[the phantom]

THE GAME WITHIN THE GAME
The Phantom, "The Downer" Sports News

We all know what is going on in the Arda Cup, so I won't waste any time writing about that. It's only the biggest sporting event in Middle Earth! It's receiving plenty of coverage. What I want to talk about is a game withing the game that has been going on here on the Downs. I'm talking about the Arda Cup Phantasy Competition.

If you haven't checked the standings lately, guess who's back on top? None other than the winner from two years ago- Gwathagor. He vowed that he would be back with a vengeance this season, armed with new info and new stats and more dedicated than ever. But while he has been impressive, he has by no means run away from the field.

Only two points behind him is the early round leader and perennial competitor Nogrod. He had a bit of a down round in the playoffs (by his standards), but if that's the only bump in the road he experiences he'll be tough to beat.

Another player behind by mere single digits is none other than the Prince of Predictions- Boromir88. He gained more points than anyone in the first playoff round, thanks in part to his perfect predictions, and opponents fear him getting on a roll. If you'll recall, last year he was just ridiculous at this stage, predicting the exact scores of 7 of the 8 quarterfinal teams correctly! If he catches fire again- look out.

Lurking a dozen points off the leader is Skip Spence, and many think that he is still the favorite at this stage. He's the defending champ, and he loves to wait in the wings and storm to the lead in the final rounds, so he is exactly where he wants to be right now.

Just two points under is the extremely sneaky Nerwen- you don't want to overlook her! With the two former champs plus the co-mods in the front four, it'll be easy for them to focus on each other a bit too much and forget the very real threat of the lady down under.

Now those are the Downers who currently look to be in the best shape right now, but the next ones down- Shasta, McCaber, Sally, and others are technically within striking distance if the leaders mirror each other too much and run into bad luck, while those behind hit their predictions and pick up a few pre-tourney prediction points to put them over the top. Teams Magnum and Ben Jonson however need a downright miracle, as their owners have chosen the odd strategy of leaving disqualified players on the roster rather than replacing them. Perhaps it's a clever ploy of some sort?

But anyway, it looks to be an exciting race to the finish in the game within the game, and it is difficult to say who holds the advantage at this stage. We'll just have to watch and see.