Not sure if I’ll have much in the way of an internet connection for any live updates (as if anyone is actually interested in my adventures in seafood, beach stuffs, and beer). I’ll have my Vita; hopefully it will not rain and I’ll only play it occasionally. I will however tweet; just because I can.

When I make it back, just in time for Memorial Day weekend, I’ll spend a little more time cleanup up the site.

Happy Wednesday!

Over the weekend I upgraded from WordPress 2.9.x to 3.3.x without any major incidents. There was a temporary issue with the Word Press console not being able to perform an automatic update due a WP_MEMORY_LIMIT issue.

I was receiving a “Fatal error: Allowed memory size of n bytes exhausted (tried to allocate x bytes)” error message. So after a few searches and jumping into a UNIX shell to edit a .php file, I was happily on my way. No worries at all. Anytime I get to play around in a shell, dusting off some vi skills, I call that a win.

At any rate, I’m hopeful that moving to WordPress 3.3.x is going to give me a little more flexibility in content, and allow Joshua (my 13 year old son) to post a little more frequently.

Mean Green
As mentioned at the top, since Calvert Games (AKA The Recycle Bin), various shades of green has always been the site’s calling card. It’s mantra if you will; screaming green.

As part of the overall upgrade I decided to finally upgrade my theme, which is Arjuna-X, v1.2.1. The latest version is 1.7.x, and Lord knows it looks better and has a ton more flexibility. I just have to get my green back!

I’ll have to do some moving and fixing in a couple of weeks; heading to FL in a couple of days for a much needed vacation. Between work, soccer, and other day-to-day stuff, I doubt I have much time to get this thing cracking.

Did I just Tweet
Son of a gun, Calvert Games has gotten just a wee bit modern. I decided to do the Tweet thing because I have the app on my Vita. Not sure what I will Tweet, or why anyone would want to follow me, but there you go.

** Ass reference is strictly for my boys. If they read this they will giggle until they are almost ready to wet their pants.

If you are one of the 100 or so Vita owners that actually care about the game, make sure you sign up for the beta. There is a very short survey, and since your PSN info, qualification into the beta may be based on your actual gaming practices (trophies, purchases, etc).

I could usually give a crap about betas; most of the ones I receive via PS+ are nothing more than glorified demos. The LittleBigPlanet Vita one is different. Would really like to see how the game in the pre-release stages and offer some feedback.

Not sure if this Sony email with voucher offer is going out to all Vita owners, Vita owners that downloaded the Skype app, or some other combo. I downloaded the Skype app when it was first offered, but didn’t sign up for a Skype account until I received the credit, which will allow me to give Skype a go on my Vita for free. At least for a few minutes.

Seriously, where else are you going to get this much known quality for a 7th round selection? While Asante comes at a price tag far above a typical 7th round pick, adding him to the Falcons’ secondary should instantly have a positive impact on the defensive line. If nothing else, an extra second or two of shutdown coverage by Dunta Robinson, Brent Grimes, and Asante Samuel should result in a few more coverage sack gifts for Abraham, Edwards, and company.

Thankfully, Asante was willing to rework his contract to make things a little more cap friendly for the Falcons.

Falcons Get “Easy” Schedule
In my opinion, the NFC South is very strong top to bottom. Of course the Saints, even with all their offseason cheating coming to light, will remain tough. Panthers are on the rise. You have to think that the Buccaneers are not as bad as their record last year indicated, plus they have had a great off season via free agency and the draft.

With that said, the current strength of schedule rankings for the 2012 season show that Atlanta should have an easy path to the playoffs. The Falcons are at the back-half of the league in terms of strength of schedule, tied for the 24th easiest schedule. Their 2012 opponents had a 125-131 Win/Loss record, which is good for a .488 winning percentage. They will only pay 4 “quality” opponents (teams with 9 or more wins in 2011).

As a card carrying Falcons fan, I could give a crap about a speculated easy schedule; anything to put ATL over the top.

Falcons National Coverage
Speaking of the 2012 schedule, the Falcons will have four appearances on National television. Home Prime Time dates with Denver, Dallas, and the Saints, and a pre-Christmas Saturday night date in Detroit.

I’m excited about the schedule, although I wish the Falcons could land a couple of idea 4PM tailgate kickoffs. Tailgate highlights include:

Sept. 17 vs. Denver (8:30 p.m., ESPN): After playing 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and missing last season, Manning is trying to revive his career.

Nov. 4 vs. Dallas (8:20 p.m., NBC): Former Falcons linebacker Keith Brooking’s celebration got out of hand after the Cowboys defeated the Falcons 37-21 on Oct. 25, 2009.

Nov. 29 vs. New Orleans (8:20 p.m., NFL Network): The Saints should have their players back from any Bounty-gate suspensions.

Dec. 16 vs. New York Giants (1 p.m., Fox): The defending Super Bowl champions have the most difficult schedule in the league based on opponents’ 2011 records.

