Trying to tip is a mug’s game

HAVING a job where I get paid to go to the races and football hardly leaves me in a position to complain about my work.

And I guarantee you that is never likely to happen.

I’m privileged and plain lucky to be able to write about sport for a living and it is something I have never taken for granted.

I remind myself everyday there are thousands of people walking the streets of Toowoomba who would probably do a better job of it than I, and I intend making the most of each day my luck keeps holding out.

That’s not to say there aren’t times when I’d trade for the day. Take last Saturday for instance. My boss informed me due to roster changes, I wouldn’t be required to work at Clifford Park for the next couple of Saturdays.

As disappointing as that was, I find life at home on a Saturday afternoon/evening, drinking beer, watching football and races while organising the barbecue runs a close second to a day at the track.

But while I’ve barred myself these days from whinging about anything in life, I do have one gripe regarding my job – tipping.

Trying to tip horse and greyhound winners over the last 20-odd years is something I’ve never relished.

Being able to string together a few legible sentences I’ve discovered doesn’t automatically qualify you as a good judge of horse or dog form.

I prefer to think of my selections as being opinions more than tips. We all have opinions. I’ve done my best to try and bluff my way through the tips, hoping the odd winner somehow smothers all the losers in between.

That policy wasn’t helped by one of our previous Chronicle editors, who shall remain nameless.

Steve Keating used to think it was a wonderful idea if my predecessor Ged Cosgrove or I jagged a few weekend winners to broadcast it to the world.

Steve’s idea was to let everyone know how “knowledgeable” we were supposed to be.

“But Steve people aren’t mugs,” we groaned.

“It doesn’t matter how many winners we tipped last Saturday.

“People are only interested in what we come up this week. They couldn’t care less about last week.

“Besides, if we write a story about how many winners we tipped – what do we do when we come up with none?

“Run a story on how disgraceful we went?” “No, bugger it,” Steve replied. “We need to give ourselves a plug when we get the chance to.

“Make sure you run the story next to Saturday’s tipping panel.”

But while I’ve learned to live with the challenges of race tipping, I’ve got to tell you it’s a picnic compared to putting your NRL selections on public display.

Two weeks ago my colleagues Ben, Trent and I published, for a bit of fun, our NRL top-eight selections for 2014.

Of course, the phone was soon ringing to remind us what a joke our tips were and how we have absolutley no idea.

Really? I would never have known. Thanks for that but here’s a tip you can have for nothing ... I don’t care!

Good luck with your footy selections or if you are having a punt this weekend. But don’t worry if you have a shocker.

Win, lose or draw, all that matters on Monday is what happens next weekend.