The Blog for the Sports Gamer

Well, thank you John Kerry! Apparently John said, hey Democrats could win the House and Senate, so we best not let that happen …how can I do my part? I know, I could insult all the troops fighting in Iraq and call them stupid. What a great idea!

Of course, the quote was stupid, but Republicans are eager to pounce on anything that they can and boy are they pouncing, at least according to CNN. I bet that it could work and the Republicans will win just based on that comment. Yes, that’s how stupid politics is, but seriously, Bill O’Reilly must be fully erect at this moment just dying to go on the air.

In other news, uhhhh…yeah what Bill said about “The Bigs”…OMG..let’s pull resources off our “A” baseball title that we overpaid for and instead use that team on an arcade game.

I’m sorry, it must be stupid day!

Sure, MLB 2K has sucked for a couple of years now, but hey — 2K Sports is on the case. When you have a license you may as well come up with weird ass ways to use it, eh?

So…you get the guys that made MVP Baseball and turn them loose on a game that sounds, on paper, like MLB Slugfest?

Another Beta patch update for Bowl Bound. Click here for the fix list and download file.

Just a quick note on the ratings scale in FoF 2007. I wish every football game did this. (Every sports game, in fact)

Does it bug you that in most sports games, you see a slew of players rated 90+? It’s always bugged me. FoF is taking a new approach to this and I welcome it with open arms. The game knows it is a career based simulation and not a game trapped in 2006. When you see a player rated 95, for example, this is one of the best players to ever play at that position. Tom Brady is around a mid 90-rated QB. Tom has earned that — to be mentioned with the best QBs ever. (Michigan ties aside..)

Eli Manning? A 40. Yep — a 40/100 for a player who is considered a talented QB in today’s game. His potential rating is much higher than that, as it should be, but does anyone right now think that Eli Manning should be considered a HoF caliber QB? I don’t. Keep in mind that a 40/100 player doesn’t mean he can’t have a good game or even have a good season, it just means he isn’t elite and in terms of league history, is an average QB.

Aaron Brooks is a 22.

Can you imagine firing up Madden and seeing a starting QB rated a 22?

Send in the lawyers!

Yes, another rare 3-B weekend. Bucks , Browns and Bengals (lose). I’ll take ‘em when I can get ‘em. The Browns, after firing inept OC Mo Carthon, actually appeared to have an offensive gameplan Sunday and scored 20 whole points. Laugh at that all you want, but if the Browns would have scored 20 points every game this year they could be as high as 6-1. It’s true. The Browns have given up more than 20 points and lost exactly once all year, when the Bengals beat them in week 2.

That’s how bad the Browns offense has been and how competitive they have been on defense. If you give up less than 20 a game, you shouldn’t be 2-5.

Oh, and on that call in the end zone? Sure it was a bad call and should have been scored a TD. Cry me a friggin’ river. The Browns caught a break for the first time since the Reagan administration. We were due.

I was dead wrong about the OSU/Minny game. It wasn’t close. At all. It was an old fashioned ass kicking, 44-0.

Oh, and in an ironic twist the Halloween party that was scheduled for Saturday–it was postponed and they had it last night. So I sold my tickets for no reason. Whee!

Next week is the Breeders’ Cup and I’ll be in Kentucky with my dad and my buddy Dave, with the OSU game set to TIVO. I hate doing that, but it’s the BC. When it’s at Churchill, I gotta be there. I’m still waiting for that great horse racing sim. I think if I ever want that I need to hire someone out to make our boardgame into PC form. Maybe one day.

Anyway, Neverwinter Nights 2 comes out tomorrow, which I plan on getting, and I have just started to mess with FoF 2007, which looks to be a significant upgrade. More on that later.

Today’s paper says Toys R Us is now accepting preorders on the Wii and PlayStation 3. A $50 deposit is required. Why you’d buy a PS3, I don’t know (the 3 blu-ray movies perhaps?), but there you go. The circular says that toysrus.com has a preorder offer, but damned if I can find it. And yes, I’m hypocritical. Of course I’ll preorder, even if I am not a fan. Why? It’s called I get paid to review games :), and if you’re the only person with a PS3, you’re probably going to get the PS3 reviews…yes, I’m a capitalist.

