c4countdown

The Series 74 preliminaries: here today, gone tomorrow (assuming you're in Kiribati; Thursday everywhere else, of course).

As a result of Ollie Heath's triumph today, the finals lineup is now fully determined, barring the unlikely event that one or more finalists will be no-shows. And so, the speculation begins. Simply put, who do you think will be the 21st recipient of the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy? Which matches do you think will be the most exciting? Who, if anyone, might be a "dark horse" for this finals bracket? Predictions for any and all such questions should be posted here.

Just as a reminder to all, the schedule for the finals will be as follows.
June 10: #1 Seed Paul Erdunast vs. #8 Seed Tony Lock
June 13: #2 Seed Robin McKay vs. #7 Seed Sean Cooke
June 14: Horses
June 15: More Horses
June 16: Horses Again
June 17: Frakkin' Horses
June 20: #3 Seed Ann Dibben vs. #6 Seed Tim Down
June 21: #4 Seed Conrad Teixeira vs. #5 Seed Dave Costello
June 22: Winner June 10 vs. Winner June 21
June 23: Winner June 13 vs. Winner June 20
June 24: Winner June 22 vs. Winner June 23

My personal expectations for the finals results, based on what we've seen so far:
QF1 - Paul to beat Tony by 60-80 points
QF2 - Robin to beat Sean by 40-60 points
QF3 - Ann to beat Tim by 20-30 points
QF4 - Conrad to beat Dave by ~20 points
SF1 - Paul to beat Conrad by 20-40 points (hard to tell)
SF2 - seriously too close to call, but almost certainly a crucial conundrum, assuming Robin and Ann are in
GF - Paul to win by ~20 points

Let's see whether at least two of them can be right this time!

If I was being really picky (and I am) I would say (so I am saying) that this thread shouldn't really exist until the last preliminary has been played because its very existence (regardless of whether you click on it) is a spoiler itself.

Gavin Chipper wrote:If I was being really picky (and I am) I would say (so I am saying) that this thread shouldn't really exist until the last preliminary has been played because its very existence (regardless of whether you click on it) is a spoiler itself.

I see your point and I'm sorry for spoiling people who are being picky, but I'm just following a (possibly bad) precedent; in the past, the who will win thread has been created as soon as the finals lineup is fixed. Also, I was just bored and wanted something productive to do instead of finishing my school assignment.

I can change the title to something deceptive like "Spoilers for 10 June 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 86???)" so that it won't be visible from the main board.

Johnny Canuck wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:If I was being really picky (and I am) I would say (so I am saying) that this thread shouldn't really exist until the last preliminary has been played because its very existence (regardless of whether you click on it) is a spoiler itself.

I see your point and I'm sorry for spoiling people who are being picky, but I'm just following a (possibly bad) precedent; in the past, the who will win thread has been created as soon as the finals lineup is fixed. Also, I was just bored and wanted something productive to do instead of finishing my school assignment.

I can change the title to something deceptive like "Spoilers for 10 June 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 86???)" so that it won't be visible from the main board.

I wouldn't worry about changing it now. But I think we should set a new precedent from the next series onwards.

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Johnny Canuck wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:If I was being really picky (and I am) I would say (so I am saying) that this thread shouldn't really exist until the last preliminary has been played because its very existence (regardless of whether you click on it) is a spoiler itself.

I see your point and I'm sorry for spoiling people who are being picky, but I'm just following a (possibly bad) precedent; in the past, the who will win thread has been created as soon as the finals lineup is fixed. Also, I was just bored and wanted something productive to do instead of finishing my school assignment.

I can change the title to something deceptive like "Spoilers for 10 June 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 86???)" so that it won't be visible from the main board.

I wouldn't worry about changing it now. But I think we should set a new precedent from the next series onwards.

Good idea -- will follow beginning in the next series. On a personal note, I've been looking forward to these finals for weeks but I have both an assignment due tonight and a huge midterm exam tomorrow, and I don't know, I just somehow wanted a few "new"/"unusual" Countdown-related things to do before I have to bear that cross. I think I've finally motivated myself to start revising now, so see you all around.

It's only a spoiler in itself if you saw it's existence before you knew who won today's match between Jonny and Ollie though.

Johnny Canuck wrote:Good idea -- will follow beginning in the next series. On a personal note, I've been looking forward to these finals for weeks but I have both an assignment due tonight and a huge midterm exam tomorrow, and I don't know, I just somehow wanted a few "new"/"unusual" Countdown-related things to do before I have to bear that cross. I think I've finally motivated myself to start revising now, so see you all around.

Good luck then, and see you on the other side!

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Johnny Canuck wrote:Good idea -- will follow beginning in the next series. On a personal note, I've been looking forward to these finals for weeks but I have both an assignment due tonight and a huge midterm exam tomorrow, and I don't know, I just somehow wanted a few "new"/"unusual" Countdown-related things to do before I have to bear that cross. I think I've finally motivated myself to start revising now, so see you all around.

Good luck then, and see you on the other side!

Thanks!

It is in the spoilers subforum tbf. Spoil on, I say.

And you're going to say "yeah, but I use some wanky view unread posts feature and it comes up in that". So don't.

Jon Corby wrote:It is in the spoilers subforum tbf. Spoil on, I say.

And you're going to say "yeah, but I use some wanky view unread posts feature and it comes up in that". So don't.

This is pretty illogical, even for you. Obviously I use "Active topics" like anyone else who doesn't want to visit every subforum every time they visit C4C. But aside from that, on the index page, it says what the last topic posted to in each subforum was. And also, if people are behind in games, they still visit the spoilers subforum to read about the games they've just watched. They don't expect the titles of the spoilers threads to contain spoilers. E.g. "Spoilers for 28th September - John Smith (who won yesterday) v Joe Bloggs. Edit - John Smith wins this game as well".

I think you need to take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror, Corby. You've done a good job over the years on the C4C forum, but you're beginning to slip now. Maybe it's something to do with being in your 40s - I don't know - but I'd visit my GP if I were you and get tested for Alzheimer's.

Oh yeah, forgot you could see that bit on non-mobile browsers. As you were then.

Gavin Chipper wrote:I think you need to take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror, Corby. You've done a good job over the years on the C4C forum, but you're beginning to slip now. Maybe it's something to do with being in your 40s - I don't know - but I'd visit my GP if I were you and get tested for Alzheimer's.

I don't know why the last bit made me laugh so much.

Yeah, degenerative brain diseases are fucking hilarious Jen