The Recycle Bin

UGA Loses Out to OSU

When I saw the AJC heading ‘recruit switches to OSU’, I thought “Oh … well, some kid must have some nice tattoo” – I know, not nice. It turns out that the player was one CJ Curry, and the OSU in question was the Cowboys of Oklahoma St.

CJ Curry, who was UGA’s first commitment for its 2012 football recruiting class, switched from the Bulldogs to Oklahoma State on Thursday.

It was a stunning turn of events for the wide receiver from Flowery Branch High School, who informed UGA coach Mark Richt on Wednesday night. Curry had been committed to the Bulldogs since last October.

Ouch.

According to the poll the AJC is running, UGA fans are in denial. At “press time” 68% (1,547 votes) of fans voted that losing CJ was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

The reality is that losing a Georgia prep star to a school outside of the state is a big deal; Oklahoma St. having a pipeline into Georgia is downright disgraceful.

The other reality is that recruiting is a crap shoot; rather rating classes is not exactly a neat and tidy process. I write about this all the time – it takes at least 2-3 years down the road to actually judge a recruiting class.

Go Dawgs!

Don’t Blame the SEC …

If this next round of conference realignment comes to fruition, blame it on the fledgling Longhorn network, not the SEC. Of course it could come out that some backroom dealings by the SEC brought us to this point because all the Big 12 schools, including the disgruntled A&M knew the Longhorns were going to use their new partnership with ESPN to gain financial and recruiting advantages.

I love this bit from ESPN:

If A&M bolts the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference, that could be the trigger for a realignment free-for-all. Hard to believe a program that is a whopping three games over .500 in the past nine football seasons could decide the future of an entire nation, but that may be where we’re headed.

I’d expect the SEC to woo a 14th member. Then you wonder whether 16 makes more sense than 14. And you wonder what happens to a completely destabilized Big 12 — does it poach or get poached? Do the Big Ten and Pac-12 follow through on last year’s flirtation with 14 or 16? Is the Big East in big trouble? What about Notre Dame, which holds a lot of cards but must play them with extreme care? What about Texas, which holds even more?

It is crazy when you consider that Texas A&M is such a key player, one that the SEC has coveted for a key television market. Of course the reality is that Texas is the pin that is going to start the knocking down the dominos; and they will fall quickly.

I don’t have any problems with this; as I wrote a few weeks ago, I wish we would just put aside the notion that college athletics are all about amateur student-athletes. As these latest discussions are showing, it is all about the bottom line and there is a shit load of money at stake.

Mel B – Week 2 Update (Driven)

Wow. I have actually exercised 14 days in a row; first time in my 40 years of existence that I can remember accomplishing that feat. Certainly for the first time in my adult life!

It is not that I am Daisy, a girl who is fat and lazy; or anything like that … I’m not one to hit the gym or work the weight room. I run when my pants start feeling a little too snug because with running I am typically able to drop a few pounds fairly quickly.

I wanted to give Mel B a go to see if I could actually lose weight from the comfort of my living room instead of braving the 95+ degree temperatures encountered when running around the park. In other words, screw the heat and bring on Mel B!

After another week of getting fit with Mel B, I am holding fast at 175 lbs., which is OK, because to be honest, my diet sucked in week two. That’s right, too much beer and too many chips; my gluttonous weakness. Add in the bad eating at the Falcons game Friday night, a really nasty (in a good sort of way) breakfast at the Marriott Saturday morning, and Mellow Mushroom pizza washed down by some not so light cold ones Saturday night, and I’m actually happy I’m holding even. If I could ever put down the beer and salty chip snacks, I would certainly be well on my way, but that would not be very fun.

Of note, I only ran once in the last week (afternoon of Day 8), which means that all calories burned and no weight gained are attributed to Mel B.

Going forward, I may just follow up with an update of calories burned to date and Trophies gained (nice benefit to Mel B – get fit and gain Trophies). I do plan to keep with Mel be for the rest of the month, but I doubt I will do religious daily workouts, then again, I am now actually in a routine and am looking forward to seeing some progress.