In other news, both Best Buy and Target are promoting a TV game that I’m really curious about. It’s Golden Tee Golf! It comes with a trackball! It uses 4AA batteries and it’s on sale this week for $29.99. I may have to buy it…

Alright, time to update my fantasy rosters..

OMG, for the 3 out there that follow MLS, the CHI-NE game was mind numbingly good. That one game tonight was so much more exciting, than say, 5 World Series games ;).

Revs win after 30 minutes of Extra Time and then PK’s. I hate the “aggregate goal” format of this first series but man, I was very, very nervous!

Now we play either DC or NY in a one game playoff…boy it sure would be nice to play NY and make Arena feel really good :).

Congrats to Mike Sheridan who was the lucky claimant of Uno and 1 month Xbox Live. Enjoy!

I bought the Xbox Live Vision camera, and it comes with Uno. I already have Uno so this does me no good. So if you don’t have Uno for Xbox 360, and want it, email me. First one who does gets my code to play the game for free forever. Also if you only have Xbox Live Silver, I can give you a 1 month code for Xbox Live Gold…

If the Tigers had to lose, I can’t really pick a team from a better baseball city for them to lose to. Well, there’s always the Cubbies, but let’s deal in reality here. Anyway, forget the string of nonsensical errors and untimely gaffs. The Cards earned it. It’s just a shame it had to end with a whimper for the Tigers, but what they did this season and what it meant to fans that wondered if we’d ever see winning baseball in Detroit again… it was a special year. The best summation for this season can be found at The Detroit Tiger Weblog.

Things to ponder as I look forward to that extra hour of sleep tomorrow:

1. What the fuck is this? This makes me want to buy a PS3? Despite what Bill Simmons says, I’d run the fuck away from Sony stock. I really don’t know what they are thinking. If you buy this instead of an Xbox 360, I think you are completely insane.

2. Condolences to Todd, but the Cards were the better team. Talk about a boring series and a boring celebration though, huh? zzzzzzzzzzz.

3. Just watched Dennis Miller on HBO. Despite his turning to Republican I still find him extremely funny. See, we can all get along.

4. Wow…that Rush Limbaugh really needs some more drugs.

5. I’m so damn tired, I had more to write but I need sleep. See ya.

Today we closed the sale of our old house. It’s done, over, and finished. Finally. At closing I got a check for $186. (After we paid the bank $108,700)

Due to the ridiculously bad housing market, we ended up selling for about $10,000 less than expected, which is a blow to the gut, but it’s finally behind us and we can move on with our lives. It’s like the anchor that was tied around our back has been untied. It’s bittersweet because of the $$, but it’s finally over.

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The weather for tomorrow’s OSU/Minnesota game looks like “shitty with a chance of hellish.” This hurts OSU. It has rained here in Columbus for nearly two days straight, and even though it’s supposed to stop by noon (3:30 kick) it’s supposed to be gusting from 25 to *50* MPH. If this is the case, and if I know Tressel, don’t expect a wide open playbook Saturday. Expect a lot of short passes and a lot of Pittman and Wells. I also expect a lower scoring game than many are predicting, if the weather is as bad as I think it’ll be. Passing into (or even with) a 30 MPH wind is a bitch. I dunno if Minnesota will score much, if at all, but don’t expect OSU to hang 40 on the Gophers, either. I expect a game like Penn State. Close to the vest and closer on the scoreboard than some expect.

Anyway, the NCAA Hoops Top 25 Preseason poll is out and OSU is #4.

Don’t believe the hype. Yet.

I love the respect and all, but you need to keep in mind that OSU will be without Greg Oden until late Dec/early Jan. Without Oden this will still be a very good team, but not an elite team. With Oden…well, yeah, they can beat anyone.

But Oden will miss a lot of the huge non-conference games (OSU is ducking NO ONE this year) and I dunno how they’ll fare without the monster in the middle. We’ll see.

Did anyone else catch that new commercial for the Playstation 3? The one with a plastic baby doll with fire in its eyes, sitting in a blank white room, staring at a black PS3 unit like it’s the monolith from 2001. This may not be the worst console TV promo I’ve ever seen, but it sure as hell is the creepiest.

Evil Avatar nailed the message on this one: The Playstation 3 makes babies cry.

