Author: jcalvert

Well-done. I have not see the Braves play this bad in a long, long time. After a hell of a run, you have to expect that all good things come to an end sooner or later. I know it sounds silly for me to complain about the Braves not being a “big market” team, but regardless of all the TV contracts, the current Braves management will not put money back into the team.

The Braves have many problems, but not putting money into a quality bullpen was the ultimate downfall of this year’s Braves. I know there is over a half season to play, and I love Bobby Cox, but after going 3-15 over the last few weeks, this year’s team is toast.

In what was a major oops, I forgot that today is LeMans day! What did you expect with a birthday party for my 4-year old, World Cup, the Dawgs in the CWS, and a crazy work schedule. Not to mention that my Orlando Dolphins of the JOBL ran away with their division, which was good for my first ever division title in an online league! I cannot give myself too much credit; I took over a pretty decent team last year.

So back to LeMans. I doubt I will get to watch much today, there is just too much going on, and I am going to be scheming hard to watch this thing while hosting Nathan’s birthday party. Like I said, this one pretty much slipped up on me, so I have no idea who I have to pull for with American interests. I am damn curious to see how the diesel powered Audi perform.

Today’s game against Italy is a rare chance for US soccer to gain a degree of respectability. I am not sure if anyone realistically expected Team USA to down the Czech Republic, but I doubt that many expected total embarrassment. I just have to wonder which team will show up today? The one that played a lazy endeavor against a clearly superior team, or will we get the team that is hungry for respect?

There has been a lot of talk about changing up the lineup today, but it will all be for naught if we do not figure out some basic principles of defense (clear to the sidelines folks!). I am not going to make any suggestions here because I have no idea how to fix this problem. The guys just need to figure out how to hold it together, close down any attacks, and play some sound defense. I really think steady play is all that is needed because Keller is a fine keeper if given just a bit of support.

As for the midfield, at a minimum Donovan needs to go back to the midfield and Beasley should be a very late sub to help stretch the field. Everyone seems to like O’Brien; I can jump on the bandwagon if needed, but Reyna will need to play like he is super pissed about the midfield’s poor performance last Monday.

Of course you have to score to win, and if no one can serve McBride, or whoever is playing to support McBride, I do not think we will score. This is really a huge problem for the US; no dominant strikers. I figured the US was going to play a classic defensive style of ball control, but after going down in the first five minutes, it was pretty much over. All signs point towards Eddie Johnson playing opposite McBride. I am going to keep my fingers crossed that we can at least get some quality opportunities and hope for the best.

The two things we do know are that we have to win or we go home, and what an utter disappointment (dare I say failure) that would be for US soccer. We also know that Arena is going to shake up the line up. Like I said, steady defense, solid midfield support, and a few quality opportunities for our boys will result in a 2-1 upset.

Go USA!

This week has been fairly crazy; not much time for gaming or blogging. Touching on sports; boo-hiss, the US sucked on Monday. I teach my kids to clear to the sidelines. How hard is that? The Dawgs somehow escaped from the clutches of the mighty chickens from USC (that is the University of South Carolina around these parts).

Team USA’s chances the rest of the way? Not so good. A couple of weeks ago I told a couple of guys at work that I did not think we would escape group play, but I certainly thought we would look better in the process of going down. I am a homer and all, but man we looked bad. I was really hopeful that we would advance out of group play, but certainly not expecting that we would advance. After Monday.? I guess we will get ’em in another four years.

You have to like GA’s chances going into the CWS. They are on a major roll, playing great when their backs are against that wall thing everyone talks about. I do not like opening against Rice, but I think the Dawgs are going to make a pretty good showing.

I am traveling to the UK next week, and the client I am visiting is fairly formal. Time to get a new suit. I decided I would try Men’s Warehouse. Not such a good idea. First off, the guy wants to measure me, but I told him I already know my size. He insisted on a 39; I told him he was nuts. Of course I try on a 39 and it is far too short and tight. After we get a proper fitting for a jacket I am told about the great “2 suits for $500 deal.” “No thanks. I do not want to spend $500 today. I just want this suit.” Hardheaded SOB. Nope, that will not do. The dude proceeds to tell me that “Some people are afraid to mix and match jackets with their suits. I should look at some of these jackets.” Blah, blah, blah. Whatever. WTF is wrong with these people? I just want the suit.

