Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Issue #1.0.1 "Please Bet on Us"
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CAN SPAIN REIGN ON BRAZIL'S PARADE?
Our 5th World Cup pool now includes ability to pick ties and simplier interface

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) --  There may be scandals in the news (incuding the betting one) but that won't stop us from conducting our betting pool! The World Cup draw last December provided some interesting tidbits, the least of which was the #14G-USA's group being deemed the Group of Death with #2G-Germany and #3G-Portugal in the group.  How about a rematch of the 2012 WC final on Game 3 (#1B-Spain vs #15B-Netherlands, who narrowly missed out being a group seed by 3 points)?  How about #8E-Switzerland and #12H-Belgium, snatching two group seeds (based on 10/17/13 ranking)?  How about South America getting 4 of the 8 group seeds?   Will the third time be the charm for USA in facing nemesis #38G-Ghana (losing to them in '06 round-robin final match and '10 R16 match)?  Will #16E-France continue the great ('98)-horrendous ('02)-great ('10)-horrendous ('14) pattern and be great, especially in the weakest group?  Will a European team finally win a title on American (North or South) soil?  How will the lone newcomer, #25F-Bosnia-Herzegovina do?

Four years is a long time to wait, but those who participated in our 1st-ever HWCI EURO Pool, only had to wait 2 years!  If there is decent interest, now that the Women's World Cup is expanding to 24 teams, to do the 1st-ever HWCI Women's World Cup Pool next year.  That would only leave 2017 as the odd man out in terms of soccer pools.  But back to the pool!  There are a couple differences than the last time.  The first is that you can now pick ties (this was implemented in the EURO pool and worked out well), which was probably the only constant request I've gotten by people.  The second is that the old java bracket has been discarded (this was also implemented in the EURO pool) in favor of a simple form to fill out your Round of 16 bracket.  The only issue is that there are no checks if you accidentally put in the same team winning a group and coming in 2nd, but I will do the checks manually anyway. And I have trust you will fill it out correctly.  How do I know this?  Because of the 39 entries I received for the EURO pool (same issue), the only person who mistakenly put in a wrong team anywhere on the bracket --- was me.  So as long as you're smarter than me, we'll be okay!

We had 67 entries in 2010 and hope to continue the upward tick.   Joseph D won the top prize of $310 snapping a two-pool winning streak by women.  This year, Sammy will once again provide biting commentary (the once Landon lover and now a hater) with his "PANDO! or GORDO?" newsletters (his 3rd straight pool doing it).  Also, following his successful EURO Pool newsletter, Eric's "Foster's Football Brew" is back and he will actually be at the World Cup later this month to provide insights on the ground.  If anyone else wants to contribute, let me know.  Anyone else going to Brazil and want to send pictures or mini-reports?

The best way to keep up with the pool is to follow @HWCI_Pools on Twitter or visit the #HWwc hashtag (you don't need Twitter account to view) often for daily updates.  Less often will be our Facebook group page (post comments or organize viewing parties) and then these newsletters every 4 days or so.

Here are the basics:

WHAT:		5th HWCI World Cup Soccer Office Pool
FEE:		$10.00 USD per entry (up to 3 entries per person)
DEADLINE:	1:00 p.m. PDT on Thursday, June 12th (if by mail postmark by THU AM)
WHO:		Anyone with ten bucks!  Invite friends!
REFERRAL:	For those who participated in 2010/2012, refer 5 new people and get a free entry with one paid
SOCCER STAT:	Spain is the defending World Cup champion
PAYMENT:	PayPal $10 to hwci(at)hotmail.com (personal or gift, no credit cards)
		PayPal $10.61 to smt0222(at)yahoo.com (credit card okay)
		Google Wallet $10 to smt0222(at)gmail.com (personal or gift)
		Mail $10 (email worldcup(at)hwci.com for snail mail address)
WINNERS:	1998: Fernando B (Le Bix) $115 (21 entries)
		2002: Tina M (Puna) $110 (23)
		2006: Cynthia S (Elastigirl) $220 (44)
		2010: Joseph D (Forza Pazza) $310 (69)

For more info, see the "Rules".  Then please enter online using our Web Entry page or download the form and fill the last page out and email to worldcup(at)hwci.com.

   SIDES 'N KICKS:  If it only takes $5 million to buy the right to host the World Cup, that seems like chump change considering Brazil is spending roughly $14 BILLION, who don't more nations just purchase the right to host?... #3G-Portugal and #9D-Italy also missed the cut for a top seed... While the "Group of Death" Group G has 3 teams in the top 14, Group D actually has 3 teams in the top 11 (#6-Uruguay, Italy, #11-England)... it's fitting that the #1 team Spain has the worst-ranked team #59B-Australia in its group... based on the current rankings (May 8), #17-Ukraine was the highest ranked to not qualify (9 teams in the top 32 missed the cut)... Group H has no team in the top 11 and has #55-Korea Republic... #7F-Argentina entertains three teams ranked #25, #37 (Iran), and #44 (Nigeria)... no bump from the first African-hosted World Cup as the highest ranked team is just #21 (Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast) and #65-South Africa didn't qualify... there's a 3-way tie for worst FIFA team with Bhutan, San Marino, and Turks and Caicos Islands tied for #207... Uruguay barely qualified (beating #64-Jordan 5-0 on aggregate) but still got a top seed... who would've thought Mexico would need a playoff to qualify but they did in crushing #111-New Zealand (and thus, no rep from Oceania this year) 9-3 on aggregate... this is also the last World Cup ESPN will broadcast (FOX has the next 2, the controversial sites of Russia and Qatar...

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Only one bargain here: $5 million to host the World Cup or $2 billion for the Clippers?
Scott