Bombs Away

Wow – it truly is a different world over here in the UK. Forget the beer – that is good and all, but I just got the heck frightened out me. I thought we were under attack; air raid or something.

Freaking fireworks display at 10:15PM BST on the Thames River. Good Lord! I thought the hotel was being bombed. Freaking crazy stuff … besides making it hard to hear the UGA game via internet, this type of thing should not be done without advance warning! Seriously, I am not exaggerating; that was some loud fireworks. WTF were they for? Just for a weekend show?

Other than the fireworks, the UK has been pretty cool. The beer is wet, and the tube is a pretty cool way to travel about the city. My iPod helps me fit in; I just plug it in, turn it up, and do some serious people watching. Meaning no disrespect, it is just a lot different over here. The women love to show off some bellybuttons – regardless of how much hip they actually have. Pretty funny actually. Have not seen much to really stare at if you catch my meaning.

I feel sorry for videogame fans because the prices seem much higher than the US after conversion (24.99UK pounds for a GBA game? That is almost $50 US or higher).

I have walked more in two days than in three or so months. Talking about being sore. Everyone except the extremely wealthy takes the tube (subway) or a cab or walks and walks and then some. It is kind of cool to people watch, but that can only get you so far before it is time to stop into a pub or two. Speaking of which, there are plenty, but I have not been brave enough to try most. Another interesting point, it looks like many of the popular (or maybe just trendy) restaurants turn into nightclubs after hours. Kind of interesting I suppose.

It has been a whirlwind tour – I have sampled several new beers, and even had some lamb at a Turkish place. The lamb was surprisingly very tasty; not like you see that every day in Columbus.

Not sure what the rest of the week will bring, but other than missing my wife and kids, London is a pretty cool and happening place. Plenty to do and tons to drink. The pubs are so different than Columbus, that it does not even seem like the same world, which I guess is fair because I am half a world away from home.

Biggest surprise? I did not notice last time I was here, but the American restaurants are very popular, crowded, and happening hangouts. A BigMac, large fries, and large coke is 3.69 (UK pounds), or almost $8 US dollars! Surprisingly it taste pretty much the same. Have also seen Fridays, Burger King, KFC, and Pizza Hut to name a few.

Until the next update, UGA is taking it to LSU 24-10 at the half.

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SEC Roundup (Week 6)

No roundup this week from London. I paid $9.95 to listen to the UGA/LSU game on radio – was really worried about this one. The Sport Cafe was not showing this game, which is a major disappointment.

Maybe it is the Hoegaarden, but man am I enjoying this internet radio broadcast. 24-0 in the 2nd quarter at this point.

Go Dawgs, go!

More to come later … after I sober up a bit. BTW, the iPod still rules, and is perfect for the tube.

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London Calling

No updates? In the UK on business this week, so updates have been few and far between. Last week I did not do my usual SEC preview because UGA was off. Not sure if I will do one this week because my head is spinning (too much Stella), and I cannot watch a damn thing.

Actually, I made it to the Sport Cafe, and they do show college football on Saturday and NFL on Sunday. Looks like Purdue/Notre Dame tomorrow and a lot of NFL including my Falcons on Sunday (something like 9PM or so UK time). Anyway, as some of you may know (shout out to Adam) the Sports Cafe is mentioned in the Dreamcast classic MSR – cool racing game.

The UK [edit – obviously should be US; was kind of dizzy last night; thanks for the catch Ted!] is soooo different than the UK. Will have to write more later. It is way past my bedtime and I still have another Stella to knock off, so all for now.

London is calling, and the pubs are all good. Good night that is. Cheers!

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I, iPod

I have wanted an MP3 player for a while, and my upcoming UK trip forced the issue – I do not want to get on another freaking plane without some portable tunes. I will cover this in more detail later, but I decided on an iPod 4G 40GB unit. Pricy, but ultimately super user friendly, simple to use, extremely portable, and ultra-sexy.

