I sought them far and found them,
The sure, the straight, the brave,
The hearts I lost my own to,
The souls I could not save.
They braced their belts about them,
They crossed in ships the sea,
They sought and found six feet of ground,
And there they died for me.
AE Housman, 'XXXII', from Last Poems (1922)
Some will say that after a quarter-final win for England that such mournfulness can be held in abeyance, but as one of the essentially-if-not-actually dead I respectfully disagree. I and my fellow lost predoers must be remembered so that they who win can truly triumph.
Uruguay-France split our field, with some perhaps feeling that the teams were evenly matched, or possibly wanting to play a maverick predo to steal a few places in a still tightly-grouped mid-field. Nobody OCHOed but many of the leading predoers scored points. Brazil-Belgium had the opposite effect, with many lower ranked players gambling on Belgium to come through scoring big.
Saturday's games didn't see any true OCHOs either, though Zaireeka and Andrew S doubled four point plays with jokers for a BACKDOOR OCHO. Mixed bag all around, with only those obdurately going against England really suffering.
Here is the latest leaderboard with 4 games to play. It feels like a two horse race but anybody on 175 or better can still win the tournament. The rest: you are dead.
Jokers played in bold
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