Rankings......to go to bed or to not go to bed, that is the question

I am 25 years old and its 11:25pm Monday 10th March 2008....having had a rare period of fine victories I am in a difficult position.

Do I quit whilst I am ahead and stop playing games knowing it will benefit my ranking position? Or do I take the risk of "just one more game" and hope that whilst not really knowing how I have suddenly become an UBER manager that I can somehow win one more game?

The answer is of course I play that "one last match" and lose 3-1. Therefore I have to play "one last match" yet again as nobody can go to bed on the back of the defeat can they? We have all been there with the FM series where we seriously think it we might have nightmares if we go to bed on the back of a defeat. Plus with work the next day and no access to FML all day can I really handle sitting at my desk knowing my last match was a defeat? I play again and draw 1-1 and I am reasonably happy.

The time though is approaching midnight, when the new financial projections are being lined up by the game and the new rankings are being worked out. Surely at 25 years old I am mature enough just to go to bed as my ranking position isn't going to be effected by me being awake to see the results?

So I risk falling asleep at work the next day simply to see the rankings thus proving beyond all doubt that I am sad and I can tell you I am no alone. As one GM7 player stated "we are really all quite sad eh?" and I have to say that never was there a truer comment in any chatroom in the world.......that said I can tell you it was worth the wait as I rise to my highest ever ranking of 320 in the world! I was buzzing, which can only mean one thing right?

I play "one more game" as I am now ranked 320th in the world and I can see the glory of a position in the top 300 in the world ahead of me....

Yet another 1-1 draw (my 4th draw in six matches) and I decide that its time to call it a night.

In the morning the wife asks what time I turned the game off last night...my answer?

Err about 11pm, she says that is ridiciolous as I have to be up for work at 6...god knows what she would say if I had told the truth?

I have posted a screenshot of my ranking today, unfortunately I have slipped back down the rankings so it could be a long night in the NFA tonight as I try and get into the top 300 players. The rankings are based on your results and the ranking positions of other teams. In theory you would be better of playing say 6 matches against high ranked teams and say winning 4 of them than playing 12 games against low ranked teams and winning 10.

The ranking pictures show that its not just about playing games (as I have played in some cases near on 80 more games than folk ahead of me - abeit I have to admit I have probably lost 70 of those extra 80 games) its about building a strong squad capable of challenging against the top teams and not just trying to manipulate the rankings by hammering teams even worse than you are (in my case).

You will also see a pic of where I want to be, the elite rankings which are on page 1 of 27 whilst I am on page 15 of 27! And yes there really is a woman 2nd in the rankings!