Day 9
I did a 15 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone workout which was good for 106 calories. Yes, I did the needful and purchased a 2lb set of wrist weights (1lb per cuff) and a set of 3lb ankle weights (1.5lb per cuff). Holy crap; I would have never expected pain and suffering from 1lb weights. I was thinking about going with a 3lb and 5lb set; while I could have handled more weight on my ankles, not so much on my wrists. I can definitely see Mel B getting me toned; if my arms do not fall off first!

Get Fit could really be improved by showing how much extra calories were burned, tracking how much you lift by day, etc. All that extra resistance has to be good for more calories, right?

Research shows that the use of extra weight on the arms or legs while walking (no studies on running could be located) can add to the calorie expenditure. In one study of walking with walking sticks, calorie expenditure increased by an average of 23% compared to walking without the sticks. In a similar study where subjects walked on a treadmill with arm levers, calorie expenditure increased by 55% above walking without the levers.

Although opinions seem to be mixed on using weights, with plenty of articles warning not to add in ankle and wrist weights to workout sessions; I have no desire to add them to my runs.

I followed up my Pump ‘N’ Tone workout with a 15 minute Combat session, which was good for 102 calories. Of all the exercises Get Fit offers, I really like Combat the best.

Day 10
Today I added in Step fitness (purchased ‘The Step F1011W Original Health Club Step’); call me ‘all in’ with losing weight with Mel B. 20 minutes; 143 calories.

I believe that Get Fit could be significantly improved if the game tracked and showed overall step count. For that matter, it would be nice to see reps and calories by all exercise types.

After my Step workout, I added a 15 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone workout, which according to Mel B, was good for 113 calorie expenditure. It was also good for spaghetti arms!

Day 11
Today started with a 15 minute Dance workout; 97 calories burned. I really don’t like the Dance stuff; besides looking stupid (as previously noted in past Mel B updates) I know I am not coordinated (or graceful) enough to pull off the moves correctly. The camera + Move does not seem to care. In some cases, just coming close enough makes Mel B happy; for some of the routines there is never any satisfying Mel B.

After dancing like a dumb ass, I took up a 15 minute Advance Cardo session, which burned 95 calories.

At this point the Trophies are becoming increasingly scarce; many of the remaining Trophies are repetition based. For full disclosure, I have to admit that I have “cheated” twice – there are two hidden Trophies that require you to work out between 12AM – 2AM (dance aerobics), and 5AM – 7AM (fitness). F that noise; I did the needful and manipulated the PS3 clock in order to make my workouts trigger these Trophies. I rule. All other Trophies have been earned the right way – with my own sweat and suffering.

Day 12
Today I did a 20 minute Step workout, which was good for 158 calories, and interesting enough the Step Trophy ‘Going up?’ for climbing the equivalent of the Empire State Building? Probably. I thought this one would come much later. Turns out Mel B has counted more than 1,860 steps from yours truly. Shocker!

How many steps are there to the top of the Empire State Building?

There are 1,860 from street level to 102nd floor.

After Stepping, I was brave enough to add in a 20 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone session, which besides making my arms burn, was good for 153 calories. I also hit Step Level 80, who knew I could Step like a mofo – I earned the ‘Semi Professional’ Trophy. I am at Level 75 on the other workouts, except for Advance Cardo and Fitness, both of which are tracking at Level 50. I am not sure if I can improve these with more repetition, or if due to a few camera + Move tracking issues, in-game improvement will never be credited.

After Day 11 I mentioned that the Trophies are starting to get scarce; this time I mean it. Most of the ones left are based on completing 20 workouts of a certain type or based on fitness level increases. Still going for the ‘Driven’ Trophy (exercised every day for two weeks) just to prove a point with Mel B.

Day 13
Since I was heading up to ATL in the early afternoon for the Falcons first preseason game, I did a quickie 20 minute Fitness workout around lunch, which burned 153 calories, and also earned the ‘Pizza’ Trophy at ~2700 calories. I thought this Trophy was awarded around 5K calories, but I will take what I can get.

On a personal note, I really needed to burn 500 calories to make up for all the bad food and beer I am about to consume! The good news is my overall fitness level does seem to be improving; I could have easily put in another 20 minute workout.

Day 14
During my 30 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone workout, the Silver ‘Driven’ Trophy popped! This was one of my main goals when I started – be ‘Driven’ enough to workout two solid weeks. I also burned 221 calories, which was a nice bonus for being brave enough to take on a 30 minute Pump ‘N’ Tone session.

