Sporting predictions are a load of b*******

For Boar Sport this term, all of the focus has been on our attempt to make it 27 straight against Coventry at #Varsity2017. Countless hours of practice by the players for #TeamWarwick took place as they knew the occasion demanded for the best performance. Despite the effort going in, the punter’s chat on campus was that Coventry were never going to pose a threat on our champions. Surely the competitors from Coventry had no chance, right? Sport is never that simple.

I am thankful to all the players for providing some magical moments that even professional sport may never give.

The curse of a sports journalist

I was lucky enough to see 6 fixtures in the flesh this year, and have aged rapidly or what. Each fixture I have seen this year has been extremely competitive and at times, simply unbearable to watch. Seemingly heavy defeats were reversed with astonishing comebacks and I can honestly say that I would not have wanted to spend the weekend in any other way. Seeing how everyone got behind the heroes of #TeamWarwick made my heart melt and even in defeat, the compassion shown was beautiful. The players really seem to appreciate the support and it helps to re invigorate their game, if there are lapses of concentration. I hope that support only grows as the years go on, oh and the wins as well.

Unfortunately, the 6 fixtures I had the pleasure of witnessing saw no Warwick victories. The curse of Yash was real and was actually sickening at the end. I almost felt like I wanted to leave the Men’s Badminton just for Warwick to win. Furthermore, almost all of these fixtures were marathons and that almost made it even worse. A quick thrashing either way is easier to handle, but less entertaining to write about. In these marathon games, the quality of sport was extremely high and every point was contested with extreme passion. Therefore, even if I didn’t see a victory, I am thankful to all the players for providing some magical moments that even professional sport may never give.

“A lot closer than we expected”

As I have mentioned before, everyone expected Coventry to be swatted away quite comfortably. Of course, Warwick were never going to win every fixture but the expectation for a convincing victory. In spite of this, Coventry were like a wounded animal in the matches I saw. All those thrashings in the past years must have provided them with the fire in the belly to give their 100%. Also, I phrase that I kept hearing from Warwick’s players was that of “it’s a lot closer than we expected”. I would have been a millionaire if I earned a penny every time I heard that this weekend. Fortunately, that unexpected level of play from Coventry didn’t change the overall result.

Seeing how everyone got behind the heroes of #TeamWarwick made my heart melt and even in defeat, the compassion shown was beautiful.

There are many things I have learnt from this year’s Varsity but there is one thing that stands out. Sporting predictions are useless. As much as we try to make our opinion backed up with evidence, we essentially have no idea what we are talking about. All the statistics and numbers come up short against high drama sport and that is the way it always should be. Therefore, I take an oath to never ever make a sporting prediction again. Then again, everyone likes a flutter here and there, don’t they?