In the beginning, I was planning to use my last year's speech,
the one I never had the chance to use, since last year I blew
very well my advantage some rounds before the end. But I must
have deleted it from some of my discs.
I am very glad that the title is back at University of Helsinki
(my very good friend Danilo Monaco won it two years ago). After
all, he made me take part in this competition.
At the very end of the CP97, I was very sure that Riccardo
Biondini, Danilo Monaco, Mikael Markhill or the other Bulgarian
(Svet Dimov) would clinch the title but goodness me, they were
"equivalently" unlucky.
In general, I have been always thinking if it is an advantage or
a disadvantage to be an Italian in CP. My very last memory is of
Round 34, the last one. I had a discussion with Danilo Monaco on
the future of Sampdoria - Fiorentina. His point (in brief) was
that it could be so hot that both teams would settle for a draw.
I tried to figure out (from the map of course) how deep in the
south Sampdoria is but I never found the town. On "90 minutes"
I happened to observe that it was heavily raining in Sampdoria,
gee, it was pouring like hell. After all, still a draw.
With Genoa, coming back to Serie A, it would be even more
difficult to get Sampdoria's matches. Those local derbies are so
hard to predict.
Basically, my principal is that I never look for surprises. Like
there are very sure matches. For example, if Juventus play at
home with, say Udinese, you must be nuts to give 2 for Udinese.
Play the sure matches as they are expected and all will be fine.
I guess...
Speaking seriously after all, I have a suggestion for a very
small change in the rules. I must say that it would be good if
1 extra point is given if the highest score of a single match
that has been neglected is a 20, i.e., you get 1 more point if
you get at least one right result. Roberto?
I never mentioned that I am a Levski (Sofia) fan. And a Bologna
one of course.
Finally, would you be so kind as to visit my guestbook at:
http://www.helsinki.fi/~dontchev/
With best wishes for a nice summer and lots of luck in CP98,
Julian
Back to Concorso Pronostici Historic Site
