Circuit City can kiss my ass
Today at 2pm, Circuit City put out their Xbox 360 bundles. I went to get one becuase I am lame and break down no matter what for video games. It's my vice. I'm addicted. Sue me.
So 2pm comes and goes and nothing. They finally get their act together at 2:15PM. I click add to cart. The checkout process is broken. Although the items are still in my cart 2 hours later, I cannot even get through the process until just a minute ago. At that time I was told that they are unable to process my order and I should try another location. Bill just told me on ICQ that all the hard drive bundles were sold out and only the crappy core system is left.
This makes a woot bag of crap look like a well run organization. So I'm absolutely skipping the 360 until the price goes down, and it will. F you Circuit City. Don't advertise something you know you aren't going to be able to handle.
A Genuinely Good Read
All Buckeye/Wolverine smacktalk aside, this piece by Free Press columnist, Michael Rosenberg (who may have become the best columnist in Detroit) is a terrific read about longtime U of M equipment manager Jon Falk. Falk has been with the program since the 70s and was injured at Iowa when a player rolled over his leg and shattered his tibula. This will be the first time since coming to Michigan that he won't be on the sidelines for the big game. Here's the last few paragraphs of the column:
"You don't think about it while you're working, but then you start to think about it when something like this happens," said Falk, 56. "I've been here 32 years. Thirty-two Michigan football teams have come and gone."
You think about trying to get on the team plane in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when you couldn't walk, and three people had to carry you, which was fine except that with every step, your pants started sliding off. And you remember the guy who stood behind you every step of the way, holding your pants up. His name is Lloyd Carr.
And you think back to that day in 1974 when you were assistant equipment manager at Miami (Ohio) and interviewed for a job at Michigan, then went home to think it over.
"I lived in Oxford, Ohio, with my mother and grandmother," Falk said. "I told them, 'I just don't think I'm going to take that job because I just don't want to leave you two here by yourselves. You two have a tough-enough time. I'll call up tomorrow and turn that job down.'
"Well, at about 3 o'clock in the morning, my mother came in the bedroom, and she was crying. She woke me up. I said, 'What's the matter, Mother? What are you crying for?'
"She says, 'I hate to tell you this. It hurts me. It hurts me bad. But tomorrow morning, you're calling Bo Schembechler, and you're going to Michigan. I know Bo Schembechler's going to take care of you, and you gotta go.' "
Seriously, the whole thing is just a good read.
Hail! Hail!
The big game is just a bit over 24 hours away so it's only a matter of time before Bill starts hurling loose objects from around his house into his back yard in disgust. This time, however, he wont' be able to blame crappy game AI.
So in the spirit of gamesmanship, and because I have nothing original in my head to write this morning (as you can probably tell already), I refer you to the Detroit News' Bob Wojonowski's latest gem. Here's a taste:
"Remember, this whole Michigan-Ohio battle started way back in 1835 when the states actually fought over Toledo, true story. Ohio won but took Toledo anyhow. In exchange, Michigan got the Upper Peninsula, Charles Woodson, Desmond Howard and four free passes to Cedar Point.
It's really not surprising that so many Ohio youngsters, such as Heisman Trophy winners Woodson and Howard, dream of coming to Michigan. This year's Michigan roster lists 11 kids who escaped Ohio, while Ohio State has one from Michigan. We won't mention his name in case his family doesn't know. To be fair, when the Buckeyes got sick of losing, they did turn to quarterback Craig Krenzel, from Michigan's Utica Ford High, to lead them to that completely untainted national title. See, we can help each other, once we understand each other. That's why I'm here, to educate." Go Blue!
Wahahhhahahah!!!
I just read Bill's post about Fox News/New York Post's Xbox 360 article. If you look to the right, they have a bunch more Xbox 360 articles that say "top 10 games that don't run on a 360."
One of the games is Mario Kart DS. Can you believe that game doesn't run on an X360? I cannot believe it! $400 and I can't play Mario Kart?
That article Bill references also quotes IGN. One of the IGN people really comes off as not a fan of the 360 and says wait for the PS3 and Revolution. I would find it very hard to believe Spring 2006 is when the PS3 is coming out, unless they are doing a Sega Saturn type launch, and we all know how great that turned out....
Do NOT Buy an Xbox 360!
Because the NY Post says so! You can't even play 50 Cent's Bulletproof!
I Am In the Basement.
No, really. I am. I am currently in our basement on a laptop, bored out of my freaking skull and 100% exhausted. I want to go to bed..but no.
Here's how my night went.
I tore up carpet and (along with my wife) and moved furniture in the den and master bedroom in preperation for new carpet that is being installed as I type this. We need to sell this house ASAP so hopefully the new carpet helps.
