{"id":403,"date":"2011-02-01T18:22:23","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T18:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/?p=403"},"modified":"2011-02-01T18:22:23","modified_gmt":"2011-02-01T18:22:23","slug":"the-raeburn-shield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/","title":{"rendered":"The Raeburn Shield"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite being an ordinary geek, I’m not normally a sports fan.\u00a0 That may sound a little abhorrent as the words “geek” and “sports” don’t normally mix unless there is the letter “e” thrown in there somewhere but really, sports fanatics are ordinary geeks.\u00a0 They pore over statistics and have encyclopaedic knowledge over things that really don’t matter.\u00a0 Not only this, but a lot of them will play something like fantasy football which is quite frankly a couple of twenty sided dice away from Dungeons and Dragons.\u00a0 It even has the word “fantasy” in the title.\u00a0 If die hard sports fans aren’t geeks, then they are exceptionally close cousins.<\/p>\n

A friend of mine at work was telling me about the Raeburn Shield<\/a> and I did find this to be quite an interesting idea and thought I would share.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Raeburn Shield is a non-existent-but-tracked prize in the rugby world that traces all the way back to the first officially recognised international game between England and Scotland.\u00a0 The way you win this is by beating the team that currently has it (and it being rugby that is sometimes literal as well as figurative).\u00a0 If you have the shield and you are beaten by another team, they then have the shield.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter what sort of match it is that you’re playing, it is simply that if you beat someone who has the shield, you then have the shield.\u00a0 As an example, South Africa currently hold the shield and when they play against Australia later on in the year, if Australia win, they will take the shield away from them.<\/p>\n

I find this a fantastic concept.\u00a0 It adds an extra meta element to the game and could potentially give matches a little extra significance.\u00a0 There’s actually a fairly decent list of reasons why the Raeburn Shield is beneficial to the game that essentially boil down to “it makes it more of a sport” found on the Raeburn Shield’s official website.<\/a><\/p>\n

If you are at all interested in rugby go and have a look at their site for a much better explanation and some of those sport based statistics that true sports fans crave.\u00a0 They’re currently trying to promote the award and give it a wider recognition and if you think it is worthy, you can lend your support by doing Facebooky things and what have you.\u00a0 My friend tells me they’re getting coverage from ESPN and now of course a mention by Chaotic Tortoise, so it’s all good.<\/p>\n

My initial response to this is actually that I can apply the Raeburn Shield concept to an ongoing problem I have with a couple of friends that I occasionally play pool with.\u00a0 For the sake of argument, we’ll call these two friends Dan and Matt.\u00a0 The (slightly subjective and simplified) facts are as follows:<\/p>\n

-Dan is very good at pool.\u00a0 He will always beat me.\u00a0 Dan is therefore better than me.<\/p>\n

-I am ok at pool and often beat Matt.\u00a0 I am therefore better than Matt.<\/p>\n

-Matt is actually quite good at pool and will often beat Dan.\u00a0 Matt is therefore better than Dan.<\/p>\n

As you can see, this is a bit of a mobius strip of a result, so it gets difficult to ascertain bragging rights.\u00a0 However, with the Raeburn Shield idea, it would…<\/p>\n

…Actually it wouldn’t change anything, but it would give a little focus to the chaos, because there would be some kind of conceptual totem changing hands that would give us a little direction and qualification behind the declarations made concerning who is the best.<\/p>\n

Additional Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, I never declare that I’m the best. \u00a0Any time that I come close to suggesting I might be, the white pops down one of the holes, off the table and onto the floor, or flying across the wall into somebody’s pint\/head.<\/p>\n

I hated rugby with a passion until I didn’t have to play it any more.\u00a0 Then it became ok.\u00a0 In your general rugby team, there’s normally one skinny guy who can run really really fast.\u00a0 I forget what the term is, but that was the role they used to put me in.\u00a0 There was however one fatal flaw in this:\u00a0 Whereas I fulfilled one half of this criteria at the time, I could not and never will be able to run really really fast.\u00a0 At best I can manage a slightly-faster flailing walk.\u00a0 It lead to a few bruises and the best piece of advice I have ever been given in relation to sport:\u00a0 “Just run like mad and stay away from the ball.”<\/p>\n

