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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Here's the question promised on the Applied Epistemology Medium Stories thread:
What is the maximum number of English clubs that could qualify to play in the Champions' League next season?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Under the new system, scores from 'general play', rather than solely from rounds in formal competitions, can be submitted. The arrangement depends on the honesty of golfers to enter scores that reflect their true ability. |
I wonder what handicap Kim Il-Sung had after he played his one and only round of golf at the one and only golf course the North Koreans built in a madcap scheme to encourage foreign tourists in the nineteen-sixties. He shot something like 53, including several holes in one.*
* I can't remember the exact number but read that sentence again applying a law-and-order veneer.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Euro-Minnows Round-Up
Man Utd provided some firsts:
* a truly exciting match at Old Trafford this season
* a truly exciting extra time since 1966
* a nine-goal Euro-thriller (since the last one)
* a manager having his P45 ripped up so many times
Watching the Spurs game I was wondering why Eintracht's club colours were green camouflage shirts and shorts. Not great for spotting colleagues to pass to, I thought. After a bit I realised they were playing in lillywhite and it was Spurs who had borrowed their kit from a passing SAS jungle patrol. Another exciting match though. A 1-0 Euro-thriller.
Turning to Chelsea I couldn't fathom why they playing so many first-teamers when they were three up after the away leg. Even Borry won't be able to find an example of that being thrown away.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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The NFL Draft is next week. This is when the thirty-two NFL clubs take it in turn (in reverse order of last season's results) to choose among a thousand or so likely lads graduating from university. Picture that here! There's not enough talent at British universities to fill a telephone box that's been removed because everyone's got a cellphone.
Nor would British courts accept a situation where graduates were paid the minimum wage for five years to go and work for an employer who picked their name out of a hat. And if they weren't prepared to, they can whistle Dixie. Not that even British graduates are daft enough to turn down a minimum wage of twenty thousand dollars a week.
But that's not why I'm bringing this year's Draft to your attention. It is the fact of it being held in the Wisconsin hamlet of Green Bay that's important. A quarter of a million people will be flying into Green Bay's Austin Straubel International Airport for the three-day duration of the draft and there's only one Winnebago to go round. Yes, I thought that would shiver your timbers.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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| Mick Harper wrote: | The NFL Draft is next week. This is when the thirty-two NFL clubs take it in turn (in reverse order of last season's results) to choose among a thousand or so likely lads graduating from university. Picture that here! There's not enough talent at British universities to fill a telephone box that's been removed because everyone's got a cellphone.
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The MVP (most valuable player) at the last superbowl was Jalen Hurts quarterback of the Phiadelphia Eagles.
Jalen was 53rd pick 5 years ago.
There are a lot of Premeir League clubs, that dont look at a players ceiling and provide the means for those players to reach those heights.
The draft forces teams to do just this. The Eagles as winners, will have pick number 32. They wont get the current best, but they will identify someone with a high ceiling.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Mick wrote: | | What is the maximum number of English clubs that could qualify to play in the Champions' League next season? |
* You were smart enough to know the correct answer wouldn't be the orthodox one, six -- top five from the Premier League plus either Spurs or Man Utd as winners of the UEFA whatsit.
* You were smart enough to apply careful ignoral by not saying anything at all.
* You were not smart enough to spot the correct answer: seven.
* Will you be smart enough to ask 'How come?' because you still can't see it?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Just to anticipate a wrong answer. It is not 'If Berwick Rangers qualify via Scotland'. They currently play in the Lowland League, the fifth tier of Scottish football, and hence cannot qualify. But a good try nonetheless.
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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Tease of the day.
| Bournemouth were disappointed not to claim all three points in south London after failing to capitalise on Palace defender Chris Richards' first-half dismissal, but Iraola - whose existing deal is set to expire next summer - could yet guide the Cherries into Europe for the first time in their history. |
How?
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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They could end the weekend eight points outside the top seven, but eighth place may still be enough to secure European football in 2024-25.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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True but they would not qualify for the Champions' League. This is the correct answer to the Tease of the Other Day:
Four teams qualify by right from the Premier League
One team qualifies by coming fifth thanks to English teams doing well
One team qualifies by winning the Europa Cup
One team, Arsenal, qualifies by winning the Champions' League but loses all its remaining Premier League fixtures and ends up outside the top five.
