Oh, and one other piece of news that I need to bring at this stage, after giving it much thought over the past couple of months I've made the decision that I won't be continuing this game next year...
It's down to three reasons really...
Firstly, because this forum has made the job that little bit more difficult for both me and the posters, based on random mass reportings that wipe out predictions, and having a non 24 hour forum that causes posters to have to PM me or not be able to put up predictions at all.
Secondly, if you actually consider who has been posting their predictions on a regular basis, how many of them actually post in here on a regular basis? Seemingly I have a loyal following, which is awesome, and thanks for that, but part of setting up the game was to get some friendly banter going between posters that might transfer into other parts of the forum. Unfnfortunately at the moment posters just sign in, make their predictions and then seemingly leave... not quite what I had in mind.
And lastly, and the biggest reason, is that quite simply I've not had the time! Starting up the game at the start of the season is fine, because I'm not doing anything, but when Uni kicks in, it gets more difficult, and when deadlines start kicking in, then I never find a regular slot to get the results tallied up! It's unfair to you guys that I can't display the results relatively swiftly, and I'm pretty sure that whatever I do next year (whether it be a PHD or god forbid an actual job!) it will be more of the same, so might as well quit while I'm ahead! Heck, even I managed to miss a week in my own game!
Before I finish here I would like to take the opportunty to each and every one of you that had a go in the game, and especially to those of you that made a regular appearance in the game and kept it going. In all honesty with the numbers predicting I was always going to keep it going, but every wee comment of how much you were enjoying the game gave me a boost of fullfillment and confidence and it made it a pleasure to bring something different to the forum. Finally, because his head isn't big enough yet, thought I'd better thank RedYankee, who actually encouraged me to start the game up in the first place!
And as a thank you for making it such a fun adventure, I have one last swansong... I won't reveal what I have in mind, but if you think a little into the future, you should have a relatively good idea... :P