Incidentally, sorry for the potentially misleading title on the post. \u00a0I realise that after talking about Dungeons and Dragons quite recently, you might have thought this was about that.<\/p>\n

I now seem to have got it into my head that I might be able to get this post Search Engine Optimised so that it pops up if you type in “rugby+dungeons and dragons” into google. \u00a0I can’t of course imagine that many people do that search. \u00a0I think I’ll see how that works out in a couple of days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite being an ordinary geek, I’m not normally a sports fan.\u00a0 That may sound a little abhorrent as the words “geek” and “sports” don’t normally mix unless there is the letter “e” thrown in there somewhere but really, sports fanatics are ordinary geeks.\u00a0 They pore over statistics and have encyclopaedic knowledge over things that really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,68,67,69,66],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-games","tag-pool","tag-raeburn-shield","tag-rugby","tag-sport"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Raeburn Shield - Chaotic Tortoise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Raeburn Shield - Chaotic Tortoise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite being an ordinary geek, I’m not normally a sports fan.\u00a0 That may sound a little abhorrent as the words “geek” and “sports” don’t normally mix unless there is the letter “e” thrown in there somewhere but really, sports fanatics are ordinary geeks.\u00a0 They pore over statistics and have encyclopaedic knowledge over things that really […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Chaotic Tortoise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-01T18:22:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ding\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ding\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ding\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#\/schema\/person\/bf6123d7eac4a67f754184ab68db2d74\"},\"headline\":\"The Raeburn Shield\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-01T18:22:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/\"},\"wordCount\":858,\"commentCount\":2,\"keywords\":[\"Games\",\"Pool\",\"Raeburn Shield\",\"Rugby\",\"Sport\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/\",\"name\":\"The Raeburn Shield - Chaotic Tortoise\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-01T18:22:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#\/schema\/person\/bf6123d7eac4a67f754184ab68db2d74\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Raeburn Shield\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/\",\"name\":\"Chaotic Tortoise\",\"description\":\"A blog for ordinary geeks\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#\/schema\/person\/bf6123d7eac4a67f754184ab68db2d74\",\"name\":\"Ding\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/091490c27d340f49091f79cf75a1b4e6b265e6e8524a56bfe3f143486d244609?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/091490c27d340f49091f79cf75a1b4e6b265e6e8524a56bfe3f143486d244609?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ding\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/author\/ding\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Raeburn Shield - Chaotic Tortoise","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Raeburn Shield - Chaotic Tortoise","og_description":"Despite being an ordinary geek, I’m not normally a sports fan.\u00a0 That may sound a little abhorrent as the words “geek” and “sports” don’t normally mix unless there is the letter “e” thrown in there somewhere but really, sports fanatics are ordinary geeks.\u00a0 They pore over statistics and have encyclopaedic knowledge over things that really […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/","og_site_name":"Chaotic Tortoise","article_published_time":"2011-02-01T18:22:23+00:00","author":"Ding","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ding","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/"},"author":{"name":"Ding","@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#\/schema\/person\/bf6123d7eac4a67f754184ab68db2d74"},"headline":"The Raeburn Shield","datePublished":"2011-02-01T18:22:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/"},"wordCount":858,"commentCount":2,"keywords":["Games","Pool","Raeburn Shield","Rugby","Sport"],"articleSection":["General"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/","url":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/","name":"The Raeburn Shield - Chaotic Tortoise","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-01T18:22:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#\/schema\/person\/bf6123d7eac4a67f754184ab68db2d74"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2011\/02\/the-raeburn-shield\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Raeburn Shield"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/","name":"Chaotic Tortoise","description":"A blog for ordinary geeks","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#\/schema\/person\/bf6123d7eac4a67f754184ab68db2d74","name":"Ding","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/091490c27d340f49091f79cf75a1b4e6b265e6e8524a56bfe3f143486d244609?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/091490c27d340f49091f79cf75a1b4e6b265e6e8524a56bfe3f143486d244609?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Ding"},"url":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/author\/ding\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}