Before November Crown

It's the day before, and I still have no idea who half the field is. More people are keeping their plans to themselves than ever before, either that or I am so far out of the loop that I really need to reassess my personal hygiene standards.

I know that there are a few people from the Melbourne groups heading down, and some from Ynys Fawr fighting, but I don't think that any of that lot have had enough top-end practice to take it out.

I have heard rumours of Asbjorn and Inigo, which would be very exciting, but I've heard those rumours before. I think that Asbjorn may have it somewhat over Inigo if they are both there simply because the former has more high-end fighters to go up against regularly, and over the last five years that has seemed to be the decisive factor in top-end Lochac tourneys. I would love to see a Kiwi King, but I'll wait to see them at the event before I get excited.

So far, the probable top end seems to be Blayney, possibly Alfar, and J. Now J will not be winning unless there is a monumental screw-up on the part of all other participants in which case Lochac will finally see what a minimalist reign actually looks like. Also, he's in a very good mood, so the likelihood of him concentrating all the way through the tournament is negligible.

Is Alfar fighting? Goddess only knows. Half the rumour mill says definitely yes, the other half says definitely no. I could ask him, but where's the fun in that?

Which brings us to Blayney. I want him to win, dammit. Actually, I wanted him to win last November Crown, too, and we all know how that turned out (memo to self: "I can't believe you won that!" is not the most supportive of consortly statements. But my apprentice was rolling her eyes at me. And rightly so.)

But he's young, he's committed, he's been training hard and teaching harder, he's put in all the yards he needs to put in and he's a damn nice guy. Plus, his consort is fabulous. And the fact that if Blayney does win it will send a cheerfully energetic two-fingered salute in some specific directions shouldn't be ignored, either.

So it's on record that he's my pick. But no pressure. Because anything can happen in a Crown Tournament, including being drawn against the two best fighters in the first two rounds. J has been known to fight like a god in the early rounds and then be distracted by pretty birds in the semis, conversely, he has fought in a rather pedestrian fashion through the beginning of a Crown list, unable to get into the swing of it, and then suddenly turned into a fighting machine. So if Blayeney is put out by Alfar and Asbjorn, I will merely regret the fact that the list fairy is a bitch sometimes. And if he's put out by Miles, I will assume that Miles is having a dose of Crown magic where everything comes together for some fighters on the day (I am very fond of Miles, but he's not had enough prac time in the last six months for me to be looking at him on the same page as Mr B, although I could be wrong as Gui is a cunning teacher and Miles is a smart man.) So B, whatever happens, we're on your side and it's not just because Art will hit us if we're not. Yup, we both have our fingers crossed for Blayney.

Although if it comes down to the final and J is there against him, let me just say that there will be some harsh words if Mr B doesn't take it out. And they will not be coming from me.

And for anyone asking (which is very reasonable) why we're entering if we don't particularly want to win, it's for two reasons. Firstly, J and I initiated the poll that saw Lochac become a Kingdom and as part of that we felt a sense of responsibility for the whole thing which saw us agree that we would fight in every Crown we could. Secondly, and more importantly, the first Crown that J won was against a good field of midrankers, but no Chiv. And when he came back there were some delightful people who said "I should have entered, I could have won that one."

So he makes sure that in every list possible the victor can now say, "And I had to get past Duke J …" (previously Sir J).

That's because he's a man who takes people being crap and makes it into something positive. I am the mean one because whenever I heard people say "I should have entered …" I replied "Yes, then he could have beaten you, too." At least I'm not a totally unsupportive consort!

Normal service will be resumed next week when I start having a life again. I wouldn't mind working so much if anyone paid me ... the evil side of freelancing ...