The Recycle Bin

I guess I’m in the minority, but I simply do not understand all of the hoopla over Oblivion. I don’t know how good or bad the game will be, but that’s not the point. I can’t understand how people can go from an online RPG back to a computer AI-only game. I don’t care how good the programming is, nothing can replace the interaction that occurs between human beings in these online environments. I’m a big fan of the RPG genre, but my days playing against only the computer started to end when I subscribed to City of Heroes and officially ended with World of Warcraft.

There’s no going back.

I feel the same way about baseball games. I can’t play Out of the Park Baseball against the computer anymore. No fun in it for me. Dealing with other human beings makes OOTP come alive in ways that computer programming simply can’t model.

And who in their right mind is playing Oblivion on a Xbox 360? Just go and visit all of the Morrowind mod sites to see how silly a notion that is.

This is fairly off topic, but today I was cleaning out another box of junk. Forget that this should have been done before we moved, not now, but I digress. Among the Good Will goodies were Borland software aplenty – Turbo C++, ObjectVision, and Turbo Pascal. Not sure why I hung onto this stuff for so long. It is not like I have a working 5 1/4″ FDD; actually I did, but I put this into the Good Will pile as well. Seriously, when I ever try to hook up that sort of relic again?

I also parted with the original Sim City. I burned countless hours on that game my freshman year in college. I also found Sim Ant; never did much with it despite actually liking ants. That is a story for another day; remind me sometime and I will share.

I also uncovered Master of Magic and the Official Strategy Guide along with Sim City 2000. I kept both of those. Not sure if I will play them again anytime soon (Windows XP will never allow it to happen), but MoM is only of my all time favorite games.

Figured someone could appreciate the clutter and the old time gaming classics.

I’ll be back to posting on a more regular basis over the next few months. I was in seven OOTP leagues and cut back to three. I’ll probably stay in two leagues and that will be it for a long while. I want to pay more attention to my own OOTP league and found the other leagues a bit distracting. I’ll always participate in at least two leagues because I like testing myself against competition where I am not the Commissioner.

In other news, it seems everyone with a computer is writing blogs and even PureSim developer Shaun Sullivan has joined the mix. With the first post in November, gulp, 2004, and second in March 2006, Shaun’s making the Recylce Bin look like a real time news service. Let’s hope for more info in the future.

For those of you curious about the new match engine in the Championship Manager series, a demo was released that is available for download.

There are very mixed reviews coming in about Matrix Games’ Maximum Football. Reading in-between the lines (I don’t own the game), seems Matrix Games followed the artists formally known as .400 Software Studios business model. You release a broken game, full paying customers become unpaid beta-testers, and then you finally get the product that should have been released in the first place.

Sorry, been there and done that.

The good news is that folks are generally hopefull that when it is finally fixed, Maximum Football will be purchase worthy. However, with no financial model, I can only see this being used as a college or highschool simulator at best.

I should be working in the yard. Or maybe catching up on some office work. I would have, but the weather is just too nice (79F right now, partly cloudy sky) to do anything of the sort. I could have gone for a run at the park, although I did go for a nice two mile walk with Tonya at the park this morning (should be worth some brownie points tonight).

Some days are just like that – I should have done something different, I would have done something different if I were not having so much fun being caught up in the moment, and I could have been more productive. Instead I find myself sitting on the deck, laptop in hand (typing this blog entry), drinking a Michelob Ultra Amber, watching the kids play in the yard, getting ready to fire up the grill and throw on some Nathan’s Famous hotdogs. Nice life this of mine; truly blessed.

For some reason I feel like writing today; hell I may even break out a video game tonight just to have something game related to write about tonight or tomorrow morning. Then again, there is a lot of Ultra Amber in the beer … so who knows what sort of path this will take us down.

Tonya has decided that it is high time to get some more blinds for the house. Problem is that the damn things are expensive – because of the age of the house, everything has to be custom made. What did the view out of my kitchen and dining room window provide this afternoon? None other than the nice young thing next door catching some sun, skimpy bikini and all. Not sure why I am even bothering to write this (other than the nice life and blessings and all, and some views are worth describing) because my wife would kick my ass in so many ways if she read the above. Damn blinds are expensive …

I am not much of a college basketball fan, but I will try to catch some of the action tonight. I am starting to get in the mood to catch F1 tomorrow morning (6:30AM EST I think). I guess that is something to get me past the dry season (i.e. no more football).

I do not normally read this sort of stuff, but I cannot wait to read “Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports” by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. The book is due out March 27; I plan to preorder from Amazon later this weekend. I normally shy away from this sort of stuff, which is one of the main reasons I stopped subscribing to SI – I just do not care for all the negative print on athletes.

