The Blog for the Sports Gamer

For those XM listeners who want to hear Howard Stern, you can now add it to your account by visiting XM radio.com. XM owners get Howard, Playboy, Martha Stewart, NASCAR and NFL, while SIrius who want XM get Opie And Anthony and NHL. No baseball. Looks like XM owners got the better deal here >

For Sirius owners, click here. One caveat: if you have a lifetime sub, they’ll charge you $150 lifetime for the best of XM on Sirius..so if you will use your radio for 3+ years, it’s a good deal. Um…$150 for Opie? No thanks.

Well, frequent readers know that my real job is in finance; I always enjoy reading Major Nelson’s twitter update happy that he doesn’t work in the banking industry.

One cannot think that Congress is a complete clusterfrick, and then you see the events that happened yesterday. Just to recap, instead of spending $700B over a lengthy period charged to the taxpayer, everyone in the market lost over $1 trillion in one day. NIce job, asshats!

Look, it’s tough for me to even endorse the plan but when the information is staring you in the face that you vote yes or create a global economic meltdown, I think the answer is clear. Like I said, I don’t like the bill either, but it’s not like there’s a whole lot of choice. Voting no just destroyed our economy.

For me personally, it puts me in a difficult position. My Rep is a Democrat and I don’t like the Republican running — he lost the seat in the last election. however, this rep voted ‘no’…she was in a lose-lose situation but man, I Just lost a lot more personally. Don’t look at your 401k unless you like to cry.

I’m ranting, it’s early, and I need to go to work to see how bad it’s going to be today.

Happy Monday to all…been a busy day as we have yet another monsoon hit..urgh.

I submitted reviews of Pure and Hell’s Kitchen this weekend….and also played some of de Blob which I’m finding to be a fun game.

I also just bought Buzz for the PS3…8 AA batteries? WTF! Oh well. I hope to play it online and on the big TV PS3 at some point.

How about that new Nero Tivo thing for PCs? Sounds very cool…

Nice rhyming skills, I’ve got there.

Well, I have plans for Saturday now.  Can’t believe that I have a chance to see playoff baseball in Milwaukee.  I remember watching their last playoff games, when I was 8 years old… and now I get to see them play in person next weekend.  I can’t wait.  It’s going to be a long-ass week…

This really makes up for the egg that the Packers and Badgers laid this weekend.

CC throws 122 pitches and gets the complete game win.

Braun hits a 2 run homer to put them ahead in the 8th.

Oh, man… just waiting on the Mets result.

26 years is a long damn time… hopefully it ends… today.

Not too often there are hurricane watches in our neck of the woods…

So, at least for the Orioles, all the pressure is off. I thought it was funny that a columnist wrote the best thing about Fan Appreciation weekend was that the games were called early. HA! Poor Glen..no pressure on winning or anything today huh…

I just submitted the review for Hell’s Kitchen Wii and I’m working on Pure today…as long as he rain doesn’t hit my basement. Could we have a little more rain, please?

- I will admit that I missed watching most of the debate… as I was a crap-ton more interested in the Brewers and Mets game outcomes.

Seriously, I get chills when I think about the fact that a combination of one Brewers win and one Mets loss in the last two days will get the Brewers into a playoff series against the Phillies…. and I’ll actually see a playoff game in Milwaukee, in person.

Things looked awful after that loss to the Cubs a few series ago… I’ll be the first to admit that, but man… I just can’t even picture being able to see a playoff baseball game here in Milwaukee.  With luck, they could wrap it up tomorrow and give CC his rest, that he so richly deserves, to get him to start game 1 of the NLDS.

- As far as the debate is concerned… it was on TV tonight, but I wasn’t listening.  McCain just looked angry every time I saw him on the screen.  Also, he never looked at Obama.  That just seemed weird to me.  Oh, well.  I’m sure I’ll be getting a drink of the hateraide for those comments.