I just started using the iTunes software to burn my CDs and upload them to my trusty new iPod. I have not even touched the surface of my collection yet – I have only used 1.10GB of storage space (at 128 kbps using built in AAC Encoder), which comes out to 289 songs, good for 20.5 freaking hours of music. Holy f*c^! That is a lot of damn music.

I have to hand it to Apple for making everything so damn easy. From the word go you know that you are dealing with a stylistic, easy to use product. From the square box, with plenty of “Made by Apple in California” imprints, to the iPods jog wheel, to the extremely small and light-weight design, the iPod is made for ease of use. I guess sexy is also the operative of the day – Apple makes the whole process of getting up and running, using the iPod, and using iTunes to sort and upload your music library a complete breeze. Sexy rules. Easy of use is what drives adoption, and Apple looks to have this digital music thing figured out.

I am really impressed with the iTunes software – it allows me to easily convert my CDs to uploadable formats and of course upload to the iPod. This process is fairly quick and easy. What is really cool is that I can put my own rating on each song (1-5 stars) and use that to help determine my play lists. I have read that I can create my own play lists, but I have not played around with this feature; I assume it will be as simple as everything else has been with my iPod from the word go. The iTunes software also tracks the number of times a song has been played, and when a song was last played. All in all, very impressive stuff.

I have yet to venture into the world of downloading music from the iTunes music store – it seems too damn easy to drop a ton of cash in a hurry. I do not know about you, but $0.99 songs will pile up on my credit card quickly. As with the rest of the iPod world, the story is also stylistic and easy to use. You can quickly search for songs by artists, title, and more. I have always loved “Voices Carry” by ‘Till Tuesday, so I did a search by song title and found two different versions of the song in no time flat. As I said, this can get expensive in a hurry.

I am not going to go on a tangent, but I like to “own” stuff, and I do not illegally download music. It is a subject for another debate, but $0.99 per song should be low enough for anyone to afford. It will be interesting to see if any sort of trends will be able to identify if cheap digital music slows down music piracy.

I’ll update more about my iPod later, but for now let me say that my iPod absolutely rocks.

Buy

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NCAA Football 2005 – QB Sacks (and Cheating AI)

A lot of gamers have claimed that NCAA 2005 took a step (or three) backwards this year. Most of the problems center around passing problems; both the ability for human players to complete passes, the CPU AI’s lack of ability to come up with a half-way decent attempt to completion percentage, and super human DBs that cover way too much ground.

I think I have done a good job of overcoming difficulties in the passing game. I can put together 50% (or higher) completion percentage days with ease. The CPU does a much worse job, unless the school is an “elite” school with a renowned passing attack, but there are still too many dropped passes.

I can live with both problems, but it is downright irritating that the game still suffers from the “QB sack” problem. Just what is this problem? Human players can almost never get a pass off as the CPU is about to sack your QB. I could live with this problem if it also affected the CPU, but it does not. Time and time again my QB starts the throw motion, even getting so far as 75% (or more) through the animation, only to tuck the ball back and take a sack. The frustrating part of this is that the CPU manages to get balls off, even throwing the ball away, out of bounds, after the QB is wrapped up by my defensive player. I have watch replays where the CPU QB is completely wrapped up, but manages to throw the ball way with a strange underarm throwing animation. In short, it sucks.

I am not saying that I cannot sack CPU QBs, I can. My frustration is that the CPU is allowed to get away with blatant cheating. I cannot stand it when a game is created in such a way that the CPU is able to do things that I cannot. I can live with some of the other problems such as super fast CPU defenders that are able to cover an ungodly amount of ground in a single bound, and I can even live with some of the dropped passes. The “QB sack” problem grates on me because it has been in at least the last four versions.

I sincerely hope that EA considers addressing this problem, as well as other issues, in the inevitable follow-up next July.

