By my calculations (that's a lie, someone on the arsenal email list calculated it), we are only 14 points away from celebrating St. Totteringham's Day. For those of you who don't know, St. Totteringham's Day marks the day of the year where it is mathematically impossible for Bottomham Dropspur to finish ahead of Arsenal in the league. While the holiday has been delayed in recent years, it looks like it might come as early as March 1st this season. That's less than a month away! Let's all get ready to celebrate!
I've always wondered about the math behind this, mainly because I'm terrible at math. At what point during the season do the calculations for determining St. Totteringham's Day begin, and is there any formula for determining the date and points difference? Or is it just a bunch of monkeys with abaci in a warehouse somewhere?
St. Totteringham's Day occurs when: the difference in points between us and the Spudz is greater than (the number of games remaining for Spudz multiplied by 3) If, for example, we are 25 points clear of Spurz with 8 games to play for them, we could lose every game for the rest of the year and not drop below them. This would mean that St. Totteringham's day commences at the final whistle at which that situation comes to be.
it's like a "magic number" in baseball pennant races. we are 14 points away, so any combination of 14 points (Arsenal gained and Spurs dropped) results in St Totteringham's Day
In the midst of so many changes throughout sport, culture, society, etc.... it's great to remind ourselves that some things never change. There will always be a St. Totteringham's Day. Has been for as along as I can remember. My kids (12 & 6 years old) and I get a cake from the bakery every year to celebrate. Recently, the cake has been preceded by a nice Lasagna!
Last time there wasn't St. Totteringham's Day was 94/95. This site gives a yearly breakdown going back to 1970. It also shows how many games it took. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mikepitt/totteringham.html
TODAY: Arsenal 24 pld 57 pts Spurs 24 pld 28 pts 42 pts available Gap 29 pts -------- 2nd Feb 2008 Manchester City v Arsenal (away win) Tottenham v Manchester United (away win) Arsenal 25 pld 60 pts Spurs 25 pld 28 pts 39 pts available Gap 32 points -------- Saturday 9th Feb Derby v Tottenham (away win) Monday 11th Feb Arsenal v Blackburn (home win) Arsenal 26 pld 63 pts Spurs 26 pld 31 pts 36 pts available Gap 32 points -------- Saturday 23rd Feb Birmingham v Arsenal (away win) (Spurs don't play due to CC final) Arsenal 27 pld 66 pts Spurs 26 pld 31 pts 36 pts available to Spurs Gap 35 points -------- Saturday 1st March Arsenal v Aston Villa (home win) Birmingham v Tottenham (away win) Arsenal 28 pld 69 pts Spurs 27 pld 34 pts 33 points available to Spurs Gap 35 points -------- Saturday 8th March Tottenham v West Ham (home win) Sunday 9th March Wigan v Arsenal (away win) Arsenal 29 pld 72 pts Spurs 28 pld 37 pts 30 points available to Spurs Gap 35 points -------- Looks like first 2 weeks of March alright.
Millwall Rovers or Erith, or even Royal Ordnance Factories FC. Charlton weren't formed until 1905. But there is a White Hart Road close to our first grounds in Plumstead, so our dominance is destiny.
Since I'll be back home by then, I think I totally will have a gigantical lasagna dinner that evening. And iff it coincides with St. Patrick's Day, I'm going to put a piece of green duct tape on one of my home shirts, and wear that when I go out getting wrecked out of my mind. After a year of no beer, that should take about 35 minutes.
isn't is five points closer? +3 for arsenal, -2 for spurs? so nine points away! also, there's this excellent St. Totteringham's Day page we are on pace to celebrate the earliest St. Totteringham's Day in history