So I was distracted with real world stuffs; it happens. I have not wanted any football today (maybe 5 minutes of that ‘game of the century’ thing), but I have not seen any scores, so I guess technically I could make some selections. Would appear to be cheating, so I am just going to call it a day, continue cooking some good food on the trusty ‘ol grill, and drink some more beer.
Go Dawgs! (Beat Tech next week!)
I never would have predicted a total spanking by the Dawgs, but they completely thrashed the Tigers from Auburn. This is not the first time this sort of upset has taken place in this series, but I really did not expect Georgia to take it to Auburn in such a convincing fashion. The Bulldogs won every facet of the game. Happy. Inebriated. All the same thing. Go Dawgs!
Last week was bad on a lot of fronts. First, there was the crap performance by my beloved Dawgs. Second, I was a horrible 3-4, which was my first losing week on the season. Totals sit at 61-15 going into Week 11.
Vanderbilt – Kentucky
This is actually an interesting game of SEC has-beens. Vanderbilt is really playing batter each week, but their record (4-6, 1-5 SEC) does not reflect their hard work. Of course their crown jewel win over Georgia does not look so hot. Same for Kentucky, but they appear to have turned the preverbal corner (5-4, 3-3 SEC), needing this win today to qualify for a bowl appearance. I think the Commodores are the better team, but I am going to pull for the Wildcats in this one.
South Carolina – (6) Florida
This one means more to Spurrier than Florida, but I doubt that the Gamecocks have enough for the Gators. A close one, hard fought and all that, but this one goes to Florida.
Alabama – (12) LSU
The Tide earned the SEC Shame of the Week Award last week with their horrible loss to Mississippi State. Yes, it really was worse than Georgia going down to the Wildcats. LSU had a great win over Tennessee, and I do not expect even a hit of a let down. The Tigers will completely spank the elephants, which is going to make Shula even more miserable.
(13) Tennessee – (11) Arkansas
Is Arkansas the real deal? Tonight we will find out, and while I never pull for Arkansas, I think I will pick them for the victory tonight.
Georgia – (3) Auburn
Any chance for an upset? It has happened before, but I do not expect it to happen today. I just hope Georgia can have a somewhat expectable showing. Sigh … lets just get the season over with already, lick our wounds, and get ready for next year. What the hell; always the homer, Georgia pulls off a shocker by somehow getting a running game established, and only turning over the ball once, resulting in a 23-22 win.
Go Dawgs!
Well, nothing with the Dawgs this year stuns me any more. I cannot remember the last time we lost to Kentucky, but after today’s 20-24 defeat, I now have a season to remember with losses to Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida. It is unfortunate, but Georgia is not going to win another game. Big losses to Auburn and Tech loom.
As we roll into week 10, I am 58-11 on the year (7-0 last week). This week is very much like the last two, easy pickings. LSU/Tennessee is the marquee match-up, but there is not really a whole lot else to offer this weekend besides Arkansas/South Carolina. Oh well, on to the picks …
(7) Florida – Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt keeps improving, but the Gators are not the Bulldogs, so this one goes to Florida.
Mississippi State – Alabama
Alabama is really not so hot this year, but Mississippi State is pitiful, so Roll Tide.
Northwestern State – Mississippi
Another bad team from magnolia country, but they can take on a 1-AA team, right? If not, you know we will have to give them the Shame of the Week Award.
Arkansas State – (6) Auburn
Auburn’s final practice before taking on Georgia.
(12) Arkansas – South Carolina
This could be an interesting game. I do not like the Razorbacks and I do not care for the Gamecocks, so I do not even know who to pull for in this one. Conventional wisdom says to pick Arkansas, but I am going to go with South Carolina in an upset. Some type of Spurrier magic or some such.
(13) LSU – (8) Tennessee
This is the game of the week. Tennessee keeps improving, so it is hard not to pick them in this one.