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SEC Wrap Up – Week 4

It was a bad week for me as a prognosticator, finishing 5-4. I guess I should have learned my lesson about picking Vanderbilt; they just could not stop Ole Miss when it mattered. Maine over the Mississippi State Bulldogs? Ouch. Huge embarrassment for the SEC, not to mention that State must not have any pride.

Georgia squeaked by. As I said in my roundup, I was not sure if it was going to be close or a blowout. The UGA offense is sputtering. We need Ware back for the October 2 clash with LSU.

I was right on the money with Arkansas, although they did miss my 50+ points on the board prediction. Still, 49-20 of La Monroe must feel nice after getting kicked in the teeth by Texas.

South Carolina easily took down South Florida; I thought it would be closer, but a win is a win.

A last second field goal by Tennessee ruined my prediction of a Gator win.

Kentucky also showed some spunk and thrashed Indiana. I honestly thought Indiana was better, Kentucky was worse, and the Wildcats would embarrass the SEC. I am sure the ‘cat fans are thankful that honor goes to Mississippi State.

As predicted the Tide easily rolled over Western Carolina, 52-0, but at what cost? Alabama lost starting QB Brodie Croyle for the season. That is going to be a huge loss for the Tide.

The Bulldogs have a week off to think about getting their offense in gear. I am now 20-5 on the young season (9-1, 6-0, 5-4). The most interesting match up on the board next week has Alabama traveling to Arkansas, but the game has lost a little luster now that the Tide are going without Croyle.

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SEC Roundup – Week 4

Time is short, so I will get right to the picks.

Vanderbilt over Ole Miss. I still have confidence in Vanderbilt despite the thrashing they took at the hands of South Carolina a couple of weeks back, while the Rebels are still looking for an identity in the post Eli era.

Mississippi State will easily prevail over Maine.

Arkansas will put up 50+ on La Monroe.

South Carolina will beat South Florida, in a game that is closer than most experts are expecting.

I think Auburn will surprise LSU *IF* Auburn can manage some semblance of a passing attack. The Tigers (from Auburn) will use this game to move to the driver’s seat in the SEC West.

Poor Kentucky – they will fall to Indiana. The Wildcats will be the SEC embarrassment week; they are a pitiful bunch of cats in desperate need of a win. The schedule only gets harder, and the losses are about to pile up in a hurry. The best they can hope for are four or five wins – if things fall in their direction.

Alabama will once again Roll, this time Western Carolina will make them feel extra special.

Finally we have Florida at Tennessee. This one is the hardest on the board to call, even harder than the Tiger vs. Tiger match-up. I am going to go with the Gators over the Volunteer’s inexperience at QB.

Georgia will outlast Marshall. To be honest, I am not sure if this one will be closer than expected or a laugher as Marshall starts the season 0-3.

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Jacques Villeneuve Returns to F1

Truth be told, when I started watching F1 in 1995 I fell in love with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. Hill won the championship that year followed by Jacques in 1996. It looked like Villeneuve was set for even bigger things, but something went wrong on the way to paradise when he decided to help build BAR.

Oops – big mistake. One that took Villeneuve right out of F1 prior to the last race of the 1993 season. Now Villeneuve is back at the expense of Trulli, testing for Renault, hoping to land a contract for the remainder of the year.

Yesterday, in his first test back in F1, Villeneuve pulled in the slowest time at Silverstone, a full 1.6 seconds off the pace set by McLaren and Raikkonen. Scary, sad. Today Villeneuve managed the 3rd fast time, a mere 0.036 behind Sato’s BAR first place pace. Very nice.

Making matters more interesting, Villeneuve has a chance to knock BAR in the ass if he can help Renault catapult in front of his former team. That would indeed be sweet redemption for Jacques, plus he gets back in racing shape as he prepares to join Sauber next year for a two year contract.

