whichever oddsmaker took the lead, any of those who followed would have strongly tempered their opinion and largely fallen into line, however it’s still somewhat surprising that in such a large vacuum of information, there hasn’t been more disparity of opinion. For what it’s worth, here is a brief rundown of the games as this column can see them.