Looking Forward …
My next workout will put me over 3K calories burned with Mel B. Who would have guessed that I would burn in excess of 3K calories with this game? I am now at 46% complete (29 Bronze and 1 Silver Trophies) for my efforts, which is a nice haul since I needed to exercise anyway.

I mentioned several times that Trophies should be few and far between now that most of the basic ones are out of the way. I think I am actually inclined to go Trophy whoring – not cheating mind you – really trying to get good enough to earn some of the remaining goodies that are yet to be earned.

Now that ‘Driven’ is out of the way, I will probably start trying to tackle Fitness to see if I can get my level to increase; I want to be fit, that is the goal. I will also try some of the challenges, which I have not attempted yet – Combat first because that one is fun and rewarding.

57 Minutes of Stink, Stank, Stunk …

Did it really take the U.S. a full half and then some to get their first shot on goal against Mexico? I didn’t expect miracles the first match out with Jurgen Klinsmann leading the way, but I was expecting the U.S. to show off a more attacking approach based on the buildup to this not so “friendly” with bitter archrival Mexico.

Instead, the U.S. was adrift; playing on its collective heals until the final 25 minutes before managing the equalizer. 1-1 sure does look better than 1-nil.

Mostly, the U.S. walked away with a draw in which it actually had the bulk of chances because Mexico didn’t look sufficiently perturbed by the score line to actually do something about it.

Agree. In fact, while the US may have been missing its full complement of players (i.e. Dempsey), Mexico certainly didn’t bring its A game to Philadelphia.

Yet much that ails this team is still far from resolved. Mexico eventually began running through the lines, tapping the U.S. into oblivion and picking it apart like it had in June, destroying the Yanks in the possession department. It was only the U.S.’s sturdy play in the middle and El Tri’s inability to connect with a forward through the middle that kept the scoring floodgates from opening. Not until Mexico tired in the final 20 minutes did the U.S. start producing on offense, when young forwards Robbie Rogers, Juan Agudelo and Brek Shea created problems for Mexico with their movement. Before then, however, the U.S. had mustered nothing of consequence on offense, establishing a presence neither on the wings, through the middle nor at center forward.

The bad is still bad; defensive play is shaky at best, and no real attacking threat. The U.S. now has a tendency to exhibit miraculous, tenacious spurts of attacking, which is nice until you analyze and consider that the opposition is either digging in, waiting to sting the U.S. via a counter. Or in the case of Mexico, not pissed off enough to take the game back.

The good news is that we have some young talent (Juan Agudelo, Brek Shea, Robbie Rogers) that made a difference in the second half, but I temper that by saying how much did Mexico care at that point in the game? Agudelo can only get better; needs to not be so feather light getting position. I hope in the upcoming September matches, we get to see more of Shea and what he can bring to the team. Rogers? I’ll be honest, I do not know much about him, but was pleased to see him immediately go over to Shea and congratulate (thank) him on the open net assist. It looks like Rogers may also bring some much needed speed to the pitch. It should be fun to see how these guys develop.

The ratings always tickle me because sometimes they are so arbitrary; everyone sees the game differently. I thought Jermaine Jones was useless, and that Landon Donovan played a solid game on offense, defense, in transition, and servicing the ball into the box.

D Carlos Bocanegra, 7.5: The captain is still completely irreplaceable in the middle of the U.S. defense. He had another strong game and was caught out just once by Rafa Marquez.

Agree. Major concern over the buildup to World Cup qualifying next year has to be shoring up the defense and finding the eventual replacement for Bocanegra. At some point age will catch up with him. It always does.

Better late than never? Daggerdale PSN

I would love to see a decent action RPG based on the current D&D rules, released for the PS3, thus I have been waiting on info on Daggerdale.

We wanted to make the game as accessible as possible, just let players play, harkening back to the ‘old school’ days of gaming. You should be able to play alone, call a buddy over and play locally or jump online and find a party of adventurers to group with. There are definitely development issues with balancing and performance having a downloadable PSN game that is fully featured, but we felt strongly about the usability of the game. Besides, isn’t that what D&D is about – freedom of play?

