Wednesday night notes
- Sorry that I didn't get a post in yesterday, my wife has moved from night shifts to day, so I actually got a chance to spend an evening with my family... something that hasn't happened in a long time.
It's tough to describe what it's like to have her move shifts after 6 1/2 years, but I do have to say that it's nice to have someone else around to help out with the kids. Should allow me more time for games and such as well.
Good times.
- Just finished watching the Islanders game and while they gave up a 2 goal lead in the 3rd, they pulled it together and got three goals in the shootout and got their first win of the year. Definitely a nice thing to see. Gotta get that team on a roll.
- Best Buy will be running a Buy 2, Get 1 free deal next week. Good news for those of you that were looking for a deal to pick up some of the titles coming out next week. (Ratchet and Clank, Tekken 6, and Forza 3 being the major ones.)
- I have to admit that the Madden 10 league has been pretty fun, if not a bit slow. My Rams are now 3-0... and it's been a struggle to get to that point. Still having a good time with it though.
- Gamefly is running a sale right now where they have a good deal of titles below $20 with free shipping. Already this week I've picked up Halo Wars and Mirror's Edge for $22 combined. I can live with that.
- Not much else going on at the moment, as I'm waiting for my copy of Fifa to arrive tomorrow. Probably have a bit more to share then.
Monday morning notes
- It's a funny thing to watch a Packer game where they shut out the other team 26-0, and still think that they played a pretty poor game. 13 penalties for 130 yards, 5 sacks allowed. Just ugly. The defense looked great, but the offense... ugh. Still, a win is a win. On to Cleveland.
- The Vikings pulled out another game late yesterday when the Ravens missed a Field goal as time ran out that would have given them the win. I was really surprised to see how badly the Vikings D played in the 4th quarter. They've been dominant all year and just shut down in the 4th letting the Ravens move almost at will. It was crazy.
The one game that I would love to see this year, can't happen until the playoffs and that's the Saints and the Vikings. Both teams look like they're just toying with the other teams in the league at this moment... and they don't get to play each other until the playoffs. That's a bummer.
- I got beat by Jonah's fantasy team when he didn't start two players... and still scored 112. Bummer.
- FIFA 10 shipped from Gamefly today... unless it's stolen from a mail facility... I should have it by the end of the week. I liked the demo, but you can never tell from those. Plus, it's not like I'm the futbol fan here...
- On Saturday night I was sitting and watching the Yankees/Angels game and I had a revelation. I really didn't care who won. I know that I'm supposed to hate the Yankees because they spend more money on their team than anyone else... but I realized that it just didn't matter. Would I have liked the Angels to win? Sure. A split in the first two games is always better than 1 team taking both games.
What I came to realize that is that so much of my sports fan persona is based on "hating" other teams, when it just doesn't matter. What got me about this was when my daughters said to me the other day that they 'hated the Vikings' when I realized that there really isn't a good reason for them to teach them any sort of hate... I'm going to try and just enjoy the games for what they are, and that game Saturday night was a good game. I just wish that it hadn't ended on an error.
Now I just have to try and undo the stuff with the kids.
Let’s FIFA at Midnight?
I forgot to mention I received a call from Ashley from GameStop. She wanted to let me know that FIFA 10 will be available for pickup Monday night at midnight.
Did I just hear this correctly? They are doing a midnight release for FIFA?
I don’t think anything else is getting released Monday night…pretty amazing if they are doing a midnight release solely for FIFA…
Not a good day to face Brady
I am facing Operation Sports founder Craig today in fantasy, and he has Tom Brady starting. Tom has more points than my entire team. I don't think I will win this week.
Saturday afternoon notes (UW/Iowa focus)
- Well, the Badgers just played themselves out of the Big Ten title hunt. Up 10-3 with the ball in the 2nd quarter and controlling the game on the ground, they decide to bring a Freshman QB to run the option for a series... they go three and out and kill every bit of momentum they had in the game. After that drive, they had drives of -1, 17, 6, 42, 7, and 24. While allowing Iowa to move the ball on every single possession after that.
They looked to just coach themselves into a corner. The coaching staff continued to run an offense that looked like they were up by 14, constantly handing the ball off up the middle on 1st and 2nd down, setting up 3rd and long situations where they would make 5 yard passes and then punt.
The team had absolutely no sense of urgency, even after falling behind.
Defensively, they were playing against an accurate pocker passing QB and kept dropping back and giving the receivers 5 to 10 yard cushions every single time. When you're only rushing 4, you have to put some pressure on the receivers to get open and they never did it. Come to think of it, this team never puts pressure on the receivers. Maybe they just don't have cornerbacks that can do it... but they sure can't play the zone well either.
I think the coaching staff is largely to blame for this loss. The team is better than this and has played better than this when the playbook was opened up.
OSU is getting beat UGLY at Purdue and the Badgers could have put themselves into the Big Ten championship picture, but as it is... it looks to be yet another season where Badger fans have to settle for average rather than stepping up and moving up into the elite of the Big Ten.
