The Recycle Bin

Sort of. I was not expecting DC BVG to be the first ATL coordinator out the door. That was kind of surprising. I always thought that VanGorder a good job of working with what was available. Mind you, I’m not saying BVG is irreplaceable; I think the Falcons should be able to make an improvement. Really depends on how respected Head Coach Mike Smith is among the coaching ranks … about to find out shortly. My guess is that the Falcons will come out better. Everyone likes a shot at stability and that has been the mantra of the Falcons under Smith.

In other news, there is a least one site making the case for Falcons OC Mike Mularkey. LMFAO.

It will suck for me if I take the 90 minute trip to ATL only to find out that the Lions wrapped up the 5th spot, and the Falcons decide to treat this New Year’s Day game like a 3rd preseason game.

Of course we will enjoy the beautiful weather (60’s with plenty of sunshine), tailgate, delicious adult beverages, and all the general fun that goes into an afternoon of family tailgating.

Landing the 5th or 6th spot is probably equivalent to having to decide  [... pick your poison ... I was going to make some reference to sisters and fat girls, but decided it wasn't very funny ...] It’s not going to matter if this ATL team has to travel to San Fran or New Orleans. And I doubt that they will make the NFC Championship game, so heading back to Detroit is probably not in the cards either.

Unless Green Bay plays their starters and gives the Falcons a shot at the 5th seed (we will know before our 4PM kickoff), I think ATL is going to rest everyone after the 1st QTR, which means Ryan better get to work quickly …

Erasing Jeff George: Like the Saints, the Falcons also are saying they’ll play their starters. Let’s hope that’s true and let’s hope Matt Ryan at least plays long enough to throw for 73 yards. If he does, he’ll set the franchise record for passing yards in a season. The record is 4,143 yards and it was set by Jeff George in 1995. No team should have George at the top of its record book for 16 years.

Jeff George. What an awful memory.

Go Falcons!

That was a nice 21-10 win for Texas Wednesday night over Cal in the Holiday Bowl. By nice I mean, at least Texas won. Unlike the pathetic showing by the Falcons on Monday Night Football …

Yes the Saints are good, but 45-16 is disgraceful. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I suspect that the Falcons’ win percentage is sub 0 when Ryan has to chunk the ball 50+ teims.

Bitch and Moan Session: How can ATL’s D not even bother to show up on third down? Special teams (kickoff and punt return coverage) also completely sucked. Roddy cannot hold onto the freaking rock. Untimely penalties (as if there is every a good time to rack up 7). Last, but certainly not least, the offense still cannot convert a solitary yard on 4th f’ing down.

I digress, back to Texas …

And as Mack Brown said, “There is a huge difference between 8-5 and 7-6.”

Agree. 8 is higher than 7. Hopefully Texas will recruit a Championship caliber QB. I saw screw it; throw ‘em in as a true freshman because I doubt that David Ash (or even Case McCoy) will make some major off season improvements.

“We’re not throwing Gatorade,” he said. “We’re not jumping up and down and screaming.

“But hopefully this is a step forward.”

To illustrate his point, Brown pointed to 2003 and ‘07. Texas played in the Holiday Bowl both years. In 2004, Texas was in the Rose Bowl. In 2005, it was in the national title game. The progression was the same in 2008 and ‘09. [Source: Same as previous]

The difference was that those teams had a decent QB situation, unlike this current squad. I still say Hook ‘em, but Good Lord, without a decent QB, Coach Brown is going to have a long 2012 campaign.

UGA Skips Out On Bamma …
And LSU, and Arkansas, and anything else worth a lick in the SEC West. If you are a Dwags fan, you have to like the way the 2012 schedule falls.

Back to the here and now. I skipped out on Bowl predictions this year, but I expect UGA to win, covering the 3.5. Love this article from the AJC:

Georgia has had a good week. There has been no news of academic suspensions — fill in name of oft-speculated freshman running back — and I think the Dogs already have clinched the 2012 SEC East title, given Alabama has been dropped from the Hostess-wrapped schedule.