We have a small TV hooked up to the cable box down here. No chairs, though. Well, that's not true. We have our hardback kitchen chairs down here but it's like sitting on a slab of granite. We finished around midnight and then I tried to go to bed but we started to hear critters back in the attic.
SQUIRRELS!
DAMN IT!
So this morning around 6:00 AM I climb a ladder (it's about 25 degres here today btw) to check on the spot where they usually get in the attic. (Long time blog readers will remember my squirrel issues from 2 years ago). The gutter area is open. $#@!. I replace the loose siding and hope for the best, knowing that it's not going to hold back a determined family of rodents.
7:00: I try to go back to bed.
7:25 : Ashley wakes up. Wants Fruit Loops.
The rest of my morning was me in front of a small TV watching Noggin' in the basement. Mary takes Ashley to preschool and I get back on the roof to do more squirrel prevention. I found a home remedy on the net that says to take ammonia, hot sauce and red pepper and mix them into a spray bottle. At this point, I will try anything. Back on the roof, I use the best cleaning product on the planet called Krud Kutter to clean the droppings off the shingles. (I told you it was a bad day.) Then I cover the area in this horrid concoction that smells like rancid Don Pablos.
So now it's 2:30 and the carpet guys are finally here. I am back in the basement with my dog. Ash is still at school and I am about spent. I see light at the end of the tunnel. What a day.
OOTP 2006 Update
On Friday, SI will release tons of new info re: the new OOTP game at the new website. I'll give you a heads up when it's online.
Federov to the Blue Jackets
Here's a newsflash to Columbus Blue Jackets GM Doug McClean, who just traded F Tyler Wright, rookie D Francois Beauchemin and a fifth round pick for Sergei Federov and his bloated contract: Don't expect to get your money's worth. I don't really know anything about the players he dumped on Anaheim, but if I'm an NHL GM I wouldn't trade youth for Federov or his contract if my hair were on fire and Federov had the only bucket of water.
I watched Federov for around a decade in Detroit. He's the most gifted player I've ever seen in a Red Wings jersey. When he went all out, he was as good as anybody in the league. Here's the thing: unless its playoff time, seeing Federov go all out was a pretty spotty occurence that varied from shift to shift. You could get away with that on a team like Detroit, which had plenty of talent and effort guys to go around. The same can't be said for the Blue Jackets. And while I don't think he's a bad guy, he's not much of a team player either. There's a reason players ridiculed him in the locker room and in the media during his 97-98 contract holdout while the rest of the team was rallying around Vladimir Konstantinov, who had been paralyzed in a limo accident just days after winning the '97 Stanley Cup.
Federov may have been a great player to have on the ice in the playoffs, but he's 35 now. That's an age where driven players have plenty of good hockey left in them. But the Blue Jackets are 5-13 and in no danger of making the playoffs and if McClean really expects to Federov, coming off a groin injury no less, to come in and save his team's season then I've got some magic beans to sell him that might help too.
Oh, the humanity
I'm looking at the 360 reviews, the games that are going to be released and the delays of the other games. The only game that I would really like to play is Project Gotham Racing 3. So, should I spend $460+ for one game? It's hard not to, just because it is very easy to get caught up in the hype. The excitement of the new console is always fun.
This time I'm older. In 1999, I got up early and went to GameStop to get my Dreamcast. All the games I preordered were out of stock -- they never got their shipment. So I spent the next 3 hours driving to Wal-Mart and to EB trying to get the football game I desperately had to have.
The next year, I got my PS2. I had pre-ordered that as well, but not knowing if it would show up on launch day, I went out and bought one at K-Mart. I also received one from Sony (my first review console!)..so I ended up with 3 and a massive credit card to boot. Same as last time, I had to pick up Madden immediately.
When the Xbox came out, I don't recall having Madden as a launch title. EA gave the Xbox short shrift anyway, so we had NFL Fever, and this minor game called Halo. The console was very interesting, although it didn't have the OMG you must buy it sort of feel, outside of Halo. Who ran out and bought it because of Fuzion Frenzy or Amped? I didn't think so.
So next Tuesday we have Xbox 360. The bundles shown are as high as a mortgage payment. Some sites have tried to show the initial price of consoles with inflation, etc. But seriously, $299 for an Atari 2600 in 1979 didn't seem unreasonable. Not like you were debating should I get that or Fairchild's Channel F.
Today we have more options. For the price of an Xbox 360 and 1 games, you can get 2 PSPs. Despite what all the websites are saying, no one is going to say "OMG KAMEO IS AMAZING!" It's a very tough sell in a very depressed economy.
