Author: jcalvert

I just saw this article; pretty sure my post below was first, but it is not as if everyone and their brother is complaining about not getting to see these ‘extra’ NFL games.

The NFL Network has sued Comcast over the cable company’s plans to put the network on a premium-priced sports tier in systems acquired from Time Warner and Adelphia. The network also is embroiled in litigation with Charter Communications. The third-largest cable operator (5.9 million subscribers) signed on as the NFL Network’s first big cable provider in January 2004, but the network hasn’t been on Charter since December 2005 because of a basic-versus-premium dispute.

According to the article, non NFL Network subscribers do get to see ‘in market’ games, so hopefully that means that I will not miss the ATL/Dallas game.

I thought it was interesting (and somewhat funny) that Toys R Us is running a 5AM-noon $129.99 PS2 system special that gives you Tony Hawk’s Project 8 for free.  Are we up to 8 of these games now?  I think I still have the first two for the PSX in my library … somewhere.  Never really got into the games.  I guess at this point the publisher (and Toys R Us) figures that the game is played out, so why not give it away for free?

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, and safe travels to and from where ever it is you happy to spend turkey day.  While I have too many blessings to count, I figured I would list a few here …

• Family of course; especially my wonderful wife, Tonya, and sons Joshua and Nathan.  Of course boy number three due in February.
• My dad
• My new house, which of course was my grandmother’s house
• Thanksgiving in my house; been 10+ years since a Thanksgiving dinner graced this house
• Surviving our first Thanksgiving dinner; keeping my fingers crossed on this one!
• This website, its readers, and the contributors to the site over the years.  We quietly celebrated our fifth anniversary September 27, 2006!
• Chris; great ‘virtual’ friend, partner in crime on the site, and gaming partner (when I actually get to play OOTPB and WoW)
• Video Game library of 100+ games and several systems spanning the years.  Many unopened games, which provide countless opportunities if I ever get around to them.  Sad, but true; thankfully, wasted purchases do not happen too much these days.  With so many games, who needs a Wii, PS3, or 360?

Of course there are more, many more, too many to count or name.  Maybe I will do a part two later today if the mood strikes.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Hot damn!  A new tradition is started on NFL.com, with the addition of a third Thanksgiving game (KC vs. Denver) tonight, followed by more games each week for the rest of the season.  Too bad I do not get the NFL Network; me and another 60-million or so NFL fans are in the same boat.

It seems that the NFL Network and some major cable networks – Charter for one, which happens to be my cable provider – are in a nasty dispute over how to package the NFL Network.  Seems the NFL brass wants the new channel to be part of basic cable, but most cable providers want it as part of a premium tier due to the associated costs.  We the fans are caught in the middle.

I could switch to DirectTV, but why should I have to do that when my cable service and cable modem service works great already; no complaints, not even with pricing.  I have written my local Charter provider several times, but to no avail.

So no Denver/KC tonight, no Baltimore/Cincinnati next week (will be in London, so no big deal), but it gets better.  The following weeks will see me missing Cleveland/Pittsburgh (hey, it is football … well, sort of0, San Francisco/Seattle (uh, well maybe not a big loss), and then Saturday Dec 16 I will not get to see Dallas/Atlanta unless I score some tickets for the games.  Boo hiss!  I will also miss Minnesota/Green Bay, KC/Oakland, and NY Giants/Washington.

OK, on second glance, I am not missing much, but it is the freaking principle of the thing; I want to watch football!  I cannot believe that I cannot see Dallas vs. Atlanta because my cable provider will not work out something with the NFL Network folks.  I would gladly pay $5/month for the channel, just to get the extra games, but that would be too much to ask.

This Thanksgiving, turkeys are not the only ones getting screwed.

With an upcoming trip to London looming (this weekend in fact) I decided it was time to pick up something new for the PSP.  I do not think I have played the darn thing since my last trip, so it is more or less collecting dust.  In other words, nothing exciting going on with portable PSP gaming.