I have never seen Oakland or Arizona in person, so that should be fun. Same for the Giants. For the second year in a row, we close out the season at home against Tampa Bay; hopefully we are resting our starters.

The Falcons schedule is full of quirks, including never playing consultative home or away games. I hate playing New Orleans twice in Nov; I thought that a Christmas week matchup would become a scheduling staple. A week 7 bye week (Oct 21) seems a little early, but it could be worse. Plus it gives me time for an Oct beach trip!

Go Falcons!

So how did the Falcons do? I haven’t looked for different draft “grades” – I’m sure I will later today, especially as all the big boy media outlets start letting fans know their teams did in the 2012 draft.

My overall thoughts are the Falcons addressed their glaring needs on both sides of the ball, and in the process managed to land the top rated center and the only true fullback invited to the combine. The Falcons four selections in rounds 5-7 include three team captains; the Falcons continue to build around “character” which is OK in my book. Overall, while unspectacular, the Falcons had a pretty good draft.

Bradie Ewing – FB Wisconsin
Ewing, a team captain at Wisconsin, was taken in the 5th round, and was the only true fullback invited to the Combine.

Atlanta’s selection of Wisconsin fullback Bradie Ewing in the fifth round might not seem like a big deal on the surface. For now, Ewing is probably nothing more than a special-teams player. But the Falcons also were looking a year or two down the road when they made this pick. Veteran fullback Ovie Mughelli is coming off a major injury, and he’ll turn 32 in June. It was time to find someone to groom as Mughelli’s eventual successor.

Going into the offseason, you had to consider that Ovie Mughelli would be a cap causality. I’m surprised he has last this long into 2012 without some sort of contract restructure.

Jonathan Massaquoi – DE Wisconsin
I admit I know next to nothing about Massaquoi other than having some recognition of his last name.

Massaquoi is from Lawrenceville and played at Central Gwinnett High School. He is a cousin of former Georgia wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi and NFL tight end Visanthe Shiancoe, formerly of the Minnesota Vikings.

“Troy is a building program,” Massaquoi said. “We had five straight conference championships. We went for our sixth one this year, but fell short. With Troy producing defensive ends like Osi Umenyiora and DeMarcus Ware, hopefully I can be put into that conversation and follow their tradition.”

I like Massaquoi’s confidence, and the Troy connection, if he is anything like Osi or DeMarcus would make Massaquoi a six round steal.

Charles Mitchell – S Mississippi St.
Another team captain, Mitchell probably projects as a special-teams player; I doubt he will be anything else in the immediate future.

Travian Robertson – DT South Carolina
The Falcons selected Travian Robertson, yet another team captain, with their last pick (7th round; 249 overall). Based on his size and bio, I think Robertson has a realistic shot to get a few reps at DT and contribute on special-teams.

What does it all mean?
The Falcons intend to never fail to convert on another 4th and short situation. In other words, the Falcons bulked up on both sides of the line, while building for the future.

The Falcons pulled in Wisconsin center Peter Konz with their 2nd round pick (55 overall). Not knowing jack about Big 10 football, except that their mommas beef up their boys, I’m not sure what to expect from Konz. Knowing that longtime center Todd McClure has 1-2 years left in the tank, this seems like an insurance move for the future. Can Konz help now?

“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is Konz can play both guard and center,” Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “We have him listed as a guard-center.”

Konz, 6-foot-5 and 314 pounds, was projected to go late in the first round by most draft analysts. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper had him rated as the top center in the draft.

“He has no peers in this draft,” Kiper said.

So Konz is a value pick; top center in the draft. Is he injury prone?

Not to say that the 23rd pick of Round 2 isn’t be a big man. He’s Peter Konz, who played center at Wisconsin but who was labeled a guard by the Falcons. He’s 6-foot-5. He weighs 314 pounds. He missed games in all three of his college seasons: Once with blood clots in each lung, twice with sprained ankles. For those holding memories of Peria Jerry, the Falcons’ No. 1 pick of 2009 who’d been injured at Ole Miss and whose NFL career hasn’t taken flight, you have your quibble.

On the plus side: Konz is a value pick who could help fill a crying need. He was ranked the draft’s best center. (Sorry, Ben Jones.) ESPN ranked Konz the 41st-best player available; NFL Draft Scout 300 slotted him 37th. Both Pete Prisco and Clark Judge of CBS Sports had him going in Round 1. When you’re sitting at 55, that’s not a bad find. And it’s better still when you recall the three failed fourth-and-1’s that defined the Falcons’ 2011 season.

If Konz adds depth this year, and can fill in at center and guard, while taking over for McClure next year, this will turn out to be a great pick.

Lamar Holmes (T – Southern Mississippi)
After trading back a few spots, the Falcons landed tackle Lamar Holmes in the third round with the 91 overall pick. For their troubles, Baltimore sent ATL a 5th round pick (No. 164, 29th of the round).

