CHANCE AND THE WORLD CUP FINALS
The excitement before and during the World Cup Final was sky high. Croatians in white and blue, French in red, white and blue, with all kinds of outlandish costumes filled the stands of the huge stadium. The cheering on both sides was non stop from the beginning to the end. Three of the goals, two by France and one by Croatia were decided by penalty kicks for apparent fouls in the penalty area. In all three cases the goalies guessed wrong and the shots went in. Three of the goals were scored by still, but even then the were scored by the narrowest of margins and with the shooter happening to be in the right place at the right time. The lead shifted back and forth with first Croatia being ecstatic and then France. But at the end of 120 minutes the regulation time the game shifted to penalty kicks, alternating shots by each side.
The Croatian goalie guessed correctly twice, deflecting two shots, after each shot thumping his chest with delight. He had good luck. The French goalie guessed wrong every time, not blocking a shot, even when a shot came straight toward him up the middle even as he was lunging left. He had bad luck. After a three week tournament Croatia won, finally not by skill but by luck. And Croatian fans could not control their frenzy, and the French fans slumped in defeat. Good luck, bad luck.
I have a suspicion that chance plays a similar role in the many of the events in each of our lives as well. But I’ll leave that until a later time.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 