Kind of lame for the Daggerdale director to post to the official’ish PlayStation blog, and then abandon the blog post without answering any comments, providing insight into the PSN release date, etc.

Daggerdale for the PS3 via PSN; better late than never?

Did I just do that?

Did I really just preorder Madden 12 Hall of Fame Edition with free guaranteed release day arrival? Yep; amazon must love me.

I tried to convince myself that I would skip Madden this year. I swore that I could not play NCAA Football and Madden titles in the same year; time has moved on … too old for dual football games, not enough hours in the day, and all that jazz.

I guess I was just fooling myself …

The nice thing about the pre-order special is that $20 credit, which makes this Hall of Fame Edition a $10 MSRP premium over the standard version. Please amazon offered up the following bonus:

… receive the Amazon exclusive All Rookies Team and All Sophomores Team.

[… coupled with the Hall of Fame bonuses …]

Madden Ultimate Team – Receive the most prestigious Platinum Pack yet, featuring a combination of 13 NFL Hall of Famers and former Madden NFL cover athletes. All cards feature ratings from each player’s most productive season in the NFL.

I loved the concept of Ultimate Team in Madden 10, but did not touch it in Madden 11 because I was worried about wasting too much money on virtual packs of cards, and I did not think there was any possible way for me to keep up with all the school age and college kids. To be fair, I did not really check out Madden 11 Ultimate Team to see if it had any substantial improvements over Madden 11.

It looks like I will be checking out Ultimate Team in Madden 12; if nothing else, my day one packs should be on par with all the kids that invest money straight away on special packs and cards, and have time to burn flipping decks.

EA Sports Season Ticket
Of course the next question you may be asking, is this dumb bloke going to do the needful and pony up $24.99 for EA Sports Season Ticket service?

Right now the answer is no. There was once a time and a place, where I would have done so, but I think that moment has passed me by.

Then again, before the days of amazon, I would shell out an extra $9.99 (or whatever) for release day arrival, and as mentioned above, I did pay premium for the Hall of Fame version of Madden 12. So I have shown signs of hopelessness before.

I don’t normally pay for extra sports DLC, so it would take a lot of spending to make up for that $25, even at a 20% discount rate. In fact, I did not pay for any DLC in Madden 10 (other than maybe $5-7 on Ultimate Team Packs) or Madden 11.

I think the introduction of EA Sports Season Ticket also implies to me that Sony’s PS+ service will be offering fewer EA Sports DLC discounts. How many monthly services can one subscribe to and receive a modest ROI?

Mel B – Week 1 Update

Last Sunday when I started Get Fit with Mel B I was at 178 pounds. One week later the tale of the scales weights out at 175 pounds. I’m not sure how much of this is attributed to Mel B or the running; I think the three tacked on short runs last week were nice fat burning boosters. Either way, if Get Fit is close to being accurate, I can attribute 1606 calories over 8 days and across 9 workout sessions to Mel B. That is an average of 178 calories burned per session, which would otherwise turn into beer fat.

The good news is that I made it a week, and as I just mentioned, I can actually see (via the scales) some real progress. When I got up this morning I could actually feel some of my muscles burning, in a good way; especially my upper arms and shoulders. Mel B is asking me to work out long neglected muscles I didn’t even know I had in the first place.

I have to say that after a week, I am enjoying Get Fit enough that I am going to add in some arm and ankle weights, and I am even going to give step aerobics a go. I’m still not ready to spring for a fit ball or resistance band; maybe one day.

Pros – Wonderment and Joy
While I wouldn’t recommend Get Fit to Trophy whores, at least not the US version, it is cool to see a Trophy pop every now and again as I do the various routines. As silly as it sounds, the Trophies do provide some added motivation, but at the same time they can be a little frustrating (see camera + Move support below). I have actually picked up 22 bronze Trophies, good for 32% complete.

I really enjoy the combat workouts; mentioned the solid upper body burn feeling earlier. I also like the variety, but at some point, if I ever master the exercises, I could see the workouts getting a little stale.

Cons – The Not So Good Stuff
I really don’t like doing some of the exercises with a Move in my hand. Besides the fact that one of my Move controllers will get all sweaty, hot, and bothered, it is just not fun to hold the Move for a lot of the exercises.