Iowa is in the drivers seat for the Big Ten championship, and they deserve it after today. They came into Madison took what the Badgers dished out early and beat them handily. If they take care of business, in the next 3 weeks, they have a great shot at a big time BCS bowl if they can beat OSU.
As a Badger fan, this was a sobering loss. After playing very well for the first 5 weeks, they really have hurt themselves with turnovers and poor play at times. It's beginning to look a lot like an Alamo Bowl this year. Sadly...
Early Saturday Morning Notes
- Thank you very much Amazon. I picked up Killzone 2 today for $19.98 via their lightning deals. The game was on sale at that price for roughly 2 to 3 seconds from what I saw. Amazon deal watching is like a geek spectator sport at times.
They had Madden 10 for the PS3 for $24.98 as well for a very short period of time. I don't know how often their going to be doing their gaming deals like that, but it's well worth watching at 9 a.m. PST and 11 a.m. PST to see what they have for the days special deals.
- Well, the Islanders looked like crap again today. I guess this is what you get with a young team. Tavares did tally another, but if he scores 40 and the team looks bad, I don't know how great I can feel about that.
- Speaking of crappy hockey... the Badgers pulled a Henry VIII tonight. (Second verse... same as the first...) Last year they lost tons of games in the 3rd period and they did it again in their first game of the night. They played lazy hockey for about 35 minutes and lost the game with 2 minutes to go. Glad I wasn't there for it. I would have had a hard time keeping my anger down in front of my girls. Maybe tomorrow night will be better when I take them both to the game.
- As for football, the Badgers have a huge game against Iowa. Iowa has won quite a few close games this season and I wouldn't be shocked to see them go into Camp Randall and get a win, but I get a feeling that Bucky will play better this week. 3 big plays cost them the game last week, I think they can turn it around and get a nice upset at home.
Late Night With Dan
I re-watched the USMNT game vs Costa Rica …nothing like a tying goal in the last minute of stoppage time – especially when stoppage time is 5 minutes! Wow!
Hoping for the best for striker Charlie Davies. Great talent, out of NH, and really sad about the accident and injuries. Reading the injuries made me hurt: fractured tibia, femur, elbow, face, and ruptured bladder. It’s amazing he is alive.
And in the worst segueway ever, let’s talk about gaming. Just got an email about a new football game on facebook. It’s called “Gridiron Live” and it’s a free to play but costs to upgrade. It does seem to have some potential. Graphics are built for a dial up, but the plays are interesting. What else are you going to do on facebook, Super Poke? Try it out or visit gridironlive.com
Thursday notes
- What do you do when you have a bad day at work? I tend to buy things....which is why I have 3 games sitting in my car.
I ended up with Brutal Legend, Uncharted 2, and NHL10. Not sure if I'll keep NHL10 as I haven't see a massive leap from 09, but Brutal Legend and Uncharted look to be a good deal of fun.
- Started playing Need for Speed Shift last night and really enjoyed it.
It's quite a bit different from my last venture into the NFS series and well worth a look for any racing fan. Part sim, part arcade, but very entertaining.
- More tomorrow, I think. Lots going on over the weekend, but I'll try to get some things posted.
Wednesday notes
- EA Sports has announced a Madden NFL Arcade title for PSN and Live Arcade. Here's the lowdown from their press release. Dan liked the NHL Arcade title that they put out earlier, so it might not be bad. The $15 price point is a bit of a stickler for me... but to each their own.
- Wow, what a slow sports night last night. Only 3 NHL games and 1 college football game. Whew....
- I played a bit of NBA Live 10 last night and wasn't all that thrilled with it. The gameplay is a good deal simpler than the NBA 2K series, and that can be a plus, but the game just seemed... wrong. I was having a hard time putting my finger on it, but the players seemed to be floating on the floor at times. I also lost track of how many times I would be running down the court trying to put up a quick 3 and my player would always stop with both feet on the line. It was just odd that it happened so many times.
I did like the presentation aspects of the game though. Michael Redd was having a good game and they kept pointing out how well he was doing and tracked his stats very well.
The game doesn't really compare as well to the 2K series though. They're getting closer, but it's just not there yet.
- I'm heading out to the stores to pick up a few titles in the Buy 2 get 1 free deal. Still not sure which I'll get yet... but I might just end up picking up a title to swap for another later.
- Hmm... anything else going on that I'm missing?
Tuesday notes
- Quite a disappointing Islanders game yesterday. I got home all excited to watch the game and after the first period they played pretty damn poorly. They only lost the game 2-1, but they never looked like they were in it.
Such things happen in an 82 game season though.
- Still trying to track down my games for the TRU deal. I suppose I could pick up Uncharted, Brutal Legend, and Beatles Rock Band... but I just don't think I'll play much of the Beatles. Ugh. Decisions... spending money... ugh.
- If you're interested in Quick Hit Football. They ended their beta process and you can now try it out free. I'm still enjoying playing through it, so you'll have to post here and let us know what you think.
- More later tonight.