I thenk yew.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Commentators are always referring to such and such a club 'having a hangover' from exiting such and such a competition. There is no evidence that this condition actually exists.
There is no evidence there is no evidence but I'm pretty sure nobody will have ever tried collecting it, so I'm not sticking my neck out.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Nico O'Reilly, born in Manchester, late of the City Academy and scorer of the first goal against Everton, is non-white. I reflected on how few Irish names there are among British non-whites. In fact I can't offhand think of any others. Ironically, 'Black Irish' is a term reserved for people who tend to be startlingly white and with red hair.
Fun fact: City are the Protestant Manchester club whereas Everton are the Catholic Liverpool one.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I have been reviewing the following situation
* the ball has been pinging around in the penalty area
* there are a fair number of bodies milling around in the area
* the ball falls to an attacker centrally placed just outside the area
* he has sufficient time and space to consider his course of action.
1. Mostly he switches play to either wing. That's fine, no objections from me though the chances of success from such a promising position with the area already well-stocked with defenders is not promising.
2. Sometimes he takes a shot at goal. That's not fine by me. The chances of the shot avoiding the bodies and/or not being saved by the goalie and/or not going wide or over the top is negligible.
3. What nobody ever does is take the ball straight into the area on a mazy run and plonk it into the back of the net.
| Now you may say the chances of him doing this are also negligible, but let's compare neglibilities |
* Nobody trains to do this (wingers are, but they won't be found centrally placed just outside the area)
* It is not a natural one-on-one situation all defenders are trained for, it is a one-on-several defenders distracted by all sorts after some penalty area mayhem
* The chance of a pen under current guidelines is massive.
Why does this not happen? For an AE reason. He will get slaughtered for 'being selfish' if he fails, which he will most of the time. He should still do it.
PS The likelihood the Lord Arteta is already training the lads to do this is massive. He's never too far ahead of me. Watch this space next season.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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| Mick Harper wrote: | I have been reviewing the following situation
* the ball has been pinging around in the penalty area
* there are a fair number of bodies milling around in the area
* the ball falls to an attacker centrally placed just outside the area
* he has sufficient time and space to consider his course of action.
1. Mostly he switches play to either wing. That's fine, no objections from me though the chances of success from such a promising position with the area already well-stocked with defenders is not promising.
2. Sometimes he takes a shot at goal. That's not fine by me. The chances of the shot avoiding the bodies and/or not being saved by the goalie and/or not going wide or over the top is negligible.
3. What nobody ever does is take the ball straight into the area on a mazy run and plonk it into the back of the net.
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Option 2 statswise is about 1 in 33 of it going in.
Option 3 is a dramatic improvement, but only if he gets himself inside the 6 yard box before shooting.
Outside of 12 yards (excluding penalties), it is still only 1 in 12 of scoring.
That is why most players pass out wide and try to get a cross in the six yard box. (goal attempts then become 1 in 2)
The AE reason is according to Wiley, that everybody loved and remembered a goal of the month type screamer, until that is we knew that it was statistically so freakish, ie we were remembering the screamers, and hoping to recreate them, by ignoring the high level of misses.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Wiley wrote: | | Option 2 statswise is about 1 in 33 of it going in. |
Surely a reason for never attempting it. Holding the ball unopposed centrally just outside the area is quite an advantageous position to be in.
| Option 3 is a dramatic improvement, but only if he gets himself inside the 6 yard box before shooting. |
I doubt this will ever happen in a crowded box.
| Outside of 12 yards (excluding penalties), it is still only 1 in 12 of scoring. |
This is a bogus list. We need to know the chances of 6-12 and 12-18. Oh, and by the way, getting a free kick on the edge of the area is tantamount to a pen when you've got Declan Rice in your team.
| That is why most players pass out wide and try to get a cross in the six yard box. (goal attempts then become 1 in 2) |
It is not 1 in 2 when the defence is all set up, not just because of the previous passage of play, but the time it has taken to pass it out wide and have it come back in.
| The AE reason is according to Wiley, that everybody loved and remembered a goal of the month type screamer |
That is undoubtedly the case.
| until that is we knew that it was statistically so freakish, ie we were remembering the screamers, and hoping to recreate them, by ignoring the high level of misses. |
This is why it is up to the manager to issue negative fiats. Arteta was the first to outlaw the 'cross into the box' in situations where everyone else was doing it. This is a bit AE too since the crowd are constantly baying for it.
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