Thursday 17 February 2011

Winning Streaks - Good or Bad Thing ?

See what you think on this one. I never go into a quiz hoping that I’m going to lose. Oh, I lose my fair share of quizzes, that’s a fact, but I never play to lose, and I never usually want to lose. Its just . . .
Well, its like this. As it happens I am currently on a 4 week winning streak, and I’ve won something like my last 14 or 15 quizzes in a row. Yes, quite right, bragging again. Its not necessarily that much of a boast, since its only the 3 league matches and 1 cup tie in Bridgend which were seriously competitive matches. Still, a winning streak is a winning streak. The thing is that bitter experience tells me that all winning streaks come to an end sooner or later, and the longer they go on, the greater the chance is that you’ll lose the next quiz you play in.

Which wouldn’t matter in the slightest, except for the fact that we have a crunch match in the league in Bridgend on this coming Monday. If we should win we won’t be guaranteed the league title, but we will be taking a significant step towards it. If we should lose we won’t have lost the title either, but it will probably mean that we’ll have to win all of our remaining matches to go into a play off at the end of the season. Pressure, eh ? Well, not too much. I’m not going to lie, I don’t mind this kind of pressure situation in a quiz, since it adds a little , shall we say, frisson to it that you just can’t get in a social quiz. Still, I’d be a lot happier if this match was coming anywhere but at the end of a long winning streak.

I always say that I’m not a very superstitious person, but who am I kidding ? We were playing in Cowbridge this week, and this is a quiz where we don’t always win. As the final scores were being read out I found myself totally unbothered about whether we’d done enough or not, so much so that it did cross my mind that it might have actually done us a favour if we had been beaten. Didn’t happen. Still, there’s always tonight in the rugby club. The only two quizzes I’ve lost this year have been in the rugby club as it happens – once fair and square, and once in the New Year quiz about which I have already posted, and have no real wish to add anything further. So I find it crossing my mind at the moment that although I can’t deliberately play to lose, if we did, it may just be a blessing in disguise. Better that the streak ends tonight than on Monday.

I’ve just read back what I’ve written, and I’m fully aware of how pathetic it sounds. Casual quizzers beware. The moment you start to take it all seriously this is what you are letting yourself in for.

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