Here’s a nice consolation prize for having their limbs ripped off by LSU: sunshine (Outback Bowl) and Michigan State (good defense but No. 60 offense). And to think, 12 months ago, Georgia was losing to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.

A season completed in the alternate universe: Dogs cover 3½.

Funny. Any week where players are not suspended is a good week in my book. It’s bad when it comes to keeping score of which players didn’t toke on lefty wacky weed, which ones didn’t get an unnecessary traffic violation, which ones didn’t get a night in the county jail for underage drinking and bar fighting, and so on and so forth.

Go Dawgs!

Wishing you and yours a very Blessed Christmas.

A tale of two links, and how cultures are so drastically different between the US and UK (at least when it comes to the press). Let’s face it; Americans are prudes when it comes to nudity.

Case in point:

• Link 1 – FOX News
• Line 2 – The Sun

I don’t think I will ever understand why it is OK to show graphical depictions of violent acts (i.e. dead soldiers, bodies from natural disasters, etc.), but we go all numb nuts over a pair of tits.

Lucky for me outlets such as The Sun post delicious Pirelli eye candy goodness without any squeamishness. God made beautiful women to be admired, not censored.

Do I want my boys ogling Kate? Of course not. It’s called responsible parenting. And it has nothing to do with being a prude. If they are clicking on these links, dad will find out … just saying.

Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey is not exactly creative, and let’s be realistic – 100% unimaginative. I have been critical of him and his play calling all year, so it was rather amusing to see that he could be made the scapegoat if ATL crashes and burns its way out of the playoffs.

3. Mike Mularkey, Falcons offensive coordinator. Atlanta came out very aggressively, throwing a couple of quick deep passes against Houston. That didn’t work. Didn’t the Falcons learn anything early in the year when they were trying to force things downfield? Their offensive line isn’t really good enough to block for the deep ball, unless Michael Turner and the running game have softened up a defense first. If the Falcons somehow don’t make the playoffs or have an early exit, there’s probably going to be a scapegoat because expectations were so high at the start of the season. Mularkey’s looking like the leader in the scapegoat clubhouse.

Of course if ATL didn’t drop so many passes things could be a little different. Having another win or two at this point in the season would have held off the scapegoat comments.

The Falcons have to change directions this offseason. I’m convinced that Mularkey’s system and play calling is holding back Ryan. While Ryan has success in the hurry up offense, he is constrained by what is in the playbook. i.e. WTF is the screen?

Next season the Falcons need to go all in with a Buffalo Bills Jim Kelly style hurry up offense. Of course the Falcons have to get past the next few weeks – at Carolina, Thursday night Dome date with Jacksonville, MNF at New Orleans, and a New Year’s Day Dome game hosting Tampa Bay.

The Falcons should win three out of four, which will be enough to get them in the playoffs, however if they play like they did last week against Houston, they are toast.

In the grand tradition of not eating turkey on Thanksgiving Day, I’m throwing some ribs and burgers on the grill, while the lovely and talented Ms. Calvert throws together all the wonderful Thanksgiving Day sides (dressing, sweat potato casserole, and a various assortment of other delicious homemade treats. Let’s not forget the corn – I’ll grill it of course – because everything tastes extra yummy over an open flame.

This is the 2nd time in 3 years (or is it 3 out of 4 – time passes quickly) we have gone nontraditional, which is kind of fun, and obviously a running joke. Two of my three boys will not eat turkey, two of the three will eat ham (although I think that is more of a Christmas or Easter treat); so what’s the point in doing the Turkey thing?

Pocahontas would happily do cartwheels in the nude for a seat at the Calvert’s Thanksgiving Day table, where a bountiful harvest of delicious treats will be on offer.

To you and yours, a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day.

My Kindle Fire will be showing up sometime later today; I’m eager to see how this tablet will hold up. With limited functionality compared to the iPads and other full featured tablets, the Kindle Fire is really looking for its place in the market as an affordable (sub $200) digital hub (via Amazon’s cloud service) for all things digital purchased from Amazon.