I am not sure if Villeneuve call pull Sauber to the front, but let’s face it, Sauber is the minor league Ferrari team. They have good parts, and a decent setup. Running last year’s spec Ferrari parts is nothing to sneeze at – this could be a great situation for Sauber and Jacques should be able to squeeze nice things out of the car. Say what you will about Jacques, but no one has ever doubted his talent.

“Welcome back to the show Jacques!” F1 just got interesting again, and if you happen to beat BAR a few times in the process, so much the better!

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Northeastern 14 – Navy (#78) 31 (NCAA Chronicles 2005, Season 1, Week 3)

Another week, another infraction to take care of; this time CB #23 was recommended for a 3 game suspension due to academic infractions (bad grades). I said the heck with that – this is Navy, so I only suspended the guy for a quarter.

I did not know what to expect with Northeastern. I figured it would be easy, but that never seems to be the case with my games. I let them stick around a little longer than I should have, and once again my experimentation at the end of the game (once in hand) almost cost me. With that said, there were really no worries with this one.

Week 3
#5 Georgia 20 – South Carolina 12
USC remains #1

It is obvious by now that I can run the ball and control the clock. The risk of running an option attack is playing from behind, having to come from behind. Luckily we outclassed our opponent, so we did not have to worry about coming from behind. I do worry about our ability to come back if and when we are trailing somewhere down the road.

The game was rather mundane, but a scary moment happened when my starting QB (#6) went down with an injury in the 2nd quarter (he later returned after the half). My backup came in cold off the bench – 3:18 to play in the half, 16 yard line, 4th and 10. My back (QB #2) easily took the ball in for a TD on the next play. Looks like I may have a capable backup.

I should have had 3 more points, but my kicker was slightly short on a FG attempt at the end of the half, clanking the ball off the crossbar. And it was a resounding clank. At this point I was up 24-7 so the game was as good as over so I decided to let the backups see some action, and to experiment with some of the lesser used plays in my playbook.

               1st   2nd   3rd   4th   |  Final
Northeastern   0     7     0     7     |  14
Navy           10    14    0     7     |  31

Once again I did well passing, but the passes are really there to help with the run; I mostly roll out looking to run and rarely throwing unless my target is very open. My offensive line is giving up way too many sacks; this will hurt me at some point down the road.

                   Northeastern   Navy
Score              14             31
1st Downs          11             21
Total Offense      241            356
Rush-Yards         15-(66)        47-231
Comp-ATT-TD        9-32-1         8-15
Passing Yards      175            125

Sophomore SS #25 was named Defensive Player of the Week (for Independents) – 2 Tackles, 2 INTS, 1 TD

My starting QB (#6) continues to do a bang up job of leading our option attack. He had a 123.3 QB rating, and while he was only 8-15 passing, there were 2 recorded dropped passes.

We really improved on 3rd downs, and we easily won the turnover battle. We have to get better in the redzone – I have to make sure I do well in the red zone because each drive is important when you run a ball control offense.

Other interesting Navy stats/figures/numbers
7-13 (53%) 3rd down efficiency
6-3-1 (66%) in the redzone (redzone-TD-FG)
TOP 8:08 – 15:52
Turnovers 4 – 1 in Navy’s favor
Next up: Navy travels to #74 Tulsa (1-1)
Combined Opponent Record: 2-5
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Duke (#94) 14 – Navy (#88) 24 (NCAA Chronicles 2005, Season 1, Week 2)

First let me get the preliminary stuff out of the way. I decided to go with Navy because in all my years of NCAA Football I have never played with them so Navy should be a fresh experience. Second, I like the idea of an independent school – I am not tied to a league as I would have been with my traditional NCAA Football favorites – North Texas, Texas, SMU, and Georgia. Navy starts the year (in NCAA 2005) ranked #88 – so there is a challenge. Finally, Navy runs an option offense, and I love me some option offense.

I am playing on All-American, 6 minute quarters, with heavily tuned sliders. I will discuss these in a later post. NCAA 2005 does have a tendency to drop too many passes, but I have found slider settings that compensate well enough to give me an enjoyable gamplay experience.