We are all geeks by definition here and we are the early adopters. Dropping $799 on a Replay TV with 10 hours of record time is normal, and I have the credit card to prove it which I'm still paying off from 2001. Either I've learned through experience or just don't care. Think of all the escorts you could hire for $500 and the lifetime of memories. lol
IGN 360 reviews
Well, for those curious if all of the glitches (bugs) in NBA 2K6 are fixed or not (which VC said would be the case.) IGN's review sheds light on...well...none of this. The cheerleaders, though, are NOT updated. Inquiring minds and all.
IGN then chimes in with a review of Madden 360. I dunno if I am just tired and in a bad mood from cutting carpet all day (long story) but lines like this annoy the crap out of me. "In the sound category, there are subtle touches here and there that make this Madden worthwhile." "Worthwhile?" Subtle sound tweaks that make the game worthwhile? $60 worthwhile?
Anyway, the Madden review leads me to believe that it is mostly the exact same gameplay dressed up in a much prettier package. Whether or not that's a good thing will depend on your affinity for Madden 06. The missing features include a lack of replay challenge (huh? WTF would this get axed?), no mini-camps, no owner mode, and some of the defensive adjustments are gone.
Arizona: The Cure for the NFL Blues
Wow, are theArizona Cardinals bad. I mean they can chuck the ball around, but between the DOA running game and a defense that is missing virtually all of the DL due to injury, they're just awful. That's by way of saying that the Lions' win yesterday (which wasn't nearly as close as the score might lead one to think) doesn't mean much unless they use it as a springboard to beat the Cowboys next week in Dallas.
It does, however, make one thing painfully obvious: Joey Harrington can play when his line blocks long enough that he doesn't have to start scrambling before he even finishes dropping back (let alone look for an open receiver). He was absolutely dialed in yesterday, while moving very well within the pocket to avoid what pressure he did get. And 3TD catches from Roy Williams aside, he did spread the ball around a bit. (Heck a 4th TD -to Marcus Pollard- was negated after he made the TD throw just after crossing the line of scrimmage.) I really think if he leaves Detroit he's going to find success elsewhere down the line.
Regardless, it's alway encouraging to know the Lions aren't really the worst team in the NFL.
A few parting thoughts:
- Bill's history of Ohio/Michigan link has a little bit of decent info once you set aside the schlock about that lame song. (Thank goodness for Buckeye fans its easy "to remember".) That siad, what the author was thinking when he said Michigan people prefer to think the rivalry with Michigan State is bigger than with OSU I have no idea. I grew up going to Michigan games and I can tell you that no game in the Big House is bigger than when OSU comes to town. The idea that we would prize beating the Spartans more than the Buckeyes is almost as crazy as it is stupid.
- Don't look now, but on route to a 6-0 start the Pistons have a top 5 (top 3?) offense in the NBA and lead the league if FG%. It's a long season, but they're the lone undefeated right now so I don't mind crowing just a little that they're averaging over 100 point per game.
- Star Wars Battlegrounds II on the PSP is not much fun (I'm sure it's just the platform). NHL 06 is absolutely abysmal. I had control issues with Battlegrounds, but NHL was just a nightmare that I put down within 10 minutes. I couldn't even begin to gauge the AI in the game due to the lack of control. Thank goodness both games were rentals.
- CivIV was not meant for people that need to go to bed at a reasonable hour. My only hope is that my lack of sleep leads to a compromised immune system that leads to sick days. That should lead to even more time to play. Queen Elizabeth must be taught that invading my continent with a bunch of cavalry and a lone marine is not only foolhardy but a sure way to meet oblivion. (Read between the lines, folks. This is a cry for help. I can't stop... one more turn, just one more turn.)
Not That It Matters But…
Florida: 7-3
South Carolina: 7-3
South Carolina beat Florida.
Florida, in the USA Today Coach's Poll ranked #20
South Carolina ranked #21
Uh, ok.
Thirteen!
Wow, that Rome was great. Only one episode left..but the new season starts sometime in 2010, so there's that to look forward to.
Getting back to sports....yes, I enjoy pretty much every sport, but one of my big favorites is soccer. MLS Cup was today and although I was only 1 of 300 that watched the game (actually flipping back and forth between the Pats game and the Revs and even Robert Kraft skipped the Pats game for the Revs)....nothing kills me more than a friggin extra time goal. It was a perfect goal. It reminds me of playing FIFA when I have 23 guys in the six and yet a ball still goes through.
What's even more of a wicked pisser is that the Revs were one hair follicle away from tying the game...the header out for a corner was just perfect.
So, after all those last minute games for the Revs this season we left with a loss in nearly the last minute. I think I could have taken a PK loss better than this. This one hurt.
On the bright side, it was the first time I saw the Frisco soccer field. Wow. Actual European style ad-boards. That rules. Great place for a soccer game!
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