Which brings up an interesting point. Last Sunday, Firefly Season 1 (Blu-ray) was the deal of the day. I was very tempted to purchase the collection for under $19, however I resisted temptation. Why? As part of my Prime subscription service, I can stream the entire series, in HD. So why make the physical purchase if I can stream for free? Of course there is something tangible about ‘owning’ and ‘collecting’ movies and games (at least for me); Prime and the Kindle Fire could change that perspective. As I said, it already did because I know I can start watching Firefly tonight. Actually I already could, but now I can on my semi tablet.

Everyone is wondering how much the Kindle Fire will cut into Apple’s market. I know from my vantage point, as a huge Amazon consumer, and a day one Prime subscriber, the Kindle Fire makes a ton of sense.

Whether fragmentation affects the Android platform to the point where it drives consumers to look elsewhere, the Kindle Fire by itself could present significant competition to the iPad this holiday season. Morgan analyst Douglas Anmuth has estimated that, based on channel checks with supply-chain vendors, Amazon could sell as many as 5 million Kindle Fire units in the fourth quarter of 2011.

But other analysts feel that the Kindle Fire will have a fainter impact. “In our view, Kindle Fire’s low price point speaks to how there is much lacking in the device,” J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz wrote in a Sept. 30 research note, pushing back against his colleague’s rosy assertion. “At $199, we argue that the price point is not going to afford most users a tablet experience, which is a problem if Amazon wants to become a major tablet vendor.”

Without a camera or support for a 3G connection, and loaded with only 8GB of onboard storage, the Kindle Fire certainly lacks some hardware features in comparison with the iPad. However, its combination of lightning-fast browser and easy access to Amazon’s online storefront could nonetheless make it attractive to consumers looking for a media-consumption device.

So it is going to be interesting to see how (or even if it does) the Kindle Fire reshapes the tablet market.

I cannot wait to see what sort of statistics Amazon reveals have been collected via its Silk browser. Of course that is a pipe dream; they probably will not divulge the good stuff.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend – baseball, college football, cold blue cans of wonderment, and BBQ. In tribute to the last gasp of summer, I give you eye candy for your summer closeout viewing pleasure.

Glod bless America!

Me? I started the weekend festivities a little early. I was in the ATL last night for the Falcons vs. Ravens game, which absolutely sucked. I’m going to demand a refund; not that it will happen or anything. The entertainment put on by the Falcons last night was disgraceful.

I bet Mel B is going to be sorely disappointed when she realizes that I am going to put back on those five pounds she helped me drop. Heck, after last night’s tailgate, I probably already ate my way to half of that fat. Easy come, easy go …

Speaking of tailgating, I’ll probably grill out every day over the long weekend, drink a truckload of beer, and catch whatever football action happens to come my way. There is that little game Saturday night at the Dome featuring my beloved Bulldogs taking on the blue turf boys from Boise St.

Hope you and yours have a great holiday!

Almost. calvertgames.com domain was registered September 24, 2001, with a simple Vision:

“With that said, Calvert Games promises to be an interesting ride, and an engaging endeavor. I cannot promise to provide the timeliest reviews, hard-hitting industry news, sneak-peek previews, and gobs of media. I can promise that Calvert Games will provide a no nonsense stance on the industry as a whole, commentary on the happenings at other gaming sites, and informative, opinionated reviews, features, and content.”

I have to post this every once in a while to remind myself of what I was doing two kids ago. Times have changed.

Everyone once in a while I think about taking another crack at getting the site rolling again, taking on the world, going after hit counts, and building up another gaming community; reality always hits me hard. Between work and family life, gaming time is limited, so this blogging format really is the way to go. At least for now.

Before reality hit (in other words, this was never going to happen), back in late May or early June I was going to post that over the summer, leading up to the Recycle Bin’s Ten Year Anniversary bash, I planned to re-publish a serious of retrospective articles and reviews. These reviews were lost in the annuals of the old site format(s). Anyone remember the original Mickey Mouse look and feel, or Nuke and the subsequent hack attacks that caused me to shut down the site?

