Let's get ready to rumble!

For those of you who are more recent readers, you likely don't know that in a former life I attempted to start a wrestling blog.  

I happen to enjoy professional wrestling pretty tremendously, and though I could never quite find the time/energy/consistent topical flow necessary to keep a whole blog going, I still get a kick out of some of the posts I did there.  

I bring this up because tonight is my absolute favorite wrestling pay-per-view of the year, the Royal Rumble, and I will be watching while catching up on some stats homework.  

The Royal Rumble is named after the marquee match of the show, a 30 (sometimes 40) man battle royal.  Participants enter the ring at various time intervals (normally every 60 - 120 seconds) and eliminate other contestants by throwing them over the top rope.  Last man standing wins.  

This setup lends itself to some of the best statistics in sports entertainment* as this webpage shows.  Entrant #27 is the most likely to win (4 times) followed by #24 (3 times) and #1 and #30 (2 winners each).  

Anyway, if you're surprised by the fact that I like wrestling, and would like to know the statistical probability of me being a wrestling fan, I did a post on that here. If you're feeling more political, here's my take on which wrestler I think various Republican media figures would be if they had to be wrestlers.

And just for giggles, here's the number one anti smoking PSA of all time:

Alright, less than 30 minutes til start time, I'll let you know who wins.   

*That's what you call a sport whose outcomes are all predetermined....not fake mind you, predetermined.