For some reason this book is actually different. I actually want to see how and why Bonds started juicing (assuming the authors are actually correct with their assertions). It is bad enough that the steroids era in baseball has messed up many a record, but Bonds was actually good before he started with the cream. Players like Fred McGriff (.284AVG, 493HR, 2490H), Dale Murphy (.265AVG, 398HR, 2111H), and Jim Rice (.298AVG, 382HR, 2452H) look damn impressive compared to todays artificial players. Being a huge fan of Murphy, I demand he start getting some serious Hall of Fame consideration because no way, no how, did Murphy ever juice.

The weekend got off to a good start, which a date night; my parents let the kids sleep over. This gave Tonya and me a chance to have drinks with some friends, and some much need time alone. It is always fun to have a lazy Saturday morning – breakfast at the ATL Bread Company (their vanilla nut coffee is to die for) while reading over the newspaper, followed by a shopping trip to the book store, and then a nice walk around the park. Needless to say, date night is highly recommended!

It seems like it has been book review central around here for me lately, and I do not see much of an end in site. I started perusing through the “Baseball Prospectus 2006,” and earlier this week, “The Book: Playing The Percentages In Baseball” (Tom M. Tango, Mitchel G. Lichtman, and Andrew E. Dolphin) arrived in the mail, and just this morning I picked up “Steal Away: Devotions for Baseball Fans” by Hugh Poland.

I am not sure what to make of the prospectus book – I have never even glanced at a register or prospectus type book on baseball. The section on the Braves was fairly interesting, especially the writer’s take on C. Jones and Smoltz ultimately setting back the team by restructuring contracts (Jones), and insisting on moving back into the starting rotation (Smoltz). The book also pretty much says Jones sucks as a fielder, but “The Fielding Bible” shows him as middle of the road among other 3B. It is always interesting to see different perspectives on the same players.

I have only glanced at “The Book” so nothing really to report at this point. There is a chapter on base running and how much a runner actually distracts a batter (as opposed to the pitcher); should make for interesting reading.

I have always read that baseball is a religious experience; “Steal Away” looks to be just that (on in a book). I normally struggle to finish devotional books (just not my thing I guess), but I figure I have a pretty good chance at making my way through a devotional book that makes all sorts of references to baseball stories, facts, players, and other sorts of nuggets of information. I have only read a few pages, but I think I can highly recommend this book to baseball fans that want some type of devotional book.

What else? Looks like the F1 season quietly got underway at Bahrain; I saw quietly only because I have not followed the off-season this year. The US advanced to the next round of the World Baseball Classic thing; would have been embarrassing if we did not push forward. March Madness is upon us …

All for now. Happy weekend!

I�ve been traveling, doing work, and (of course) playing World Of Warcraft almost non-stop these past few weeks. I see that Jonathan has been busy keeping the site updated with fresh content. Things must be settling down for him in the new house.

One of my internet buddies pointed me to the latest blog where Marc Duffy of SI Games mentions our humble little site. This means that we just might get more than 6 hits this month, so thanks Mr. Duffy! A couple of my OOTP buddies also asked if I was part of the beta team. The answer is no. A great big N-O. I will never beta test another product for anybody, not even for the crown prince of career baseball games, Markus Heinsohn.

I�ve done quite a bit of beta testing over the years and it really is a thankless job. But nothing upsets me more than beta testing processes. Very few developers care what you think during beta tests. They are more interested in making sure that the product works on different types of machines/configurations and/or testing various multiplayer components of the game. And for those of the testers who want a few minutes to actually take a detailed look at the beta product, new versions are released so quickly that keeping up becomes a full time job.

An unpaid full time job.

I think the Kohan 2 beta test ended any possible enjoyment I could get from beta testing. It was evident to me that the game wasn�t very good from the first minute I played it and nothing that happened during the beta made me feel that the developers were listening to folks who were saying, �You know, this game just isn�t fun.� Zero sales later (or close to it), I�m sure the developers were wondering why the game failed so badly. You really didn�t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

Now I don�t know what it�s like to beta test for SI Games and I don�t want to know. So don�t take these comments as an indictment against SI�s beta testing. All I do know is that Chris Johnson will not be beta testing for anyone. Ever. I don�t care who the developer is.

After a few more days with The Fielding Bible by John Dewan, I have to say it is a pretty darn interesting book. Certainly not a purchase for everyone, but I imagine that fans of statistical baseball analysis, fantasy baseball, and students of the game will really enjoy the book.

One of the most interesting sections of the book shows each team’s field (in glorious color) and indicates where hits landed in 2005. The layout clearly shows where a team is better than average, average, and worse than average. I always thought that the Braves were an excellent fielding team around the mound, but the book indicates that the Braves were worse than average compared to the rest of the league. This is certainly not light reading, but never the less interesting reading for most baseball fans.

Another section shows the author’s personal rankings and comments by position. In 2004 and 2005 Derek Jeter won the AL Gold Glove for shortstops, but according to the author’s plus/minus system, the awards should have been given to Miguel Tejada and Juan Uribe (respectively). It is all good stuff.