Maybe I will get my retrospective hat on during the course of the year leading up to year number eleven. Doubt it; probably not going to happen … but never say never.

Glory days …

How’s this for negative reporting? I’m only quoting the negative stuff. In this case, I think it is fitting to jump right into the details …

Patrick will indeed contest the full NASCAR Nationwide Series with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports team next season, as well as a limited run of Sprint Cup Series races with Tony Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing team. She will also end her long association with Andretti Autosport in IndyCars. However, the specifics of her Cup schedule remain to be ironed out, as does the possibility of her continuing to race at the Indianapolis 500.

I have always found it interesting that Danica is such a polarizing figure. I think this is a blow to IndyCar. Say what you want about drivers with more talent not getting the exposure due to the Danica marketing machine (and dare I say hype), but in this day and age, the financial side of motor racing is critical.

Sponsors (Danica’s or any other for that matter) know that if Danica runs OK, they are going to get exposure because the fans love Danica. Where does IndyCar turn now when a would be almost convinced sponsor decides not to throw in a few hundred thousand dollars because there is not an extra exposure boots without Danica?

Dustin Long of ‘INSIDE NASCAR’ (SI.com) has three comments I would like to tackle.

[Brad Keselowski (Twitter handle @keselowski)] Then he wrote on Twitter: “All that said, her assent up the ladder of the sport thru various branding ‘techniques’ (swimsuit ads etc) only serves to undermine the … future credibility of female races who wish to make it based on skill, mental toughness and a never give up attitude. That to me is wrong. Essentially, she has opened a pandoras (sic) box for all female racers. If she doesn’t succeed, no female will get the chance for years to come.”

100% true, and I am glad Keselowski brings up this point. It is kind of hard for Danica to have it both ways. In a male dominated market, sex of course sells. Just look no further than the SI Swimsuit issue. Anyone that doubts Danica’s ability points right away to some of her adverts.

I have mixed emotions on this one. On the one hand, Danica should capitalize on her brand, and if trying to be sexy works for her, then go for it. On the other hand, I think her approach prevents whatever natural ability she has to speak for itself.

Kyle Petty — He’s been among the most vocal critics of Patrick’s move. If she fails, Petty’s stock could rise in the broadcasting arena, further enhancing his image as one who is not afraid to hold back on what he thinks. If Patrick succeeds, there will be those who will want to tell Petty, “I told you so.” Then again, Petty is telling it as he sees it and isn’t that what an analyst is supposed to do?

Female drivers — Patrick is scheduled to make her Cup debut next year, a decade after the last female, Shawna Robinson, competed in the Cup series. Patrick will be only the second female to compete in Cup in more than 20 years. If she succeeds, she could create opportunities for other female drivers working their way through the ranks. If she fails, the path to Cup could become much more difficult for other female drivers unless they truly stand out on the track.

Kyle Petty obviously has years and years of experience as a back-marker, so you have to take his ability to call out similar talent into consideration.  You also have to question his ability to judge said talent.

Other female drivers will have a tough sell if Danica fails; see swimsuit and sex symbol type ads. And I would be remiss if I did not point out that Danica is not all that hot, but I guess some guys are desperate for T&A.

Imagine my surprise this weekend when I stumbled across the NFL Network’s replay of the Falcons 23 – 28 defeat at the hands of the Dolphins third, fourth, and umpteenth reserves.

NFL Network in my living room? I say Christmas just came early.

Charter and NFL Network have announced a new, long-term agreement for carriage of NFL Network. Charter, among one of the largest communications and entertainment providers in the country, will also offer the innovative NFL RedZone service to its customers. NFL Network and NFL RedZone will be available through Charter in time for the start of the 2011 NFL regular season.

NFL Network will be available to Charter customers on the Digital View Plus tier and in high-definition to customers with high-definition service and an HD television set. NFL RedZone will be available on Charter’s Sports View tiers. NFL RedZone is a Sunday only service, beginning with the Sept 11 start of the regular season, providing live game action from around the league as a team enters inside the 20-yard line and prepares to score.

