This week in the Off Topic Forum we addressed a major sporting event across Europe. This being the football European Championship. For those of you outside Europe, or those that don't follow football, the European Championship is a sporting event for all countries that play in Europe, as seen by the world football governing body FIFA, held every 4 years, two years after the world cup. This year has been marred by racism by the host nations, Poland and Ukraine and violence by some fans, however this is not the topic for discussion. Instead, we asked your opinion of the football side!
Thank you to all those that filled in this questionnaire. The most common prediction for the final from those that filled in the questionnaire was a German Spanish final. The most popularly predicted winners were Germany. There were three suggestions of a Dutch English final, all predicting England to eventually win.
The predictions for the top scorer were Mario Gomez of Germany and Alan Dzagoev of Russia. The best player thoughts reveal Spaniards Cesc Fàbregas, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi as ones to watch.
For the worst player, there is not a lot of love for Robin van Persie from The Netherlands and James Milner of England.
As with every sport, there is a huge gambling aspect. American Riotmaker was taking bets in a true bookie style, with offical odds taken from gambling sites. He hosted these bets in a thread in the Off Topic Forum, with a Sports Gambling Centre style feel. We approached him for an interview. Firstly, we were curious about where he got the inspiration for this idea and were told "I liked owning casinos, but I always hated logging in to see my money go to zero. I love sports and I love gambling, so I figured why not take bets on sports."
The highest he's ever paid is $600,000 to two players that bet on the Kentucky Derby. Though quite a few came close to winning over $2,000,000 when betting on Boston Celtics in the NBA Championship. Personally, he thinks it'll be a German Spanish final, with a Spanish win.
Though not a football fan himself, he does enjoy the nation v nation match up and appreciates the passion from the fans.
Thanks for reading and as the European Championship moves forward, we will be following! Be sure to read the next issue of The Buzz!