Georgia – Kentucky
If you go with Kentucky you are really saying that their poor defense is better than Georgia’s poor offense. This should be a game for Georgia to get healthy before getting stomped by the Tigers from Auburn. I want to believe that Georgia will win 31-13, but I have a feeling that the game is going to be much closer; a high scoring game … along the lines of 34-29 in Georgia’s favor.
Go Dawgs!
Last week was fairly crazy with the typical array of work, cleaning out the future nursery, and the kids’ soccer games (in other words, the family life mix). Needless to say, gaming time has been pitiful of late, but on a positive note, I actually I was able to take in some quality TV time (is there really such a thing) with the World Series, and plenty of football (college and the NFL).
World Series
Congratulations to the Cardinals. Great coaching? Maybe. Poor showing by the Tigers? Sure. Did the best team win? Hard to say, but I have to believe that this series shows that you just have to be hot at the right time. I am not really sure where this one ranks in the history of World Series upsets, but I doubt many people outside of St. Louis game the Cardinals much of a chance to pull off an upset. Little did anyone know that St. Louis’ pitching staff would post a sparkling 2.05 ERA, which certainly helped Tony La Russa’s bunch pull off a great showing.
Vick lights up Cincinnati
The Falcons and Vick have been on fire, and as much as I would love to jump on the bandwagon, I have a hard time believing that they can keep up the pace. I am a true homer, but are we actually witnessing Vick transforming into a QB (beyond the typical hype)? Mark Bradley of the AJC thinks that is the case.
Carson Palmer, the first player drafted in 2003, is considered a quarterback in the classic mode – tall, polished, a thrower first and last. On Sunday, the first player drafted in 2001 threw the ball better than Palmer, who admittedly threw it well. Vick passed for more yards and more touchdowns, completed a higher percentage of his throws and had a much higher passer rating (140.6 to Palmer’s 106.9). There were many reasons why the Falcons won this rather large road game but, these being the Falcons, all reasons must start with No. 7.
Nine days ago, Vick had never thrown more than two touchdown passes in an NFL game. He has since done it twice – four against the Steelers, three more against the Bengals. The Falcons try to pretend they didn’t redo their offense after being pounded by the Giants, but occasionally the truth trickles out. “I’m glad we’re changing,” Vick said. “Well, not really changing. But doing some things differently.”
Whatever the characterization, the effect has been stunning. Greg Knapp has stopped calling dinky West Coast plays and is catering to Vick’s conspicuous strengths. These past two weeks the quarterback has gotten outside the pocket and flung the ball vertically. (Forget that horizontal garbage.)
As a Falcons’ fan I have to hope that Vick is finally turning into a quality QB. Now if we can only turn the defense back on.
Dawgs take one on the chin
I guess it was not as bad as I expected. In fact, the Bulldogs almost managed to shock a ton of people, but you just cannot escape so many turnovers. I am sure there were some bright spots, but they were hard to find from my vantage point. Besides, when you lose to the same team 15 out of 17 years, it is hard to find a bright spot. Things could get ugly with Auburn and Tech on the horizon (and I am assuming that the Dawgs are better than Kentucky).
WoW
I spent a little time with WoW. My mage is now sitting on level 14, and I am actually getting comfortable playing here and there with random folks. In fact, I have actually been able to help a couple of other newbies, which is surprisingly gratifying. I am enjoying the game, but my next big decision will be to spend $29-60 on a headset and continue to pay the $14.95 monthly fee.
The football spreadsheet that many seem to enjoy is back with a 2007 version. I’m sure it is probably a fine game, but like many people are turned off by the Out of the Park Baseball interface, I don’t like playing games that feel and look like a Microsoft Office product. A demo is available, but I won’t bother with it based solely on the screenshots. Your mileage may vary.
Another glorious weekend of SEC football is on the plate. Well, except for the glorious part. Tennessee/South Carolina looks like a decent game, with an interesting Spurrier/Fulmer backdrop, and Georgia/Florida always makes for a good story line. The only problem is that neither game shapes up to be much of a contest.