One thing I am doing different this year is not listing player names for default players. I will go with number for current roster players, and names for new players. I can go into reasons in a later post.

Week 1 was a bye week for Navy. I’ll post recaps every of other games each week to keep the flavor interesting.

Week 1
USC 62 – Virginia Tech 28
USC had 511 Total Yards in a total Hokie
Week 2
Georgia 42 – Georgia Southern 7
LSU 35 – Oregon State 32

Prior to getting started with my first game I had to take care of some NCAA rules violations. FS #33 (I cannot list these guys names since they are serving our country) was recommended for a 3 game suspension due to Fraud/Team Rules Infractions. At the time I did not realize that he was one of my key players (74 overall rating). I took the recommendation and told the kid to sit for three games.

       1st   2nd   3rd   4th   |  Final
Duke   0     7     0     7     |  14
Navy   10    7     7     0     |  24

Out of the game I dominated with a strong option attack, getting my primary backs (QB, HB, FB, WB) involved quickly. Duke struggled time and again with the option, and play-action passes were easily setup and completed as Duke cheated against the run. The option is a beautiful thing when implemented correctly – truly the option is the great equalizer in college football.

                   Duke           Navy
Score              14             24
1st Downs          10             15
Total Offense      160            263
Rush-Yards         12-(-5)        38-186
Comp-ATT-TD        11-36-2        8-17
Passing Yards      165            77

Obviously the passing completions to attempts for Duke were not too hot. I’ll have to give it a few more games to see if more adjustments can be (or should be) made. I have figured out how to pass, but the CPU just does not put up a good ratio.

I was actually doing very well with my passing attack (7-11) before I started experimenting towards the end of the game. I was up 24-7 and decided to get creative; I’ll have to be more cautious next time as my excitement got the better of me and resulted in an INT and two wasted series.

There was nothing really exciting to report in the game – I kept the ball on the ground and pounded the heck out of Duke’s defense. I completed just enough passes to keep Duke off balance, but I have to get better with third down conversions. My offensive line can run, but pass blocking was lackluster, as my guys up front gave up 3 sacks.

Other interesting Navy stats/figures/numbers
1-10 (10%) 3rd down efficiency
3-4 (75%) 4th down efficiency
4-3-1 (100%) in the redzone (redzone-TD-FG)
TOP 7:43 – 16:17
Turnovers 1 – 1
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Ivan Is Coming …

I have lived in Columbus, GA most of my life and last week was the first time that I can ever remember school being canceled due to a hurricane. Granted, most of the schools were without power, but Frances was not too nasty in my area – thunderstorms, rain, downed trees, and power outages. Typical storm type stuff. We lost power for a few hours and lost a 100 year old oak that was uprooted. Other than that – it looked like the kids got a “rain” day.

Enter Ivan. It is coming, and it is coming hard. Thankfully it looks like it will track west of my area. That did not sound right, but I think everyone knows what I mean – my area will miss the major stuff at the expense of other parts such as western Alabama.

Local area schools are going to be closed Thursday and Friday, but it looks like this one will be more than a couple of “rain” days. Tornados and flooding are expecting. The family will bunker down while I will bravely (or stupidly) make my way into the riverfront office. Winds are gusting to 16 mph right now, but expected to be sustained at 25-45 mph before it is over. Not sure how the weather folks predict this stuff, but it sounds nasty.

I have family in Mobile, AL – thankfully they headed east yesterday towards Tallahassee, FL. Got the hell out of dodge. Sounds like the right choice because Gulf Shores was hit with a 10 foot surge. Hard to imagine the beach being completely under water, but harder still to image the first floors of the beach front condos being under water, but that is what has been reported in the Gulf Shores area. Scary stuff.

Columbus has not seen the likes of Ivan since 1995 when Opal trashed the area. I was in Atlanta at the time, which als saw some extensive damage. I do not remember Opal too much – I guess I had a life back then.

