Relative Something

It is Sunday morning and after a two-week wait due to a bye in their schedule, the NFL Vikings play football again today. As if I really need more sports this weekend. Friday night, I attended the Gopher basketball game at the U of M, and yesterday morning, I was back down there to see the football team. Later, at home, I caught the hockey team in fine form on television, triumphing over Bemidji State. But this year, with Brett Favre as quarterback, watching the Vikings is once again becoming almost as interesting for me, as college sports.

One other thing has renewed my interest in professional football this year. Julian organized an online pool of competition in which we pick the winner of every NFL game each week. Brings back memories of the old ‘office pool’ I used to do when he was young. It instantly makes games that I would otherwise care less about, particularly interesting. It also forces me to become aware, if even superficially, of the status of every single team in the league.

We are competing for bragging rights, but win or lose, I have gained the increased entertainment value that playing such pools provides. As well, it has been interesting to witness how often Julian’s and my predictions appear similar. As a result, our year-to-date total is dead-even. Just last week, I was thinking that I will need to find a way to get a little distance between us. When all the participant’s selections were locked in and became visible, it became clear how difficult that is likely going to be. Julian’s and my picks were identical.

One of the tricks to getting more guesses correct than all the other people in the pool, is to pick at least one unlikely upset. The hope is that no one else will have the same selection, and then you just need your underdog team to steal a victory for you. The reality is that the odds are much greater for the outcome to go doubly against you, since being wrong instantly puts you behind everyone else. There ends up being multiple ways the game can be seen as an upset.

One easy way to assume you will get a pick that most of the others won’t choose, is to bet against the home team. That can be a hard decision to make. This year, when I finally felt the situation was right to try that ploy, it turned out perfect, except for one thing. Julian saw it exactly the same way. He and I were the only two who correctly guessed the Vikings to lose that week. Like father, like son.