Last week I was a perfect 6-0, which brings the total to 51-11 on the year. On to the picks…
(7) Auburn – Mississippi
It would be safe for one to assume that the Tigers will crush Tommy’s former team. This is really not much of a match up, and no chance for Ole Miss to get up for this one and pull some sort of upset along the lines of the Arkansas debacle.
Kentucky – Mississippi State
In a clash of too bad teams, the Wildcats will pull even to 4-4 on the year, while the pitiful Bulldogs will continue their lackluster (dare I say embarrassing) showing this year. I wonder how much longer Sylvester Croom is going to be given to turn this puppy around.
(8) Tennessee – South Carolina
I think some people are going to think there will be some sort of Spurrier factor in this one, but the truth of the matter is that the Gamecocks are far, far away from having talent to match the guys in orange. If South Carolina does pull off the upset, we will have to debate if Spurrier is really a genius or if Fulmer is a fool.
Vanderbilt – Duke
Vanderbilt pulls one step closer to .500 (and a bowl bid), while Duke continues their run of ineptitude.
Florida International – Alabama
Nothing like a healthy dose of a cupcake to get the Tide’s offense rolling, rolling, Roll Tide!
Louisiana-Monroe – (13) Arkansas
Another piss-poor game on the SEC slate. Not sure why they bother to schedule these things, but they do, so souie!
Georgia – (9) Florida
Another year, another loss to the Gators. I think the line is about 13, but I have a nasty feeling in my stomach (and I am not talking about the chips and coke-rum from last night), that the results are going to be more like 13-34 in favor of the bad guys. One can always hope for an upset, but that seems highly unlikely. But one can hope.
Go Dawgs!
I figured I would continue to write about my experiences with WoW; hopefully this is entertaining, if for no other reason than getting the perspective of a newbie.
I gave my priest mining and herbalism professions because I figured a dwarf should mine for gold (or gems or something), and I had seen enough silverleaf and peacebloom that I figured picking herbs would be an easy way to make some money. Besides, it just seemed like gathering rocks and plants in between my travels would be more entertaining than crafting items. Of course I could be wrong, because I have been wrong about a lot of WoW things lately.
I am almost afraid to write that I never thought that I would actually spend time in a game mining for gold, but things change. In fact, I swore that I would not waste my time mining for gold, but last weekend I spent a few hours just traveling looking for minerals and herbs as I was going from point A to point B. The end result was that I collected enough items to give the Auction House a try.
If you have never used WoW’s Auction House, it can be a little intimidating. Where do you start? How much should you list an item for and should you list a buy out price? What is a good deal? How are required deposits calculated and how are final auction expenses determined? And so on. I could probably find most of this in the manual, or on one of the many helpful sites I have come across, but I had not read anything about the Auction House other than some general information, so I did not really know what to expect.
Of course you cannot learn with out trying, so for my first auctions last Saturday night, I figured I would list my items somewhere between what a vendor would give me and a little less than the suggested start price (in most cases 2-3sp for my goods). I did not search for items to see what the going rate was for the items I wanted to unload, which I later learned was a mistake; I should have did a quick search before putting my items up for bid. For my first haul, I received the following per item (full item stacks, medium length auction, includes final price after auction house expense) – peacebloom 2.30sp, earthroot 4.79sp, and copper bar 2.78sp. The earthroot and copper bar were priced much too low as I found out in my next round of auctions.
Last Sunday night I setup a few more auctions, this time searching for the going rate, and also providing a reasonable buy out amount. By reasonable I mean that I put my prices right in line with current auctions, if not a little below. I received the following per item (full item stacks, medium length auctions, includes final price after auction house expense) – silverleaf 3.25sp, peacebloom (no bids), earthroot 24.55 (a 500% increase over the first auction), and copper bar 71.65 (a whopping 2,500% increase over the first auction).
