Stats Entertainment – Round 1 by Andrew Gigacz FROM HOLIDAY SEASON TO SILLY SEASON It was only three months or so ago that the festive season was here and many were singing “Deck the Halls”. And now here we are in footy season and 49,000 people turned up to Doglands to see if anyone [Read more]
Obituary: An untimely end to a Sporting Life
March 16, 2010 by 5 Comments
by Andrew Gigacz Visitors to these pages who are regular readers of the Age will be saddened to hear of the passing of the stalwart of that paper’s Sporting Life column, Geoff McClure. Geoff died yesterday, aged just 59, after a long struggle with cancer. For those of you out there looking to find someone [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Rats, Cats, why did you have to spoil a good sequence?
September 28, 2009 by 5 Comments
Andrew Gigacz’s Grand Final Stat. Declaration CONGRATS TO THE CATS Well done to Geelong on winning the flag. Apart from transforming the house I was at from being one of the noisiest in Melbourne to one of deathly silence in a matter of minutes, here are some other statistical fur balls the Cats’ coughed up [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Cold reception suits Saints and Cats just fine
September 23, 2009 by 6 Comments
Andrew Gigacz’s Finals Week 3 Stat. Declaration SAINTS CAUSE FAINTS WHILE CATS PILE UP STATS Now that it’s all over bar the shouting, it remains only to be seen who’ll be shouting the bar – Saints supporters or Cats clappers. Let’s see what could be gleaned from the two games. LAKE, BLAKE AND DOGGY HEARTACHE [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Wins is a four-letter word
September 16, 2009 by 25 Comments
Andrew Gigacz’s Finals Week 2 Stat. Declaration I WAS JUST TESTING YOU OUT – NO, REALLY! No sooner than last week’s Stat Dec had hit the presses, the emails and phone calls started rolling in. The Almanac switchboard went into meltdown as people queued up to point out that the attendance figure from the St [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Saints primed to put their number in the frame
September 8, 2009 by 12 Comments
Andrew Gigacz’s Finals Week 1 Stat. Declaration IT’S PRIME TIME FOR THE SAINTS While none of this week’s final scores were prime numbers, if you add them all together you get 761, which IS a prime number and it seems to me the Saints are primed to take their first flag in 43 years. 43 [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Season’s highest score, flag omens and much, much more
September 1, 2009 by 6 Comments
Andrew Gigacz’s Round 22 Stat. Declaration A PLEASIN’ SEASON FOR MORE THAN ONE REASON Everyone knows who won and we know who’s playing who and where and when next week, so let’s get straight down to the stats that really don’t matter:
Gigs’ Stats: Make-up of the eight is not as clear-cut as you think
August 25, 2009 by 7 Comments
Andrew Gigacz’s Round 21 Stat. Declaration FINALS PERMUTATIONS ABOUND IN FINAL SENSATIONAL ROUND As the man who inspired Ben Cousin’s torso markings once said, “so it’s come to this”. The Pies will finish third, the Bulldogs will finish fourth and Essendon and Hawthorn will play off in a virtual elimination final.
Gigs’ Stats: St Kilda loss marks four weeks in a row that games have been decided after siren
August 18, 2009 by 10 Comments
TEAMS KEEP TRYIN’ EVEN AFTER THE SIREN By now most footy fans area aware that St Kilda’s dream of a lossless season came crashing down on Sunday evening when Nick Riewoldt’s post-final-siren shot sailed wide. What many may NOT be aware of is the fact that Riewoldt’s last-ditch attempt was the fourth time in successive [Read more]
Gigs’ stats: Easton, Western and all points in between
August 10, 2009 by 4 Comments
MAKING UP THE NUMBERS Making up the numbers is something I’m often accused of doing but it’s looking increasingly likely that one of Port Adelaide, Sydney, Essendon or Hawthorn will be doing just that come the first week of September. And the battle to avoid the top eight is really hotting up between those four [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Tigers, you can still make the eight; Seven, you can jump in the lake
August 5, 2009 by 68 Comments
Andrew Gigacz’s Round 18 Stat. Declaration STATITORIAL – SEVEN PLUS TEN EQUALS A PRIME TIME NUMBER How do I hate thee, Channel Seven? Let me count the ways. Too many ways to count probably, but 10 seems like a good starting number. Presented with their second opportunity of the season to show a game live [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Hey, 4.16, did anyone ever tell you you’re mathematically beautiful?