After work, I loaded up the kids and headed to Best Buy to see what they had to offer my PSP.  And yes, I still hate Best Buy, but it is the closest gaming store.  A long plane trip is a great reason to play Madden, but Best Buy did not have Madden ’07 in stock.  I did notice a new EA game that had various classics including Wing Commander and Road Rash.  I was tempted, but I was really looking for Madden and NASCAR.  Best Buy had neither, so on to Circuit City.  No NASCAR in site, but they did have Madden, and they also had Tiger Woods ’07 on sale for $27.99.  Joshua said something along the lines of ‘But daddy; that’s golf.’  In other words, he knew I was reaching, but I guess desperate times (a lackluster PSP library) calls for desperate measures (playing golf games).

The PSP library is just not that compelling.  I think a NASCAR game would make for a nice way to waste some time on a plane; same for football (i.e. Madden).  After that, I am not sure what else I am interested in play.  There is Loco Roco, which looks interesting, but not $39.99 interesting.  Same for GTA Vice City Stories, but that one is $49.99.  Capcom and EA have classic collections; maybe b-day presents, but I decided to go all sports for this trip.

It will be interesting to see if I finally give MLB a try, or pick up some of the other old games in my library.  It is sad when Pinball Hall of Fame is still the most played game in my library, and future purchases (or b-day presents) are classic compilations.  I think I would be more inclined to try more titles if they were priced at $19.99 – $29.99, but I am not going to try too many PSP titles if they are going to set me back $49.99 + tax (i.e. GTA Vice City Stories).

Oct 20th I wrote that if you looked at Atlanta’s remaining schedule, they better figure out some things in a hurry, because they were going to go 9-7 at best:

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.

Funny. I thought Pittsburgh and Cincinnati were important games; turns out they were important wins since ATL has now taken it on the chin three games in a row – Detroit, Cleveland, and Baltimore all made the Falcons look pretty bad. Now the Falcons stand at 5-5, with wins looking increasingly few and far between. I still think they should beat Washington and Tampa Bay, but the rest is downright iffy. So we are still taking about a 7-9 campaign, which makes for a major ouch.

I did the bundle thing with the PSP, the GBA, the Game Cube, and the PS2, but no more.  After getting some sort of crap accessories with the PSP, I decided enough was enough.  I guess the online shopping age has matured to the point where people are willing to pay a whole hell of a lot for extra crap just to make sure they get something that they may not be able to pick up locally.  Seriously, I know some people are desperate, buy why would anyone do this EBGames.com/Gamestop.com PS3 deal?

Friday evening [Nov 17], we will have a limited quantity of PlayStation 3 20 Gig HD bundles available for online pre-order. Each bundle will include an extra wireless controller, six games, a one-year product replacement plan, a 12 month subscription to Game Informer and a Resistance: Fall of Man guide. The price will be $994.28 plus tax and handling. We expect these bundles to ship on or before December 1.

The last offer I saw for the Wii was sitting just short of $700 for a collection of games, and some crap accessories.  Once again, I ask, why?

And no, I am not writing this because I am some bitter gamer that did not get a shiny new system.  I am just a disillusioned SOB – waiting for gaming to be fun again, without all the bundles of fun.

A couple of days ago preordered The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2007 from ACTA Sports. Last year was the first time I ordered the book, and while I may not have read every single page, it was pretty darn impressive. Good enough to see me preorder this year’s edition. The only problem is that I am going to be in London when the book actually ships.

Things sure change. A few years ago I would have happily waited in line for a Wii and a PS3, but those days are gone. I am no longer a ‘hardcore gamer’ – and yes, I still hate that term – I think I can wait for the madness to die down and maybe even wait for a price drop. I decided several months ago that I was not springing for a PS3 and while I have been tempted to get a Wii, I pretty much convinced myself that I could wait until after the Christmas rush. Some guys at work talked about standing in line for a Wii, but after some reflection I decided that the time was not right for a new system, even one as potentially nifty as the Nintendo Wii.