- Awesome Brewer win tonight.  First Grand Slam of the year, and it comes as a walk-off in the bottom of the 10th.  It was a great pitching duel and luckily the Brewers pulled it out to stay tied with the Mets for the Wild Card.

- NBA 09 demo for the PS3 and PSP on the Playstation store.  Downloaded both and will be looking at them at some point this weekend.  I’m too tired after only 3 hours of sleep last night to give them too much effort at this point.

- Ok… now for the complaint.  A few weeks ago, I ordered Lost Odyssey via Barnes and Noble.  I had a $25 gift card for BN, so I figured why not get a game through Gamestop.  As I’ve mentioned recently… I haven’t been around all that much, so I just got a chance to open the package tonight and I found that I was shipped a used copy of the game with a ‘NEW’ sticker on it.  How crappy is that?  Gamestop just farms out crap from their stores to sell them as new?   The game was open, the disks all have fingerprints on them, and the sleeve that disk one is in… has a Call of Duty 4 NEW sticker on it.

I know that I just have to take the game back to the store, but I’m plenty pissed about this.  They didn’t even bother to try and repackage the damn thing to try and convince me it wasn’t new.  Bunch of cheating bastards.

I’ve filed a complaint with Gamestop about it… I doubt they’ll do anything, but I’m still pissed about this.

* Wow, reading the comments, is this Sports Gamer Blog or Daily Kos. I love the discussion though.

* Lots and lots of games are coming, I’m already feeling stressed — and I’m only talking about the downloadable games like Duke 3D (just as fun as it was all those years ago ) and WipeOut HD…

* Big news for GameTap fans — Turner sold it to Metaboli…oh wait I’m sorry “partnered” with them. Hopefully all the friends there will still be employed. I’m still a fan of the service although I haven’t been able to play as much as I’d like.

* I just went to the dealership for what I thought was an oil change and it became $985. Joy. I shouldn’t have bought that X-Fi. Although I love the X-fi…it’s perfect…but still $985…my two year old, 24,000 mile vehicle needed 4 tires…tread was 3/32″….is this normal? I thought tires lasted longer….Oh well…

* Has anyone noticed a difference in Madden 360 with the 2nd patch?

* Could the Orioles suck any more?

* I’d chat more but I have to go back to the real job!!!

Not sure if I’ll have time to post later today or tonight, as I’m just finishing up my Wednesday at work (at 3:45 in the morning on Thursday.)

- Brewers somehow manage to push 4 runs across on two hits and get CC another win.  That guy just impresses the hell out of me.  I know that they can’t afford him, but damnit if he isn’t inspiring this team right now with his efforts on short rest.

Gallardo comes back to pitch today after tearing his MCL earlier in the year.  That’s another tough guy.

They’re tied for the wild card with the Mets (after they’re horrible performance tonight,) so the money I spent on the post season tickets may not have been wasted… yet.  (I know I get a refund if they don’t make it… but still.)

- You go, John!  Cancel your campaigning, cancel your gig on Letterman, cancel the debates… you have to get right to Washington…. but first, let’s spend some time with Katie Couric.  Very presidential.

- As a Packer fan, I have to say that I’m sad about the firing of Matt Millen yesterday.  He had virtually guaranteed two wins for the Packers each year, for the last 6 years.  Such a pity that he had to leave so soon.

- I got a copy of Pure sent to me today and the game is just as much fun as the demo.  They sent me the 360 version, so I was pleased to see some of the rather unique achievements that have been put into the game.  I’ve tried to avoid going to the ‘achievement’ sites to see how to get easy points, and have found that I’m having more fun with 360 games by just stumbling across them.

I’ll have to go back and try Motorstorm again, because this game just feels a lot like it… but with the addition of tricks to get your boost.  I’m really digging it thus far.  One other thing that they didn’t cover was how customizable the ATV’s are in the game.  You can tweak any of the components.. or just hold down the Y button and let the game build your ride for you.  It’s a really nice touch as it puts together your vehicle in about 2 seconds… but it just does it in an interesting way.