Would it end there? Nope. I get fitted for my pants, but the guy insists on a 36-inch waist. Not going to work I tell him, but does the little jerk listen? Nope. OK, so I try on the pants, and guess what? Not such a good fit. So they get all the marks down and adjustments in hand. After I come out of the dressing room, just by chance they have several jackets that “would look really good with your pants.” So I tell the guy that I only want this suit. He insists that I try on some of these jackets. I politely tell him “no thanks.” He tells me again about the great “2 for $500 deal” and pretty much looks at me like a stupid ass jerk for not taking the plunge on the sale.

On the way to pay for my suit, there is one more used car effort – a whole table lined with shirts, ties, socks, etc. I tell the guy in a not so nice manner that I only want the suit. He tells me that “I may have some ideas that you did not think about before.” What a f’ing looser. I know it is not sales guy’s fault (they have to coach them for this kind of stuff), but I cannot stand this type of crap.

The final straw in this story (or I would not be warning others right now) is that I later noticed that I was charged $10 to alter the waist of my pants. WTF? I told the guy up front that he should start with a smaller size. It is so hard to get good help these days, and I can honestly say that I will not be a regular in the local Men’s Warehouse. Their approach sucks.

Georgia rebounded from a loss to Florida State last Saturday night, by winning three games in a row to earn the right to host South Carolina in the NCAA Super Regionals.

UGA has been playing excellent ball of late, despite almost throwing it all away with their 6-4 loss to Florida State. UGA had to take the loser bracket route by winning two games on Sunday, followed by tonight’s 3-2 victory over Florida State. Tonight’s game was an excellent example of why this year’s team is so damn compelling – a timely home run, capitalizing on a Florida State miscue, and some great pitching all contributed to the victory. Hopefully Georgia can keep it going against those dreaded ‘cocks from SC.

Go DAWGS!

I decided to see how OOTPB 6.5 compared to OOTPB 2006 from a statistical standpoint. The numbers below in no way reflect in sort of scientific conclusions. My population is way too small to read into any significant conclusions, but I figured it would be fun for giggles. I decided to compare the results to the 1989 MLB season; no particular reason other than I graduated from high school that year. I ran everything with default settings (except for the pain and suffering of trying to get minor leagues setup in OOTPB 2006.

The first section is the real life results of the 1989 season, followed by the results of an OOTPB 6.5 simulation, and the results of an OOTPB 2006 simulation.

Feel free to post comments, questions, etc.

*Denotes the worst record. I have also taken the liberty to include Atlanta’s results.

MLB 1989 Season
AL East: Toronto 89-73 (.260 AVG, 3.58 ERA)
AL West: Oakland 99-63 (.261 AVG, 3.09 ERA)
NL East: Chicago 93-69 (.261 AVG, 3.43 ERA)
NL West: San Francisco 92-70 (.250 AVG, 3.30 ERA)
*Detroit 59-103 (.242 AVG, 4.53 ERA)
Atlanta 63-97 (.234 AVG, 3.70 ERA)

ALCS: Oakland 4 � Toronto 1
NLCS: San Francisco 4 � Chicago 1
World Series: Oakland 4 � San Francisco 0

AVG: K. Puckett (MIN) .339 AVG, 9 HR, 89 RBI, 11 SB
HR: K. Mitchell (SF) .291 AVG, 47 HR, 125 RBI, 3 SB
W: B. Saberhagen (KC) 23-6, 2.16 ERA, .961 WHIP
ERA: B. Saberhagen (KC) 23-6, 2.16 ERA, .961 WHIP

OOTPB 6.5 1989 Season
AL East: Boston 99-63 (.272 AVG, 3.81 ERA)
AL West: Oakland 99-63 (.262 AVG, 3.29 ERA)
NL East: Chicago 92-70 (.275 AVG, 3.72 ERA)
NL West: San Diego 84-78 (.271 AVG, 4.07 ERA)
*Atlanta 63-99 (.248 AVG, 4.45 ERA)

ALCS: Oakland 4 � Boston 2
NLCS: San Diego 4 � Chicago 0
World Series: Oakland 2 � San Diego 4

AVG: D. Smith (CHI NL) .372 AVG, 20 HR, 115 RBI, 21 SB
HR: H. Johnson (NY NL) .313 AVG, 59 HR, 128 RBI, 8 SB
W: C. Cary (NY AL) 20-11, 4.08 ERA, 1.20 WHIP
ERA: T. Mulholland (SF) 7-6, 2.61 ERA, 1.11 WHIP