The bottom line is that in addition to the game mechanics, there is a whole economy to learn. It is really good stuff, and for low level characters, the Auction House can be a useful way to earn some quick coin. After all, why not mine or garden (or even skin, although I have not tried that one yet) while you are out questing?
I just thought this quote from Vick was so interesting, that it had to be posted.
“Winning this game today put us in position to where we can move forward with some confidence,” said Vick, who also rushed five times for 40 yards. “The drive in overtime, we put it all together. Players have to step up. Jerious Norwood started it off with a great run [11 yards], and I kind of took it from there.”
Vick may be a team guy, but he never sounds like one. Vick’s final statistics were nice, but not great: 18 completions on 30 attempts, good for 232 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs. If you throw in Vick’s 40 rushing yards, on 8 attempts, Vick was 28 yards shy of 300 (total yards). Nothing to sneeze at, but not worth all the ESPN hype that will be generated as a result of the Falcons’ overtime victory over the Steelers.
I just wish that Vick could put together this type of game on a consistent basis, but it seems like we never know what we are going to get next. Last week I said that I see Atlanta going 7-7 with swing games against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. All things being equal, the win over the Steelers gives the Falcons the potential of 8-7, so this Sunday’s game at Cincinnati is extremely important to having a successful season (9-7 looks better than 8-8). Of course if Philadelphia keep playing so poorly, the Falcons’ schedule may be a little easier than I predicted.
Just got back from the kids’ soccer games, cooking out some great food (chicken, hotdogs – Nathan’s famous of course, and some veggies), and realized that I have not gotten in my week 8 picks. In the interest of time, no reasons or summaries will be given.
(15) Arkansas over Mississippi. Georgia over Mississippi State. (8) Auburn over Tulane. South Carolina over Vanderbilt (Commodores are improved, but the Georgia game has to be a fluke). (7) Tennessee over Alabama. (14) LSU over Fresno State.
Texas over Nebraska. Hook ’em!
Go Dawgs!
Here is a very funny take on real life player rating in computer games…from a real life player. Ethan Albright is mad and he is not going to put up with it anymore from John Madden and his EA Sports goons!
Or I should say, not so much WoW gaming. One of my biggest fears going into WoW was signing up for a subscription service, only to run into dry spells of 2-3 weeks with absolutely no time to game. Such as been the case until last night. I am not even sure, but I bet I am past my free 30 day trail, which means the last couple of weeks were spent paying for a service that I was not using. For some reason that really bothers me.
Last night I decided to take Faltutin, my level 8 gnome mage, to level 10. I figured I would complete a couple of quests, and maybe do a little exploring, but in the process of exploring, my feet keep taking me to the eastern portions of Dun Morogh. I made a side trip to Gol’Bolar, which was not too smart because I got overwhelmed by a group of Troggs. That sort of sucked because it took forever and a day for my ghost to make it from the Kharanos graveyard to the quarry to recover my mage.
I also learned that random beast encounters in the wild are not always the smartest adventures for a mage. Oops, dead again; repeat long boring process of graveyard to corpse recovery.
I think I ended up in Loch Modan (or there abouts), running from a couple of dragon-something-or-another humanoid types, and killing some spider things. I know, real descriptive. The spider things were great because they left behind all sorts of goodies to help me build up my available coin.
One thing led to another, and before I knew it, Faltutin was level 10. Ah the joys of new spells. I love sitting back and blasting the crap out of beasties. Good stuff!
Besides gaming with Chris for a few minutes several weeks ago, this was the first time where I felt like I was actually having fun. Not just fun, but a damn good time. So far my experience with WoW has been along the lines of ‘take it or leave it’ – still not seeing the big deal if you get my meaning, but instead I have been playing for the purpose to level up. I may not be there yet, but last night I genuinely had a good time exploring the world, killing some spider-things, seeing my character progress (besides leveling up), and overall just enjoying the WoW experience.