I have no doubts that I’ll be spending more time with it later in the week.

- The Brewers just about killed me tonight.

I bought my playoff tickets earlier today, and I really got my money’s worth out of the team tonight.  Down by 1 until the 7th, they come back and get 2 to take a 1 run lead.  Give up a 2-run homer in the top of the 8th to fall one behind again, and get 1 more in the bottom of the 8th to tie it up.  Closer looks awful and gets out of a situation with 2 on and 1 out, and Prince crushes a walk-off homer to win the game in the bottom of the 9th.

I just felt bad for everyone who watched the first 6 innings, as it was really bad baseball… then it was incredibly exciting… both ways… for the last 3.

- That’s all for tonight.  It’s been a busy week already and I need to get a bit of sleep.

- Do I really have to root for the Cubs against the Mets?  I kind of think it would be better for the Brewers to just fade away at this point.  I would absolutely love to see them in the playoffs… but having to hope for Cubs wins to do it… just hurts.

- Had a blast with my friends on Saturday night playing Rock Band 2 and Scene-It on the 360.  I have to say that while I enjoy playing the drums in Rock Band… the game just isn’t anywhere near as fun when you play it by yourself.  Playing it with friends, is really where it’s at.

Gotta say that Madtowner really beat the hell out of my drumset though.  Really glad that I did that ‘craft’ work on the kit though.  Heh.

- The last 3 minutes of the Jets/Chargers game took FOREVER.  The officials made this game last well past when it should have ended.

I had to laugh when the Jets had 3 chances at a 2 point conversion… the last one from 9 inches out… and ran out of the shotgun….and didn’t get it.

- Al Harris, for the Packers, is rumored to have a ruptured spleen.  Damn.  That sucks.  Now, I guess it makes more sense as to why the Packers had a tough time covering the Cowboys all game. I’ll have to take people’s word for it though, as I was at hockey last night and missed all but the last 2 minutes.

- As much as I hate to get my hopes up… I have to try for the Brewers playoff tickets tomorrow.  I’d kick myself for months if I had a chance at them and didn’t get them.

I’m already beat. Is it Friday yet?

1. The iPod I own is about 5 years old. It’s the third generation iPod, it is not the click wheel. It has a wheel but it has the four buttons above the wheel.

2. Emmys — nice choices. The critics ragged on the show but I enjoyed it. Kudos to the guy from Breaking Bad — it’s a great show as is Mad Men. Lost isn’t bad either of course….and I have to say that Josh Groban doing TV theme songs was surprisingly good.

3. Am I the only one who really doesn’t care what CoJo thinks about Emmy fashions?

4. The game deluge is starting and I already feel stressed — what’s worse is we’re only talking downloads! Mega Man 9 for the Wii is an instant classic..my first thought was…didn’t this come out on the NES? They did a fantastic job making it an 8-bit game. However, if this trend continues, I guess I’ll have to dig out my 2600. NES’ Super Dodge Ball is just everything those other Xbox Live Arcade dodgeball games should be. I loved this game 20 years ago and I still love it — although it seems to be much easier than I recall…

5. So…the Red Sox haven’t clinched yet….the Yankees are still hanging around…OMG that would be funny if that happened..but the Yankees elimination number is 1, so the Sox would have to lose every game and the Yankees would have to win…it would be funny though.

6. Buzz! for PS3 sounds very interesting….I don’t know if it’s $60 interesting…but still…very interesting.

Well, ironically Miami beat NE the last time in the regular season as well , way back in 2006.  The Patriots looked like complete crap today, and hey, after 7+ years, it’s about time. Kudos to the Buffalo Bills who are the first team other than the Patriots to have sole posession of first place in a gajillion years.

Hey before I trade in my 40GB Ipod (w/dock) at Circuit City for $50…anyone interested? Last call.