OOTPB 2006 1989 Season
AL East: Cleveland 95-66 (.268 AVG, 3.89 ERA)
AL West: Seattle 93-68 (.288 AVG, 4.46 ERA)
NL East: New York 95-66 (.261 AVG, 3.83 ERA)
NL West: Cincinnati 93-68 (.265 AVG, 3.74 ERA)
*Detroit 60-101 (.249 AVG, 5.28 ERA)
Atlanta 86-75 (.250 AVG, 3.78 ERA)

ALCS: Cleveland 4 � Seattle 1
NLCS: Cincinnati 4 � New York 3
World Series: Cincinnati 4 � Cleveland 1

AVG: K. Bass (HOU) .345 AVG, 10 HR, 68 RBI, 26 SB
HR: M. McGwire (OAK) .241 AVG, 49 HR, 110 RBI, 1 SB
W: Greg Swindell (CLE) 24-8, 3.50 ERA, 1.24 WHIP
ERA: B. Saberhagen (KC) 20-7, 1 SV, 2.57 ERA, 1.03 WHIP

Notes: K. Pukett (MIN) .330 AVG (6th overall); K. Mitchell (SF) 40 HRs (3rd overall); N. Ryan (TX) 13-14, 3.31 ERA, 279K; A. Davis (SEA) 1B signed a 4-year contract valued at $62,320,000; C. Lansford (OAK) 3B signed a 6-year contract valued at $89,196,000.

I downloaded the game last night, and have been spending some time trying to get acclimated. I concur with Chris; the game is extremely complicated, and spending time with the manual and guide are a must. Of course I am stubborn, and just want to play, so I have not read either. They do look impressive, but reading is for later, while play is for now!

I plan to post some updates later, but tonight is date night; kids at mom’s house, so the impressions may have to wait for later. I have seen some interesting news items in the historical league I am running. A closer signed a contract; the news item showed that he had 43 saves, but no save opportunities and had never been called in from the bullpen. Not really that significant, but it should be interesting to see what other strange announcements pop-up in my historical league.

The major issue I am having right now is that many minor league teams just do not have enough players. This keeps stopping the simulation, which is a pain. I have to go into each league and set rosters to be filled with fictional players. Seems to work, but I have not had time to check to see if this messes up any of the minor league statistics, lineups, rosters, etc. So far I have only seen this problem the first few days of my first season.

This game not only looks interesting, but should be one heck of a challenge. Serious learning curve and all. More to come later.

Georgia landed an at-larger bid to host in this year’s build up to the NCAA College World Series. Georgia is currently ranked in the Top 10 by Baseball American (not sure if the rankings have been updated after going down to Vanderbilt last Saturday).

To be honest I am not sure what sort of chance UGA has of making it to the Super Regionals; it really depends on who lands in their Regional bracket, and if they can continue to get just enough pitching with plenty of timely hitting. The good news is that the Dawgs have been playing solid of late, going 14-1 in SEC play leading up to the SEC tournament.

Go DAWGS!

The Braves are managing to put together a nice run, but this has to be some sort of hocus-pocus, black-magic thing, because the Braves cannot be for real with their horrid bullpen problems.

I should be thankful that the Braves are now only 3.5 games back of the Mets, and finally over .500 (27-23), but yesterday the Braves blew yet another late inning lead (12-8 in the 9th) thanks to the wonders of Chris Reitsma, who absolutely sucks on the road. I read somewhere where Reitsma’s ERA at home was under 2, but on the road it has to be 7+.

After 4 blown saves by Reitsma, even Cox has to see the writing on the wall. The Braves will go no where fast with this guy trying to close games.

I think the site goes smoother (and is more entertaining) with three active writers. Chris and I usually keep a decent flow of content and banter going; usually one of us is posting while the other is doing the real life thing, but sometimes the banter thing works out. Geoff is MIA (hello?), and Kevin is off doing his MLS thing (see his site for more info), so we are down a writer.

Please drop me a line (jonathan@calvertgames.com) if you are interested in joining our staff. No special requirements – you just need to enjoy writing about games (PC, consoles, handheld, retro/classic) and sports.