It’s about time that Charter and the NFL finally settled their differences and moved on with getting fans more of what they want – NFL football!

It is also interesting that this deal transpires just as Charter put some vague notice in my July bill that after a period of being provided subsidized Sports View package at $5 per month, the package is now going to $10 per month. Funny how it was subsidized for 5-6 years until the NFL Network came to Charter.

I don’t mind paying the extra $60 per year for the NFL Network, especially since they are offering it, along with NFL RedZone in HD.

As they say in the Old Country, I shall not be posting for a few days, hopefully lifting up a few pints of new previously undiscovered deliciousness during my travels.

I don’t think there is anything worse than international travel. Arrive at the ATL airport super early because the kiosk either will not read my passport, or I have been flagged as a naughty and dangerous super spy. Probably both; I’m a bad man. Stand in line with a bunch of equally grumpy travelers, and all that before we get violated by the security lines.

Traveling on a plane, outside of business / first class is really awful; and I think the airlines do their level best to make it as uninviting and intimidating as possible. The seats suck, are uncomfortable, and you just know luck always dictates getting a fat or smelly person (sometimes both) that wants to invade your personal space. I’m sorry, but if you cannot fit within your own seat, you should be required to purchase two tickets. Not to mention that the seats are too damn small in the first place, but I digress. If you stink, security should kick you out before you are allowed in the terminal. Just saying.

In short, if you cannot tell, I’m really not looking forward to this trip to (not so lovely) Nottingham; probably 18 hours from the time I leave my house to the hotel. For my troubles, hopefully I’ll get to partake in at least one drink at Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem.

I guess it was bound to happen; our 3.5+ year old laptop met a cruel fate, as the HDD suffered a catastrophic failure. What a mess; one of these days I will learn to do a better job of backups. I do at work, but not so much at home, as my most recent full backup (images, music, docs, tax returns, etc.) was from Feb. Oops!

So I spent the better part of the weekend running diagnostics, trying to get to Vista Safe Mode, etc. No luck. I did manage to uncover that “system volume on disk corrupt” – not pretty. Apparently Windows Resource Protection “found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.” – not so good.

I could never get into Safe Mode because the system would hang on CRCDISK.SYS; presumably attempting to fix the corrupt files.

It was real easy to see where this was headed. I have another six months of warranty, so when I contact Dell, they are going to tell me to format (restore to system to factory default settings).

So I decided that (A) it was time for a new laptop; really need one anyway (B) I would attempt to recover my data manually. Skipping to (B), I went to Best Buy and purchased a RocketFish USB 3.0 2.5” SATA Hard Drive enclosure, which I used to get access to all my data. For (A), at Best Buy I also picked up a Toshiba Satellite P745-S421 – Intel Core i5-2410M 2.30GHz, 6GB RAM, with Windows 7 (64 bit), which is a nice upgrade over my old Insprion-1525.

The RocketFish worked like a charm; I found all my data intact, copied it to the appropriate location on the new Toshiba, and am pleased that I lost little to no data. While I did manage to pull in most of my contacts, I “lost” my Outlook email, although I figured out a way to browse the messages; I just do not have them loaded into the P745’s Windows Live Mail client.

Today I finally got online with Dell tech support (instead of playing NCAA Football 12); of course we had to go with the Restore System option!

So now the Inspiron 1525 is back in action, sans all the original clutter of loads of software, music, and miscellaneous data. I am now going through 100+ Windows updates and other fun stuff (only without the fun) before relegating the old 1525 to the kids’ school table.

I still have to get OOTP11 and a few other odds and ends up re-installed, but other than that … I am ready to move on to something more fun; say NCAA Football 12!

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend – baseball, cold blue cans of wonderment, and of course eye candy.

Glod bless America!

I have had a great long weekend – plenty of gaming action, two cookouts, and family movie night with the third Pirates Blu-ray. Today we are doing an extended family lunch at our favorite local Mexican joint; seems a little anti-American to eat Mexican on the 4th, but I digress.

Hope you and yours have a great holiday!