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

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

“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 …