The reality of my gaming habits these days is that I just do not have much time for gaming. I have not played my PSP since September, and while Joshua plays the PS2, I have not played it since August. And the Game Cube? It has not been hooked up to a TV since I moved into my house back in January. The only PC games I play these days are OOTPB 2006 (enough for Chris not to kick me out of his league) and WoW, which I have not played in at least three weeks. So you could same that I am in a gaming dry spell right now.

Columbus, GA recently made national headlines when a dentist planned to hire a bunch of temp workers to stand in line to purchase 15 PS3 systems.

Newlin wanted to buy 15 of the consoles as Christmas gifts for grandchildren, nieces and nephews. He was prepared to buy available units from Columbus and Phenix City Wal-Mart stores, as well as Auburn and Opelika, using a crew of 60 workers he cycled through in eight-hour shifts, according to one of the temps he hired.

Crazy stuff. Apparently the dentist abandon the plan because other potential buyers, standing in the various lines, got wind of the plan and became angry. Not sure if they were mad because they did not think of the idea or because they could not afford to hire someone to stand in line. Capitalism at its best; no problems with a well executed plan, but I guess I would be pissed if I did not get a system because some guy in front of me was paid to stand in line and I did not get a system. If I got mine, who cares?

I will have to write later about more factors that played into my ‘not buying a PS3 system right now’ reasoning, but suffice it to say that I do not see a system seller in the launch lineup. This is really the same reason I did not pick up an Xbox (or a Xbox 360); I am not worried about the money – although the PS3 cames in at a hefty price tag – I just do not see anything I *have* to play. If anything, you could say that I have some degree of brand loyalty towards Sony, after all I have a hell of a PS1/PS2 gaming library, but what is the point in buying a PS3 if there is nothing for me to play?

The Wii looks interesting, and while I thought about doing the preorder thing, the bundles really sucked, which sealed the deal for me. I am not going to do the bundle thing about. If I *really* wanted a system, I figured I would take my chances on get a Wii later, be it at launch or sometime after Christmas. So here we are on release day, with no system to play. Feels kind of strange, even for a gamer moving into the mainstream of gaming.

What does the Columbus Wii scene look like? Yesterday before 9AM there was already a line of 10 or so folks at Wal*Mart for about 25 units. This morning I made an early trip to Target to pick some stuff for a trip to London next week. On the way, I noticed a line of 35-50 folks standing outside of Best Buy. Once I made it to Target, some lady told me that they were already sold out by 9AM (not sure how many units they received). The lady was surprised that I was not there for a Wii. Target must have turned away a lot of disappointed folks.

Out of curiosity, on my way home I drove by Circuit City to check out the line. Some dude told me that they had 21 units, and the 21st person was in line before 7:30AM. He offered me his spot for $300. I told asked why I would want to pay $300 for something that only cost $249. Another smart ass answered because his spot was going for $500, and there were not going to be any more Wii units in Columbus. He may be right, but I told him no thanks.

Down the strip, no one was in line at Toys R Us. Not sure if this was because they were already out of units, or if it was because they did not open until 11AM. Gamestop and EBGames were not open; I guess they sold out at midnight.

On my way home I asked my wife to call Best Buy to see what things were like; they were already sold out. A friend of mine told me that one of the local K-Marts only received two units; Sony did not bother to send them any PS3 systems. Ouch.

Not sure what the numbers are going to look like, but I assume that Nintendo sold a lot more systems than Sony (based on the release numbers that have been posted on various web sites). Even at the high price, I think the PS3 is going to sell well; just imagine 10% of the 100 million PS2 owners wanting a PS3. It will be interesting to see what Nintendo does; I could see them climbing neck-and-neck with the Xbox 360 very quickly.

Sitting on the sidelines has never been more interesting. It is going to be fun watching this console race unfold.

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.