July 27, 2009 by 62 Comments
RIVALRY ROUND LOSERS PROVIDE A TOUCH OF NOSTALGIA With St Kilda providing stats and facts galore in their record-breaking season, it’s nice to be able to report that the beaten Blues, the down-and-out Demons and the wasteful West Coast provided some statistical news for us this week. The three sides provided us with some classical [Read more]
Andrew Gigacz’s Round 15 Stat. Declaration
July 15, 2009 by 2 Comments
THIS IS WHAT I WANTED. BUT IT’S NOT WHAT I WANTED. Regular readers of this column will be aware that I have been lamenting throughout the season the fact that we have had no one-point margins. Well my prayers were answered on Friday night. The one point game finally arrived. BUT DID IT HAVE TO [Read more]
Round 14: Gigs’ Stats
July 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment
by Andrew Gigacz In arguably the most anticipated moment in sport since Steve Harmison bowled the first ball of the 2006/07 Ashes series to Andrew Flintoff at second slip, the Saints and Cats made a slightly better fist of it than Steve. A game of relentless pressure produced highlights galore, culminating in Michael Gardiner’s [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Round 13 Stat. Declaration
June 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment
ERATOSTHENES’ GUIDE TO TIPPING 8 WINNERS Mathematicians use the “Sieve of Eratosthenes” to come up with all the prime numbers in a list from 2 to any specified integer. The process involves eliminating all multiples of 2 (which is a prime) and then 3 (which is next prime) and so on until only the prime [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Round-12 Stat. Declaration
June 23, 2009 by 3 Comments
By Andrew Gigacz STATITORIAL — DEMETRIOU’S VERSION OF EVEN-HANDEDNESS In his role as AFL CEO, Andrew Demetriou often has to perform delicate balancing acts in order to keep all parties happy. But he has taken that concept to a new level over the past couple of weeks. With the decision not to move the Round-14 [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Mega mid-season stat declaration
June 20, 2009 by 2 Comments
Forget all the other mid-season reviews. Here are the four most important things so far gleaned from this season: 1. FOOTY TIPSTERS TIPPING TIP – WHEN TO PICK CARLTON So many factors come into play when deciding which team to pick on a Friday afternoon. Is player X in this week? Is player Y carrying [Read more]
Gigs’ Stats: Round 11 Stat Declaration
June 10, 2009 by 8 Comments
by Andrew Gigacz As most footy fans would know, round 11 was declared by the AFL to be Women’s Round. The final scores, however, suggest that naming it the Bill Collins Round would not have been inappropriate either. And by Bill Collins, I don’t mean the film buff (though there’s no shortage of good acting [Read more]
Gigs’ [extra] Stats: Amazing potential ladder, if all falls the right way
June 5, 2009 by Leave a Comment
by Andrew Gigacz Knackers I’ve just taken a break from working on the Pensky file and have come up with the following potential results for the next 12 rounds. If all 96 of those results eventuate, the Round 22 ladder will have all 16 teams on 11 wins and 11 losses. Who [Read more]
Round 10: Gigs’ stat declaration
June 2, 2009 by 2 Comments
By Andrew Gigacz With the World Twenty20 due to start this week, the mind of the sports fan is turning towards cricket. Of course in the quick-fix form of the game the focus is on runs, not wickets. And as if in anticipation of the event, Round 10 was full of runs of its [Read more]
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