The Wayne Fontes Experience has neatly summed up my thoughts on the World Series.

Actually, I think the toughest game for the Tigers will be tonight. The Tigers can get to Weaver. It all hangs on the arm of Verlander and the bullpen’s ability to FIELD A GODDAM GROUNDBALL!!! If they can do that, I’ll take Kenny “The Second Coming of Ed Harris” Rogers (surely you all remember the Indians, uh, crafty veteran pitcher in Major League) in Game 6 in Detroit any day. And if it goes seven, that sound you hear will be me spontaneously combusting, since my dear ole da snagged two Game 7 tickets when they went on sale last week.

Lots of emails about this (thanks guys) and I admit I didn’t see this one coming, at least not now, but Jim Gindin is going to release the next game in the FoF series…tomorrow.

There is a brief demo version online and more info can be found at the website.

I’ll post impressions on this as soon as I get a chance to mess with it.

Talk about a nice surprise. In the meantime check out the new feature list:

• Solevision. Designed to bring you an entire week of Front Office Football action to one screen, Solevision provides you up to 16 exciting channels at once. You choose a channel and watch a game’s play-by-play unfold, line by line. Solevision tracks the leaders in several statistical categories, tells you about scoring plays elsewhere in the league and gives you access to every game log and box score while the games are in progress. It’s a new way to sit back and let the game come to you.
• New Game Plans and Depth Charts. You now have much more control over the intricate details of your offense and defense. The new version separates out more yardage-to-go categories, and allows you more control over passing distance. You also have greater control over pass coverage, blitzing and minor tweaks you can make based on the game situation. With the new depth charts, you can specify major personnel changes for nickel, dime and goal-line situations.
• Expanded Statistics. Every player is now tracked in 135 statistical categories, including Red Zone and Third-Down situations.
• Expanded Team Statistics. The team statistics module was redesigned to show 182 different team statistics and league totals. You can now look back and view every year of team numbers for your universe.
• Playoff Statistics. Individual playoff statistics are now tracked for players, both for single seasons and on the career statistics screen.
• Expanded Scouting Combine. Players are now rated in the broad jump and in a position-specific drill, in addition to the 40-yard dash, an agility drill, a strength test and an intelligence test. Scouts now take these results into account when forming their ratings. Some players may decide not to take part in the scouting combine.
• Weight Training. Before training camp, you may ask your players to bulk up or slim down a little. This will help them optimize their on-field performance or prepare for a position switch.
• Summer League. Each season, you may send one of your young players to Europe to participate in the summer league. While those games aren’t played in Front Office Football, players will gain experience and you will learn more about their abilities.
• Wind Speed. The wind is now a factor in games, and you might see it affect on-field performance. Studies show that no weather factor influences football more than a strong breeze. Just ask any quarterback.
• Blitz Pickup. You can now ask your tight end and running backs to stay in and help protect your quarterback from those pesky blitzing linebackers.
• The Red Flag. A few players will receive the dreaded designation: Red Flag. Those players could create drama, leading to performance problems on the field.
• Multi-Player Security. This was the most-requested feature during the past two years. Game files are now encrypted and password protected, so no one other than the commissioner can run the game as a commissioner, and participants can not look at old game plans from other teams.
• Fatigue. Players who are overused could become tired and less able to do their best in the next contest.
• Gridiron Greta. Each week during the season, Gridiron Greta will make available her report on the best players in the league. Yes, there’s finally a tiny bit of sound (mute button available) in Front Office Football. Just a tiny bit. We don’t like noisy games, either.
• Player Transaction History. Transactions and Injuries are now tracked on each player’s information screen.
• Scouting Report. Scouting reports and game previews now contain a large set of team statistical rankings.
• Nicknames. You can now give your players nicknames. Be nice. Blocks of binary data have feelings, too.
• Veteran Minimum Salaries. The salary cap calculation now incorporates the veteran minimum rule, allowing you to keep older backups without huring your team’s cap situation.
• Rookie Interviews. Each season, you can interview up to 60 rookies before the annual amateur draft. You’ll learn about their personalities, and get a better picture of their abilities.
• The Grey Sheet. An annual list tracking the top 75 free agents in your league.
• Team History Screen. A new screen giving you a quick look at your team’s record and leading players statistically for each season of your career.