| In 2006 I stumbled across an incredible spreadsheet | | | | overkill. There is so much extraneous information that |
| just before the World Cup in Germany. It was | | | | one can page through that one looses sight of the goal |
| attractive, slick, and very easy to use. Tracking the | | | | (almost literally!). They also have not learned anything |
| progress of teams through the World Cup became a | | | | about user-friendliness and visual appeal. I find using |
| lot more enjoyable, no even riveting. | | | | these irksome and annoying. Finally, the spreadsheet |
| Fast forward four years... along comes World Cup | | | | that we created uses only formulas. It has no macros |
| 2010 in South Africa. I contacted the original author of | | | | or VBA programming, so there is no chance of getting |
| the Ultimate Couch Potato World Cup 2006 | | | | a virus from it. |
| Spreadsheet to see if he was going to do an update. | | | | One of the labour intensive features is a set of unique |
| The answer was "No, it takes much to much time, but | | | | comments for each match. There are 7 basic |
| you can take it over if you wish." Well, to make a long | | | | comments - for when team A beats team B by 1,2,or |
| story short, I took over the project, but in the course of | | | | 3+ goals, when they tie, and when B beats A by 1, 2 |
| asking questions about functionality the original author | | | | or 3+ goals. Seven times 48 games is 336 comments. |
| became involved again! Yay! After 3 weeks we had it | | | | However, things are a lot more complicated then they |
| finished, albeit still a bit rough. | | | | seem. Virtually every comment has additional options in |
| Unfortunately we also had to redo the website | | | | it - depending whether the tie is 0-0 (no goals scored) |
| completely (in terms of visual effect, not content), and | | | | or 1-1 (where some goals are scored). We also take |
| then find ways to publicize it. | | | | into consideration when teams are eliminated and who |
| What makes this spreadsheet unique among World | | | | they have to play next in their group. This makes over |
| Cup spreadsheets? Well, it is really the only one in its | | | | 1000 permutations for the group stage comment |
| niche. This Excel Spreadsheet has 7 pages and is 1.8 | | | | section. Whew! |
| megabytes. Smaller spreadsheets exist, but they are | | | | Will this spreadsheet be continued in for the 2014 world |
| only one page, looking cramped and gaudy. Then there | | | | cup? We'll have to wait and see. We may need more |
| are a couple of well known larger ones 8 to 12 | | | | help with doing this. |
| megabytes. These have another problem - they are | | | | |