Handicapping Eurovision Song Contest 2009: 2nd semifinal
Ready for part two of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, the fantastic competition wonderfully described by one anonymous news scribe as “the annual extravaganza of music and camp”? Right, then, LiveBetsDirect.com presents another round of its fearless predictions!
In considering the second Eurovision semifinal pool, all odds cited are courtesy of Bet365.com bookmakers and represent the bookmaker’s odds on the given act finishing in the top 10 in Thursday’s semi-final. Bet 365 has also posted odds on each act’s odds of *not* qualifying for the Saturday finals, but we’re keeping it positive here.
The Live Bets Direct prospective qualifying list looks like the following, enumerated in order of appearance.
• Ireland (13/8 to qualify for final) – “Et Cetera” by Sinéad Mulvey and Black Daisy. No idea why the odds are so long on these lovely ladies with the infectious tune. Figure in the catsuits Ms. Mulvey and Black Daisy will be wearing for the performance, and this relative longshot gets in.
• Serbia (4/7) – “Cipela” by Marko Kon and Milan Nikolic. With good humour beyond language (good thing, because this one’s in Serbian) and the inevitable “I’m voting for that dude cuz of the hair” factor, Marko and Milaan advance.
2009 Eurovision winner, Best Hairdo: Serbia in a walk
• Norway (1/80) – “Fairytale” by Alexander Rybak. A heavy favorite to take the whole thing, and why not? Rybak’s got the talent, the charisma, and the song to do it. (Incidentally, a decent bet at Bet 365 may be a “To Win Match” Eurovision prop: In the Norway vs. Greece head-to-head, Rybak going off at 1/2 against Greece’s übermacho Sakis Rouvas.)
• Denmark (4/11) – “Believe Again” by Brinck. What month is it? May? Okay, the clichéd summertime dance hit makes it.
• Slovenia (6/4) – “Love Symphony” by Quartissimo featuring Martina Majerle. It’s big-sounding yet intimate, exotic yet familiar: It’s a winner.
• Hungary (7/4) – “Dance with Me” by Zoli Ádok. Bet365’s Eurovision “Wildcard 2nd semifinal” proposition bet has the critics’ choice spot a dead heat between Hungary and Moldova. Go with the pretty boy.
• Azerbaijan (1/20) – “Always” by AySel and Arash. After railing against this one for months, I give up. Apparently, what the world needs now is another lameass R&B derivative track.
• Greece (1/66) – “This is Our Night” by Sakis Rouvas. A top-three favorite to win the top prize, Rouvas should ride the beefcake factor like Dima Bilan at least into the final round.
• Ukraine (1/7) – “Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)” by Svetlana Loboda. No matter what Ukraine produces for the Eurovision Song Contest, they’re perpetually in the running these days with a championship in 2004 to go along with second-place finishes in 2007 and 2008. It’s unsure just how far this most-idiosyncratically named single will go, but Ms. Loboda should advance to Saturday’s final.
• Estonia (2/7) – “Rändajad” by Urban Symphony. A decent song is helped by weak competition surrounding bumpering this performance (in the 18th slot, Estonia follows longshots Lithuania, Moldova and Albania, then Ukraine. Following Estonia is the Netherlands, representing surely no challenge.
The LiveBetsDirect.com scorecard for round one: This entry ended up correct on eight of ten picks – missed on Finland and Israel, backed Switzerland and Macedonia. Ten equally-distributed bets netted $114.56 on $100. Hey, a win’s a win.
Tomorrow: The single easiest proposition bet in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.
Comments are closed.