3+3+1 = tradition...

So Nigel has announced that tonight's top seven results show will stick with tradition and separate the kids into two groups of three, leaving one of them to wander and wonder which group to stand with.

It was a crappy thing to do to George Huff in season three, and it's still a crappy thing to do, even though, if the kids have been paying attention over the years, they know it's coming.

This was the night, of course, three seasons ago, that Jennifer Hudson found herself packing her bags, because three divas in the top six is simply not allowed. The third season, which this season is rivalling as crappiest ever, was the estrogen-heavy one that brought about this need for gender parity, with eight women and only four men making the twelve. And only one of those men could hold a tune.

Who did we have? We had the elegant, brilliantly-voiced, but somewhat distant and boring LaToya. There was the effervesant and wild teenager with the big voice, Fantasia. And there was the hit-and-miss, great-when-she-hit, not-great-when-she-missed big girl, Jennifer. Hmm. Sounds oddly familiar.

Then there was the teenaged boy named John who couldn't hold a note in a paper bag but was lusted after by pre-teen girls everywhere. Hmm. And there were a couple of others.

The three divas were sent to one end of the stage. John and the girls were sent to the other end of the stage. And adorable George Huff, the only guy deserving of a spot in the finals, was told to stand with the "top three."

Obviously flustered, he took his place alongside the divas, only to be told he picked wrong. SHOCK! The three divas were in the bottom. It made George look like a fool, and I would have sworn they would never pull that trick out of another season's hat.

Wrong.

In season four Bo Bice was put in the Huff role, choosing to stand clearly in the center between the two groups, which consisted of Constantine, Carrie and Vonzell (in the top) and Anwar, Scott and Anthony (the bottom). Anwar was booted that night.

Last season Taylor was given the honor of choosing between the "good" group of Elliott, Katharine and Pickler and the "bad" group of Daughtry, Ace and Paris. After shaking Daughtry's hand to tacitly acknowledge that he didn't think the three bottomfeeders were, well, bottomfeeders, Taylor smartly followed Pickler wherever she went.

The point of the top seven tradition is to make the groups appear less than obvious, so any group with Melinda in it will be obvious, unless they want to go the three diva route again. I expect Melinda will be the first woman forced to choose between the groups. And I will be listening very carefully to hear if Ryan refers to the bottom three as, explicitly, the three lowest vote getters. Sometimes he does; other times he doesn't.

So with no advance notice, after checking out Dial Idol and its prediction that everyone but Phil is in danger tonight (gotta love that margin of error!) I would expect the groups to look something like this:

Phil/Sanjaya/Jordin in group A.
LaKisha/Blake/Chris in group B.

My money's on group B to hit the seal, with Blake getting the early pass.

Where you putting your money?