I backed into tickets for last weekend’s fiasco against the Giants. It seems like there is a lot of finger pointing to go around, but what is really wrong with the Falcons? Vick is not accurate, but when his receivers drop passes in the endzone, it has to affect his confidence. Do the receivers drop passes because Vick throws so many balls at their knees and above their heads, so they are completely caught off guard when the ball actually hits them in the hands?
I do not know if a site keeps up with dropped ball statistics, but I counted at least 3-4 passes that should have been caught, including Jenkins dropping one that would have put the Falcons up 14-3 at the half.
Jeff Schultz thinks Mora should shoulder the blame
“There is a tendency in times like these to blame the quarterback. While you’re throwing your beer can at the TV, it’s easy to forget this is the same Michael Vick who four years ago won a playoff game in Green Bay, who two years ago led his team to the NFC title game, and who has played in three Pro Bowls in as many full seasons.
There is a tendency to look at the obvious, like receivers who can’t get open, or drop the ball when they do, or suddenly think they must be good because their paychecks say so.
But this is not about players. It’s about direction. That starts and ends with coaching.”
Schultz makes some great points, and if you can make it through some of the crap blog posts, there are some real gems to be found in the readers’ comments.
In the past I have waffled on Vick; I love him, and I hate him. While Vick is an amazing entertainer, his QB rating is just not very good. At this point in his career, Vick has a career passing rating of 75, which just plain stinks. If you say that Vick is a different type of QB, on the surface I could buy that argument, but take a closer look at what that means. If you say Vick is running QB, it is worth noting that he has 3,221 rushing yards, compared to 9,707 passing yards. That amounts to about 206 total yards/game. I do not have time today to look to see how these numbers stack up to other QBs, but a damning statistic has to be Vicks propensity to fumble the ball. In 63 games, Vick has put the ball on the ground 51 times, resulting in 25 turnovers. Vick clearly puts the ball on the ground way too much. [nfl.com source for statistics]
I am not sure what the heck is going on with the Falcons, but Vick has clearly regressed under Mora. I hope they get it figured out soon, because the Falcons’ remaining schedule is brutal. The Falcons are capable of wins against Detroit, Cleveland, Washington, and Tampa Bay. I do not think they will beat Baltimore, New Orleans, Dallas, Carolina, or Philadelphia. That would put their record at 7-7, with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati as swing games. It could get ugly in a hurry.
My gaming world continues to move along at a brisk pace. Our World of Warcraft guild is running raids (sometimes more than one) daily. Many of our old members are finally hitting level 50 and the collapse of another large guild added a few level 60 characters. There was a time when I was the only level 60 priest in the guild. Not anymore. We have so many level 60 priests now that there’s even a shadow priest in the guild. For those unfamiliar with the game, priests generally become holy (healing) or shadow (spell damage dealing) priests. Many guilds don’t like shadow priests because they don’t have a clear role compared to mages and warlocks, who also deal spell damage. But if you have enough holy priests, there shouldn’t be a problem.
The only other game I’m playing these days is, you guessed it, Out of the Park 2006. Everyone over the OOTP forum seems to have moved on in anticipation of the patch known as OOTP 2007. I keep asking myself why I still like this game despite the poor management of the product and still unresolved issues. I guess my love of text gaming baseball overrides the silliness of developers and their companies. The guys in my league are all baseball gaming fans first and OOTP 2006 does make general manager fans smile with some of the options. It is painful to use and you’re never quite sure what each sim will bring. When it works, it does work very nicely.
I won’t post the league’s site link, but I am truly amazed at the talents of OOTP 2006 fans. One fan’s mods are really showing us what the game could be if SI could see the forest for the trees. He created an OOTP 2006 draft utility, a waiver wire page, a last export web repot, and a development report for this league. I am not sure how transferable these utilities are to other leagues (which is why I am not posting the league site) but if I find out they are, I’ll post more information.