h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

great fun, and i'm looking forward to doing it again. what is the normal ff season like? only premier league fixtures, or are there matches from other championships or uefa competitions?

the format is very good, more than just w-l-d and still not too complicated; that's why i'm reticent about making any suggestions, but... here goes:

in most matches there is a rather obvious "best" pick: obviously france won't always beat greece, holland won't always beat portugal and v. nistlerooy and henry won't always score, but in the long run, the strong teams win more and the top scorers score more.

it makes things more interesting and lively to pick greece to win or maniche to score, and that's why so many of us made picks like that: we're here to have fun! but there is a way to reward this originality: if someone is the ONLY person to pick a winning side or a scorer, he gets a bonus point.

i'm not sure it's a good idea; first of all, more complicated = less fun (von arglebargle's 32nd axiom). second, judging from the attitudes i see in the vsc, we may end up with everybody picking underdogs all the time just for the sheer hell of it. but discussion is why we're here, so let's discuss.

The matches tend to be geared more towards the Premiership. If for no other reason than that is the division that most people will know the most about... at least in theory. There are regular diversions into other divisions to satisfy those players who support more lowly teams. Therefore both the Sheffield clubs feature quite regularly as do Plymouth, Bradford and Scunthorpe.

Generally speaking my aim is to pick 'interesting' matches. That means relegation battles, local derbies, that sort of thing. I try to shy away from obvious matches as much as possible: even to the point of declaring a moritorium last season on any further Arsenal matches as everyone (usually rightly) went for a Gooners win with Henry to score.

I quite like your idea of rewarding originality, and it is certainly something I will bear in mind for next season. I don't think that it would be appropriate in all games, but I'm sure that in certain declared matches it, or something like it could be deployed.

"There are regular diversions into other divisions to satisfy those players who support more lowly teams. Therefore both the Sheffield clubs feature quite regularly as do Plymouth, Bradford and Scunthorpe."

*cough*

*mutters*'ndLeeds....*mutters*

Yes but you weren't a proper lower team last season despite all appearances to the contrary.

Touche...

*cough*

Chesterfield

*end cough*

What's this? Am I supposed to be taking requests already

*cough*

Coventry

*cough*

In fact lets face it, most of us are in The Championship nowadays.

I am still very confused by all this Championship business. At first glance it looks like Division 3 has simply been deleted, which is worrying in the extreme.

B

- The Premiership
- The Championship
- League 1
- League 2
- Conference

That is the new set of leagues!

I still don't like it. 'League 2' sounds definitely inferior. As if it's just been jammed on at the end. I'm campaigning for a silly name for the old Division 2.

B

Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo perhaps?

then conference would be gummo?

And then, below conference are two entirely new leagues, Conference North and Conference South.

Oh, and *cough* Cowdenbeath *cough*

"Conference North and Conference South" - Stan and Ollie

"I'm campaigning for a silly name for the old Division 2."

Is that the old Second Division now The Championship, or the less old Second Division now League One?

Er...the Second one.

B

So the Old Third Division then?

it all sounds like the names they give to olive sizes in the US: "extra large"? that's the microscopic grade. then you get "jumbo", "colossal", "humungous", "so big it should be illegal"... etc. the liga is like that too (probably all the olives they eat in spain...): the fourth place team is called "los galacticos"!

You know, I've been thinking about this too. It seems wrong that the top two divisions have dramatic-sounding names, and levels five and six at least have a memorably eccentric one, but levels three and four are stuck with names that are both boring and misleading. ('Conference' always sounds to me as though they don't actually play football, they just talk about it.)

I would suggest that League One be renamed 'The Reckoning', which suggests both a showdown and all the administrators and accountants frantically making calculations to try to keep the clubs going. League Two could become 'The Struggle', which is appropriate for that level of the game for obvious reasons. 'We're gonna win The Struggle' has quite a nice ring to it, don't you think?