PS The Archos 5 went back today. I’m going to buy a Creative X-Fi. Smaller screen, better brand name, only 32Gb, but SD expandable..48 GB total is enough for now at least I guess. I was looking for audio than video anyway. And 64 GB cards will come down in price shortly (32GB : $40, 64GB: $150 — WTF?)

What a week.  Ended up getting a ‘minor’ promotion at work that means that I have a bit more work to do for a little while now and end up supervising and managing a newer employee at the office a bit more.  It’ll be interesting, but it also means that I have more work to do at home each night and less time for the blog at the moment.  Hopefully, it’ll only take more time for a little while and things will settle down eventually.

- The weather around here has been great for almost the entire week.  High 70′s and almost no humidity.  Got out for a great bike ride with the wife and kids today and now I get to sit and watch some college football while everyone is taking a nap.  No complaints about this day thus far.

- I’ve been playing NHL09 on the PS3 whenever I’ve had the chance and I do enjoy the game.

The majority of my time has been spent on the ‘Be a Pro’ mode, specifically playing as a goalie.  One of the things that they didn’t do a great job on since the last version was to stop your goalie from getting ‘stuck’ to the post when guys are near or below the goal line.  They’ve made it so that you have to be pretty damn lucky to get off of the post to stop a one-timer opportunity that comes whenever there is a pass made to the other side.

This really annoyed me last year, the post is a leverage point to be used to push yourself to the other side and they make it very difficult for you to get from one side of the net to the other.  I’m not saying that you should be able to get across every time… but more often than not, you will not make the save unless they fire it into your chest.  It’s just plain frustrating and it makes the ‘Be a Pro’ mode worse than it should be.  I’m not asking for super goalies, but I’m asking for you to be able to play the position as you would actually see players of that caliber do.

I haven’t played around with the other modes of the game, but I think the game is definitely worthy of your time as a rental.  It’s not as good as I would like it to be, in the goalie play sense, but it is a good game.

Another thing that I have noticed is that there seem to be far too many of the deek moves going on.  Almost every time down the ice a guy will try and make a move when it makes no sense to do so.  1-on-3, etc.  Perhaps it’s due to the difficulty level I’m playing at.  I’ll see if that continues.

- NHL2K9 for the 360 has taken a bit of a back seat to NHL09, but it’s still a quality game.  It’s just a different gameplay experience than 09.  Not a worse one, in my opinion, just a different game. Not going to set your world on fire, but not going to really disappoint you either.  It’s the Steve Sarris of hockey games this year.

- Seriously, how fair is it that I get a chance to buy Brewers tickets in the post season ticket lottery and they just continue to slide.  I think that Thursday’s game was the end.  Losing a game when you lead by 4 with 2 outs and no one on base is just about one of the worst regular season losses that you could ever have to handle.  They came out yesterday incredibly flat against Cincy and, other than Prince, don’t look like they’ll have what it takes to pull off any sort of comeback.

Oh, and Sheets is hurt… big shock there.

I have seen a few interesting rumors about what the team may do in the offseason though.  Trading Fielder and Hardy to the Giants for Matt Cain… Hiring Paul Molitor to manage…

Can’t say I would hate either of those things.  The Brewers really need to figure out what to do with the middle of the infield and Weeks clearly isn’t the answer.  Plus, I don’t think that they want to pay the arbitration amounts that Fielder will be looking at… so we’ll see what happens there.

- I picked up 2 games from GOG.com, thanks to getting into the beta.  Even though I have access to Freespace 1 and 2 via Gamefly, I like the idea that I can load them on any system in my house (especially my laptops…) and not need to be online to play them.  Both titles for $5.99 is a great deal in my opinion.

- My wife and all of her girlfriends are going out for a night on the town tonight, so all of the boys (w/ the kids) are getting together to play Rock Band and other various multiplayer titles (I’m interested to try out Scene It for the 360.  I picked up the bundle for $24.99 on clearance at Sears a few weeks ago.)  You can tell that you’re getting older when you’d rather be hanging out with your friends at someone’s house than going out and spending crazy money in the bars.

That about sums it up for me this week.