Science Spring Showdown Spoilsport

href="http://scienceblogs.com/worldsfair/2007/03/science_spring_showdown_2007_t.php#more"> class="inset" alt=""
src="http://scienceblogs.com/worldsfair/upload/2007/03/showdownsmall.jpg"
align="left" border="0" height="144" width="144"> face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">I must admit,
I am pretty much a spoilsport when it comes to sports.  Even
though my colleagues have been stocking up and draining down PRBs all
week, and chomping at their bits, and chafing at their straps, and
frothing at their mouths, and gnashing at their teeth, and stomping at
their feet about the href="http://scienceblogs.com/worldsfair/2007/03/the_2007_science_spring_showdo_1.php">Science
Spring Showdown, I just haven't been a good sport.
 But two of the contests did get my attention:

href="http://scienceblogs.com/worldsfair/2007/03/darwin_crushes_jesus_kuhn_dest_1.php">Neuroscience:
91

Psychology: 93

Call this the comeback game folks! At the first half, Neuroscience
looked like it had a lock, with exciting moves that generated massive
points (hopefully YouTube will present some video footage later).
Psychology almost played like they weren't even there - many players
stayed on the sidelines, taking notes and conversing with each other.
In fact, two of the squad simply did their reading in the locker room.
In fact, by halftime, Neuroscience was up 85 to 0, and quite a few
folks in the stands simply left the building in disgust. But people,
the second half was nothing short of miraculous! Psychology came
steaming back to win the game, and held Neuroscience to only a further
6 points. Truly amazing game - I think there's no question that this
team is one to watch! Can't wait for the next game.

This is pretty much what I expected.  Psychologists are
notoriously slow to get going.  They bide their time.
 They watch, they observe, they ponder.  It seems to
take forever for them to figure anything out.  But once they
finally do figure it out, then WHAM they lay in on you.
 Sometimes, all it takes is a raised eyebrow -- at just the
right moment -- to bring your defenses crashing down.  



Next up is Psychology vs HIV.  That one might be a real
head-scratcher.  The good old href="http://www.iscid.org/encyclopedia/Mind-Body_Problem">mind-body
problem rears its head again.  How these two will
even manage to interact is anybody's guess.  Without
Neuroscience around, Psychology might find themselves, well, completely
ethereal.  



It'll be no surprise to anyone what other game I was interested in:

href="http://scienceblogs.com/worldsfair/2007/03/darwin_crushes_jesus_kuhn_dest_1.php">IAU:
76

Pluto: 80

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? Do you believe!!!! Pluto, wiping the tears
from my cheeks, dear Pluto. They pulled it off. They did it, they did
it, Pluto did it. Unbelievable. Truly, a true shocker. From the
post-game interviews: "Nobody believed in us, nobody important at
least. But we just kept playing, we just kept at it, and we really had
nothing left to lose, you know? It's just, it's so rewarding to be
standing here, having overcome the IAU. This is our biggest victory
ever. Really. Ever. But we don't want to rest on our laurels. Coach
says we have a lot of practice tomorrow, and we look forward to the
next game. Peace out..."

Next up: Theory vs Pluto.  This could be strange.
 The "sentimental favorite" against the favorite with no
sentiment.  Theory have a reputation of being cold as ice,
even under pressure.  But Pluto are known to be much
colder than ice.  How will they stand up to
second-round action?  



I know one thing.  Pluto orbits the sun once every 248 years,
so they do not get to play in these tournaments very often.
 When they play, though, they really play hard.  And
with an orbital velocity of 4.666 km/s, if you let them get away from
you, it sure it tough to catch up.