Congratulations to Sam Hornish Jr. on his fine Indy 500 victory. Before the start of the race, my oldest son asked who I wanted to win (he was pulling for Hornish – like father like son). I told my boys that I was pulling for Michael Andretti and Sam, so my racing day went pretty well. As always, my wife and my youngest son were going for the “Target car” � hard to believe that Tonya has already had that sort of impact on my youngest son.

What an exciting finish! I have to admit that at the end I was pulling hard for Marco, and why not, it would have been a heck of a statement. It is sort of hard not to pull for an Andretti, and you have to like his post race statement that “second place is nothing.” Marco drove extremely smart in the end; he could have blocked, but he would have run the risk of crashing out of the race (along with crashing Hornish). At the end of the day, second place was a great finish for a nineteen-year old rookie.

I sort of feel bad for dishing Hornish at the very end, but after coming back to my senses, I am very happy for Sam. He is one of the few IRL drivers that I actually follow. Even if I do not watch a race (or only casually follow a season), I always check on Hornish.

I have been complaining for years that the IRL just does not do enough to push/market their drivers to the same degree that NASCAR pushes their top players. Hopefully that will change now that Hornish has a Indy 500 victory; that is worth pushing. But Marco has to be the story of the day.

Speaking of bad marketing, I had no idea that Marco was even in the IRL this year, and had no idea that Michael was giving it another go. As soon as I saw the starting grid (about 10 mins before the race), I told my boys that I *had* to pull for Michael, but if he was not going to win, then, as always, I would be cheering Hornish along.

Long before I became a racing fan, the Indy 500 was something; so I have been told. Now it has come to a third generation Andretti being in a race, and the IRL did nothing to push the most beloved name in American racing. Or maybe they did, and I failed to notice? For a racing fan, that is a big deal. The IRL should have pushed this one to a much greater degree to try to capture the attention of fringe fans.

The IRL should have a great marketing lineup in Danica, Marco, and Hornish � all solid American drivers that the US racing public should be able to get behind and cheer.

The next move belongs to the IRL marketing folks.

Well, at least in Columbus, GA. I still do not understand why we do not get more major soccer coverage in our local paper. The paper does a decent job of spotlighting local interests – the strong showing from our local high school teams, and our new woman’s soccer team at Columbus State University (2005 co-champions of the Peach Belt Conference). OK, I know most of you do not give a rat’s behind about local soccer coverage in Columbus, GA, but there is a point.

The point is that get very little US National team coverage and very little MLS coverage. The lack of MLS coverage may be due to no regional ties. We do get MLS conference standings, complete with scores (not box scores), upcoming schedules, and the occasional brief (i.e. 50 words or less). The lack of Nation team coverage is bewildering, but I assume is a financial decision. Today we did get an AP story about Bruce Arena; a good quarter of a page, which is a ton for a soccer story.

Hopefully the build-up to the 2006 World Cup will get some play in The Sporting News, which does an abysmal job of covering soccer. I have written several letters to the editor begging and pleading with them to provide one page per issue for soccer coverage. I would love to coverage of the National team, highlights of US players playing overseas, and any MLS coverage the magazine throws my way (i.e. box scores, transactions, league leaders, etc).

One can continue to dream for respect.

This Memorial Day weekend, please pause a few moments to remember why we are fighting the good fight and say a prayer for the safe return for those good men and women defending our freedom. Regardless of your political affiliations, or your view of Iraqi, good men have died for our Country. I believe that they are fighting the good fight.

I wish major media outlets would carry this story as a major headline – “Iraqi coach, players killed” – I found this story in a “brief” section on page two of the sports section for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer:

An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were killed because they were wearing shorts, apparently in violation of a warning by Islamic extremists.

The athletes were in shorts when they were killed and police believe the attack was related to a warning by extremists against such attire.

Imagine living in a place where you will be casually executed by a group of people that do not approve of the clothes on your back.

God bless America.

I hate CBS. Really. They absolutely f’ing suck. I love the Sunday before Memorial Day when the racing gods give us the Monaco GP, followed by the Indy 500, followed by some circle racing at the Coca-Cola 600.

By why enjoy a good thing CBS? Instead of getting racing for breakfast, lunch, and supper, CBS is going to show the Monaco GP on tape delay at 12:30PM EST, so it will overlap with the Indy 500. Good deal.

CBS sucks!