Monday morning notes
- I love the Center Ice package. Recording the Islanders game that will start in a few hours and will be able to watch it when I get home. The nice thing about the lack of popularity in the NHL is that I can record games and not have to worry about sports radio broadcasts giving out the score updates and spoiling the game for you.
Tavares does look like he's going to be a great player though. 3 games in and he has 5 points and has been very active in the offensive and defensive zone. I can only see him getting better as time goes on.
- I'm really wavering on the Toys R Us buy 2 get 1 free deal for this week. I really want Uncharted 2, but I can't sell myself on the other titles that I would like to get. The president of the company that I work for wants me to have Beatles Rock Band for the company holiday party... but I just have a hard time telling myself that I'll get a full value enjoyment out of that game.
I've debated picking up Brutal Legend with Uncharted... and I would love to get Demon's Souls... but no stores in the city have it... other than Gamestop which is just too bad. Oh, well.
- The Packers signed Mark Tauscher today which makes me wonder if that was their plan all along. Hold the fort until he was ready to come back and that slide him into the starting lineup and try and get the line straightened out at that point. Who knows? The line is still a real weakness for the team and needs to get corrected if they're going to be a playoff team. Thankfully the Lions are on the docket for this week.
- Badger hockey season starts up this week. Can't wait for that. Taking the girls to the game on Saturday night. Nothing says fun like trying to manage a 2 and 4 year old by yourself at a sporting event.
- Gotta try and get some more time into NBA Live 10 and NBA 2K10 tonight. We'll see how that goes...
The Bigs 2 is the Amazon DOTD
If you like arcade baseball, it doesn’t get any better than the Bigs 2. It’s a very fun game and it’s $29 at Amazon today only.
I’m still here
Happy Sunday to you. Between Graduate school and U9 Soccer Tournaments, I’ve been insane.
Let’s catch up:
First, F*** Denver. Every time the Patriots go there, there are referee calls that would make the Ravens murder someone. Seriously, no fumble forward progress was stopped for .00003 seconds so it’s not a fumble.
And of course, don’t get me started on the NFL’s Horseshit way to have overtime. It is simply the worst way to decide a game. Why just go ahead and have a coin toss to decide the winner, as it’s about the same thing.
Moving on, in a game that has a much better overtime/playoff system, the USA qualified for the World Cup last night thanks to “worst penalty kick ever taken in a World Cup Qualifier.” Thank you Honduras. Seriously how do you over shoot a net on a PK? Practicing to win a crappy NFL Overtime game?
Moving on to hockey, where their tiebreakers are much more fun to watch with a 5:00 OT period and a shootout, that Bruins game last night was pretty impressive – down to NY 3-0 with 10 mins in the 3rd and they get 3 goals to tie. Nicely done!
With video games, I have a ton here that I just ran out of time to play. I Have my Windows 7 Ultimate signature edition just installed in preparation for my Windows 7 House Party. Nice party package.
I did receive Guitar Hero Van Halen yesterday, and I have to say it’s been pretty fun. I mean there’s no way it’s worth it as a full game. Who the hell wants to play as Wolfgang. It’s like going to the local fair, seeing a great 60s/70s band on the marquee and seeing one guy way in the back that actually played with the band and 4 guys who never played until this past Thursday with them.
Still, Panama is a blast.
NBA 2K10 arrived for the PS3, I played a little. Feels a lot like past years. I’m debating about buying PSP games like NBA Live and NHL via download. It’s too bad they can’t make the PS3 games available for download and save me a trip to the store.
Okay, that’s enough for now.
Late Saturday night notes
- Really? 2 weeks removed from be knocked so silly that he was throwing up on the sidelines, Tim Tebow was back in a football game. I really hate that side of sports sometimes. Doctors still don't know enough about the effects of concussions to know how ready he was to play tonight, and yet he does...
Ugh.
- I'm 2-0 in the Madden league after a victory over the Redskins tonight. Do you like Steven Jackson? I sure do. heh.
- The Islanders game was painful to watch tonight. They were up 3-0 after 2 and went into an offensive shell and ended up losing in a shootout to the Bruins. 3 games, 3 OT losses. I know it's a young team, but eventually you have to figure out how to win a close game late.
- Toys R Us is having a buy 2 get 1 free sale beginning tomorrow. Great week for a deal like that with Uncharted 2 coming out. The deal also covers accessories, so if you're looking for Wii, 360, or PS3 points... it's a great way to get some for 33% off.
Badger notes
Quite a disappointing game.
The Badgers were up 10-7 with 2 minutes left in the half and give up a huge drive that puts OSU in front. Then the Badgers just selfdestruct in the second half. Interception returned for a TD, kickoff returned for TD....
Ugh. The Badgers really could have taken that game today, but when you give up 2 defensive and 1 special teams TD... you just can't win.
OSU's offense was pretty underwhelming in my opinion. Pryor looks like a very average passer at this stage in his career, but should improve... but right now... he won't win many games with his arm. His feet is what will keep OSU alive this year.
Oh, well. Such is life.
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