Ivan is coming – wish of luck and say a prayer or two for those in the path of the nasty stuff!

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SEC Wrap Up – Week 3

Last week was fairly predictable. As expected Auburn blasted Mississippi State, Florida took care of Eastern Michigan, albeit by much less than expected. LSU blasted Arkansas State, Alabama easily took out Eli-less Mississippi, and Arkansas lost in a nasty battle to Texas.

Georgia took care of business at South Carolina despite spotting the cocks 16 points. I told anyone that would listen that the Gamecocks always play the Dawgs tough at home, and this year was no exception. Georgia won by 4 – I predicted a 6 point margin of victory – either way UGA won so I am happy.

The final totals put me at 6-0 on the week, and 15-1 on the season. Not sure what that is worth … nothing I guess since I am not going off of point spreads, but I am still impressed with myself. LOL

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SEC Roundup – Week 3

Saturday, September 11, 2004 – A new weekend of SEC football is upon us, and life will be good as long as the Dawgs eat some fried chicken. I have been scared to death all week about visiting a stadium full of fighting gamecocks – South Carolina always plays Georgia close, and this year will be no different. The key to the game will be Georgia’s ability to stop the run – if they can limit Holtz and company on the ground, then Georgia will win going away. I do not expect an easy game – Georgia by six in a low scoring affair.

If the Tigers prove to be paper thin against Croom and company, then there will be a major backlash against the River Boat Gambler on the Plains. No way, no how – Auburn should win by 21 (or more) in a major blowout. Welcome to football SEC-style Sylvester; it will be tough, but he will turn around those other Bulldogs.

Speaking of Tommy, Auburn faithful should just run Tuberville out of town and be down with it. It is hard to believe that he is only 39-24 after five full seasons on the Plains. Auburn gets enough talent year in and year out to be a Top 10 program. If they ever get a QB and figure out that their ground attack is capable of controlling any team in the country, then look out. Not going to happen anytime soon, but they will still whip Mississippi State today.

LSU in a laugher over Arkansas State. LSU should have dropped out of the Top 10 after their performance against Oregon State, but the polls being what they are, the Cajuns are still raging in the Top 5.

Florida by too many to count in the biggest rout of the weekend, as they demoralize Eastern Michigan. Anything less and Gator fans will be calling for Zook’s head.

The Tide will roll, roll, roll for consecutive weeks as Ole Miss continues to face the reality of life without Eli.

The meanest, nastiest game of the week will see Texas exacting a measure of revenge against Nutt’s hogs in Fayetteville. Last year the Razorbacks hogtied the Horns, but Texas will not be embarrassed two years in a row.

Last weekend I was 9-1, which was a heck of a start. Unfortunately my only miss was South Carolina. Hopefully I am not on the wrong end of a chicken fight two weeks in a row!

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24-14 (or Why I Love College Football)

Last night 17th ranked Missouri and Heisman Trophy candidate Brad Smith encountered more then they could handled from Troy State University – yes, it does appear that the Sun Belt does have what it takes to compete with the big boys.

The ESPN crew said it best, the scholarship limitations have started to equalize the “haves” and “have nots.” It doubtful that Sun Belt teams such as Troy State and North Texas will ever fully compete with the BCS elite from Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Florida State, Miami, Georgia, and so on, but when Troy State knocks off what is considered a decent Big 12 school? What does that say about the Big 12 as a whole? What does that say about the “have nots?”

This is the reason I love college football. The match-ups, while not always compelling to non-college football fans, are full of energy, hope, and great entertainment. Who would have thought that Troy State would knock off Marshall and Missouri in back-to-back weeks? Who would have thought that Troy State would overcome a 14 point deficit with 24 unanswered points?

This is why they play the games. Upsets are why the college football regular season holds so much significance – every week is a playoff or has playoff implications. This is why I love college football.

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