The book servers its purpose; it does a good job of putting its arms around fielding. With that said, I do not think the book is going to be relevant in a few years. Interesting, and historical (to review the three year fielding register), but this is not going to be a book that you will turn to year after year. Of course I have never read this sort of book, so I could be way off the mark. With all that said, the book is interesting enough (and priced cheap enough at $19.95) that I would certainly purchase the next edition, assuming Mr. Dewan decides to do a yearly annual.

My kids have been asking (no, begging is a better word) for a dog for a while now. Tonya and I promised them that we would get them a dog once we moved into the new house (since the yard was fenced in). No doubt you can see where this is going …

Today we picked up a six-weeks old male Shih Tzu; all black with some white markings around his chin, on his front feet (like socks), around his chest, and a few white hairs on his head. I lost the name battle. I wanted to call him Ming Fu (sounds like a good, solid, scrappy name to me), but alas his name is Remus. I told the kids that Remus was his name, but his secret Shih Tzu name was Ming Fu. He cost enough duckets that I can call him pretty much anything I darn well please!

More to come on the adventures of Ming Fu.

The Atlanta Falcons just did some shady bookkeeping with Vick’s contract:

The bookkeeping transaction has no impact on Vick, since he would have received the $7 million whether it was treated as a roster bonus or as a signing bonus. The five-year veteran and Pro Bowl performer is due to earn a 2006 base salary of $1.4 million.

Vick, 25, signed what amounted to a 10-year, $130 million contract, which runs through 2014, late in the 2004 season. But the final season of the contract has already been voided, making the contract a nine-year deal worth approximately $118 million. The contract, which included an initial signing bonus of $7.5 million, features $37 million in guarantees.

Included in those guarantees was the $7 million roster bonus Vick will collect this month.

Not sure what all this means other than you have to be a f’ing genius to understand NFL cap rules.

I am going to have to post this without the permission of Scott Carter, who happens to be my boss (cause that is what a good employee does).** He put this together to take a jab at my dad, who just so happens to be a huge Texas fan. I figure a cc is pretty much all the permission I need to post this; plus Scott likes being famous. As background material, Scott and my dad have a bit of a thing going back and forth about Texas (dear old dad) and Georgia (Scott), and this is just too good not to post somewhere …

I am excited for Texas … Any team that wins a national championship with a QB who scores a 6(out of 50) on a Wonderlic test, clearly has the best coaching staff in America. I read a blurb from a reputable scout as follows….”You have to question a player who went as far in college as Vince Young without flunking a course. I think I heard that a score of 6 equates to a 7th grade education.”

To help you out, I thought I would send you my top 10 positive spins on the Vince situation…feel free to use these as you are being barraged by mean people who do not appreciate what Vince brings to the table.

10) What’s wrong with a six? Oscar Davenport got a six and it didn’t seem to hurt his NFL career.(By the way, you may want to check into a follow-up for the question “Who the heck is Oscar Davenport?”)

9) Had Vince scored one lower, he would hold a world record in something.

8) If you multiply Vince’s score by 5, it is only 3 points lower than Tom Brady

7) 7th grade is an academically challenging grade

6) Vince is now qualified for a promising career as a bagboy

5) This score enables Vince to publicly practice his official “see what ha happened wuz” statement

4) Vince would have scored higher, but it was a timed exam and he couldn’t get the answers off of his shoe fast enough….damned cowboy boots!!

3) At least Vince enjoyed his college years, completely unencumbered by the distraction of textbooks….and pencils……….and thinking

2) Draft position is overrated. Anyway, Vince wants to live a more modest lifestyle.

And last but not least, the #1 positive spin you can use with your friends….you knew it was coming….

1) Finally, Quincy Carter looks intelligent!

Seriously, good stuff!

** Scott takes no responsibility for this post. Just in case …

There has been a lot written this week about Young’s alleged low Wonderlick test score – and more to be posted later on this site. I found the following quote on ESPN.com, from Young’s agent (Major Adams) fairly interesting:

“People are going to try to bring him down between the Rose Bowl and the draft day,” Adams said. “They will try to take shots at him, and he hasn’t done anything wrong, so we just take it with a grain of salt.”

Conspiracy? Why would anyone want to “take shots” at Young? From what I have read, it looks like Young’s agent is not doing him any favors.

I finally got brave and joined a second OOTP league: JOBL. I am taking over Orlando, which seems to be a decent team, with playoff aspirations this season. I have not hard time to study Orlando’s history, but I am sure it will be challenging to keep the team on the up and up. Will make for a fun weekend trying to learn my team, and setup some semblance of strategy.

In my other league, IOSBL I am having a hard time getting Columbus back to its winning ways. Seems like I was better at the initial draft and the early days of FA; lately my team has been a bit of a mess. Of course I am not an OOTP expert, which probably puts me at a disadvantage compared to many of the other GMs in the league, but I often dig my own ditch by trying non-traditional stuff with my team.

Hopefully I can keep up the pace, manage both teams to prosperity, and become a little more OOTP savvy in the process.