Wednesday morning notes
- The Brewers can take a huge step towards controlling their own destiny in the month of September by beating St. Louis today. Last night's 12-0 win will probably fire up the Cards quite a bit... but the Brewers have just been playing good baseball of late. Everyone is pitching well and everyone is hitting when they need to. 22 games over .500... They haven't had a record that good since 1992. It's just crazy.
- MLB begins instant replay on Thursday for questionable home run calls. Can someone tell me why this took so long? The NHL does something like this for every goal.... and it slows the game down by about 30 seconds. Considering how long every baseball game takes, this is just something that was really overdue. I'm just glad that it's getting done.
- As far as gaming, I've probably had about 2 hours over the last week to play anything.. and the two games that I have played have been the Homestar Runner game on the Wii and Too Human on the 360. I'll give out the IGN tagline for Homestar Runner, "If you like the flash comic...." I've found myself laughing at the game more than I thought that I would and so far it's been a passable point and click adventure game. Considering I've been able to nab some Wii points cards for $10 bucks, paying the 1000 points for it hasn't hurt as much.
The one thing that does need to get resolved on the Wii... and soon... is the damn storage issues. It took me 20 minutes to copy games off of my system onto my SD card, so that I had enough space to download Homestar Runner and Ys on Monday night. They need to come up with a better solution for that. Hopefully soon.
Too Human... too early to say. I put in about 20 minutes last night but it's the same segment as we got in the demo a few weeks ago. I did figure out a way to skip the death sequence though. I hit the 'back' button on the 360 controller, it took me to the settings screen, and then when I pressed B... I was back and alive again. Maybe I just got lucky, but I've heard a lot of people complaining that you can't skip that sequence.
- Based on Dan's recommendations I picked up International Track and Field for the DS. I really can't wait to play it. Track and Field (well, specifically Track and Field 2 on the NES) was a ton of fun back in the day. I'm hoping to get just as much enjoyment out of this version.
- Power Pros for the DS came out yesterday. I haven't heard any early word on it, but judging by the screenshots that I saw... I think it's going to be disappointing. No season mode, no MLB Life mode, no Success mode. That is going to make the game a tough sell to the Power Pros fans.
- I was listening to the NFL Network on Sirius on the way to work this morning and heard Peter King come up with this brilliant suggestion. Instead of having 4 preseason games and 16 regular season games... he thinks the NFL should have 2 preseason games and 2 scrimmages (in small venues - 10,000 seats was his example) and keep the 16 game schedule. Hmm... think the NFL would give up 1/10th of their season revenue from their stadium ticket, merchandise, and concession sales? Think the players would want to give up 1/10th of their salary for the year? Seriously, how does this guy get paid for his work.
- Every year I think it's funny that there are two ex-Badger QB's collecting paychecks in the NFL. I love the Badgers, but when I look at the Vikings roster I keep having flashbacks to Jason Bateman from Arrested Development. "Brooks Bollinger? Him?"
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Dan:
August 27th, 2008 - 10:14
The NHL does something like this for every goal…. and it slows the game down by about 30 seconds. Considering how long every baseball game takes, this is just something that was really overdue. I’m just glad that it’s getting done.
word. The argument that replay will slow down the game is idiotic, when you consider that the average disputed home run call takes several minutes as the umpires congregate to discuss the play and one or both (if the call is overturned) of the managers take time to argue/get an explanation. This had to happen.
August 27th, 2008 - 10:19
Every year I think it’s funny that there are two ex-Badger QB’s collecting paychecks in the NFL.
Who’s the other? Sorgi?
August 27th, 2008 - 12:30
That Too Human thing is genius if it works. I’ll have to check it out tonight. I’m sure I’ll be dying.
August 27th, 2008 - 13:36
Glenn maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see why the players would give up 1/10th their salary? Unless something has changed that I’m unaware of, players don’t get played for preseason games.
As for replay in MLB, I agree it’s been too long coming, but I wish it was more than just home runs. At the very least they should be able to rule fair / foul with it. I’d personally like to see it used to verify catches in the outfield and close calls at the bases but I can see why they don’t want to do those 2. I do not however want them to use it to call balls and strikes, I like each umpire having a slightly different zone.
August 27th, 2008 - 14:02
1. Sorgi is the other QB. I’m still shocked that he has his job as well. I can’t think of a QB that has had a better job over the last few years though. Backup behind Manning has to be a cake walk.
2. Let me know on the Too Human thing as well. I just hit back, went to the menu, pressed B, and was back in the game. People have complained about that so much… but it was the first thing I tried to get out of the animation.
3. I may be wrong about the salary for the players… I thought they did get paid for their preseason games. Regardless, the teams would lose 1/10th of their season revenue if you eliminated those games. So, it’s an idea that would never, ever, pass. That’s why they’re looking at 3 preseason and 17 regular season, that way the NFL is happy and doesn’t lose any money. I hate the thought of the football season stretching on until the middle of February though. That just seems way too long…
4. I agree on strike zone stuff. Nothing should change with that. I saw a strike called at the letters the other day. I just about fell out of my seat. I don’t know about fair/foul though. I guess there aren’t enough to make a huge difference though.
August 27th, 2008 - 14:57
Actually players get the generous sum of $200 for each pre-season game, plus meal money for away games.
Their real salaries are payed in 17 weekly payments during the regular season.
August 27th, 2008 - 15:25
Ah, so the players wouldn’t care financially, but the league certainly would. I still maintain that Peter King is an idiot. heh.
August 27th, 2008 - 19:33
I couldn’t get the Too Human thing to work. Oh well. Sitting through a 15 second death scene is much preferred over doing the whole damn level all over again.