Holmes looks more like a project, but if he brings some nasty aggressiveness that was sorely lacking last year, maybe he will turn out to be the surprise pick of the draft. One can always dream, right?

Go Falcons!

When it comes to Bounty-Gate, I have no sympathy with Saints and fully agree with the punishment handed down by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Obviously the Saints fan disagrees, but really, who are they kidding? It is one thing to keep “plays for money” on the “down-low;” the Saints went over and beyond.

The punishments for the New Orleans Saints’ bounty program are severe and unprecedented. Goodell has suspended coach Sean Payton for a year, general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight games of the 2012 season, assistant head coach Joe Vitt for the first six games and banned former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely. He has also hit the Saints with a $500,000 fine and taken away their second-round draft picks for 2012 and 2013. The league also has said 22 to 27 players were involved and discipline for them will come soon.

No question this is severe, but has Goodell really intentionally destroyed the franchise, like so many New Orleans fans seem to think? No, he hasn’t and anyone that thinks that simply is shooting the messenger — the guy who had the nerve to tell them that their beloved head coach and team weren’t quite as perfect as they had been made out to be.

Falcons Compensatory Splash
In Falcons news, due to salary cap reasons, or just “our coordinators sucked last year” reasons, the Falcons have not made a splash of any sort in free agency this year. I don’t rate the signing of previously injured LB Lofa Tatupu and OG Vince Manuwai unless they both prove healthy and win starting positions. Bottom line – the Falcons like their current roster and think new coordinators will put them over the hump.

Falcons get an extra 7th Round pick; if they are lucky this pick will turn into a practice squad player, or better yet a sometimes active roster special team player that may manage a 3-4 year career. In other words, the extra compensatory pick is just above not being totally worthless.

Go Falcons!

I was curious what others thought about the Vita version, so I headed over to Metacritic this morning. At the time of this article, only two reviews offered on Metacritic, which to me is somewhat of a surprise.

What was even more surprising, and honestly I’m not even sure why I am still surprised by this sort of thing, the reviews don’t even bother to tackle the gameplay aspects of a Vita version of MLB 12. Take this example from Cheat Code Central (CCC):

Most tellingly, many of the game’s presentation elements have been removed. While hitting a homerun provides the proper score increases, one does not actually see the players walk the bases. Transitions between pitches are quick, accomplished with fades, as is the case with each fielding play. Once there is, ostensibly, nothing more to be done by the defense, the game fades immediately back to the pitch/at-bat display. I hesitate to call this “lazy,” but it definitely takes away from the overall experience of the game, from the illusion that one is managing a baseball franchise, guiding a player from the double-A league up to the Majors, or running an exhibition match between the Yankees and the Red Sox to see who’s really on top in the Northeast. In the end, though, these elements of the games visuals and presentation, while disappointing, are hardly game-breaking or offensive.

To me, this is actually OK; I want a portable game of baseball to play faster. For that matter, I have been calling for faster playing baseball games, yet ones that still maintain simulation aspects, for years and years. Strangely enough, IGN actually agrees with me on this point; hell just got a little less warm.

Not that anyone really cares, but I do agree with the CCC reviewer about MLB 12 being somewhat intimidating for MLB The Show newbies. For some inexplicable reason, I actually set the game on the hardest mode, and it took me a while to figure out WTF I was doing, adjusted the game according, but I was already down 8-0 in the 1st inning. Ouch!

I really hate the Vita trend of not having a physical manual. MLB 12: The Show is certainly one game that warrants one just to provide some sort of cheat sheet on all the control options and what the various sliders actually do.

At any rate, I read the CCC review twice – not once does the subject of gameplay come up. Not that the IGN review offered a better approach. [sigh] I’m getting far too old for this sort of thing.

If that was not strange enough, imagine my surprise to see new invoices for full MSRP when Amazon finally shipped the game. I promptly contacted customer service only to be told I would receive a $20 voucher good towards future purchases. I told customer support that was not good enough – the deal not only stated that the discount would be applied at checkout (it was), but Amazon actually sent me receipts with the discount, only to later charger full MSRP.

I asked for a $20 credit; no, demanded a $20 credit to my on file AMEX card. For some strange reason Amazon responded with a $20 credit on both orders, which is crazy because that certainly was not what I requested. I consider the “bonus” credit part of my “pain and suffering” – I shouldn’t have needed to contact Amazon customer service in the first place, much less contact them multiple times to straighten the purchase “MLB 12: The Show for the PS3 and Vita and receive $20 off” mess.

Sadly enough, even with the release day shipping, I have not been able to play the games yet. I was sick as a dog, as was the entire family, for most of the week with a dreadful stomach virus of sorts. Nasty stuff!

I should get to crack open both games later today and spend some time with them over the weekend. My nine year-old son, who does not like baseball, is excited to try MLB 12 with the Move. Of course I’m excited just to try to pick up and take on the go with me concept.

More to come later; God willing if the creek doesn’t rise. Of course it is raining, so there is that.

Happy Friday!