At times the camera + Move do not track movement correctly. There are instances where I am 100% convinced that I am doing an exercise correctly, but Mel B rates me with a low rep count and a low score. The game does not rate me well at jumping jacks; seriously … not sure what gives with this one because I can in fact do jumping jacks. From the competitive standpoint (yes, Virginia, I do want those Trophies) this can be a little frustrating because it keeps an otherwise Gold medal performance from being rated as such.

While Get Fit does track some overall statistics, I wish your daily (plus daily, monthly, and yearly) history was tracked. I want more stats, graphs, and charts. Show me how I am doing day-over-day, and track my progress with each exercise (high, low, and average scores, along with calories burned). If this were added to the next version or DLC, I would buy it.

Day 4
Mel B presented me with a 30 minute dance workout. I started to switch up and do a custom exercise because I hate the dance stuff. I look like a drunken idiot flailing about; nothing graceful about my dance moves, but I digress.

I mentioned earlier that the camera + Move does not always track your movements correctly. In the case of dance exercises, this is a good thing because I can sort of, kind of, mimic the moves. If I had to precisely match the elegance and grace of Mel B, I would have to throw Get Fit on eBay.

My 30 minutes of dancing torture was good for ~174 calories. I would have told Mel B this workout was too easy, but she never asked. Bitch! I think you may only be prompted with the too easy, just right, and too hard options if your workout is rated higher than your last workout of the same type. Or maybe you have to do better than your best workout. Need to explore this further.

Day 5
30 minute fitness burned 200 calories. I followed the workout by doing a 15 min kickboxing workout, which was good for 100 calories. I even picked up a Trophy because I am at the 1000 calorie mark, which I suppose is good for a Christmas dinner. It would be cool if the game had a Miller Lite counter.

Day 6
Mel B gave me a 30 minute combat workout; I burned 190 some odd calories, which was good for my first gold Trophy (90% rating; in-game Gold Medal). This was by far my best workout; only reason I did not get rated in the upper 90% was because the camera + Move did not track two exercises correctly.

I followed up with a quick, but short 1.5 park run, which should be good for another 100 calories.

Day 7
Today’s suggested workout was another combat routine. Just for the heck of it (and because my arms felt like dead weight) I decided to switched goals – general fitness (healthy heart), and sports (general sports). I ended up doing an invigorating 30 minute cardio workout, which was good for 202 calories.

This was my second best workout; also another in-game Gold medal. I think the key (for the most part) for the camera and move picking movements correctly is to be in a naturally lit room; no overhead lights or table laps that are in direct view of the camera (i.e. indirect lighting).

I topped off with a 2 mile park run; slow burn, 9.5 minute miles

Day 8
Felling a little bit lazy, I decided to go with a 20 minute custom fitness workout, which burned 165 calories. I thought about adding a follow-up combat workout, but I think I will see if I have anything else in the tank for a short afternoon run.

Moving Forward …
As mentioned at the beginning, next week I am going to add some ankle and wrist weights. I know this will provide more resistance, so I am curious if it will also boost the calories burned per workout.

I am also going to look into add some step aerobics, which should give me some more variety.

If I can make it a solid second week, I should start closing in on 170 pounds, not to mention there is a Trophy (Driven) for showing the dedication to two solid weeks of exercising.

Vita – No Go For Christmas 2011

At least in the US; I’m not sure why the Japanese region is considered to have a better (more complete) launch lineup. Maybe it is just a region thing where Sony does not consider it all that important to have a huge selection of quality games for a day one launch.

Quoting another PlayStation Lifestyle article, at least one analyst believes that doom and gloom are in store for Sony if they do not adjust the price accordingly to be more competitive with their straight-up competition (i.e. Nintendo 3DS).

I don’t really have any concerns over the price, but I think Sony does need to have a long hard look at the other competition. It is not as if I need PCMag or Bloomberg to point out the obvious, but just for shits and giggles …

Bloomberg reported that Hirai said that Sony will not lower the price of the Vita to keep up with competitors.
The elephant in the room, however, remains the wealth of mobile gaming apps that have sprung up for the Apple iOS and Android platforms. Reports from Flurry and others have suggested that gamers are enamored with low-price, “freemium” games for their phones and tablets, that they can upgrade with in-app purchases.

To this end, Sony will really have to look at the price structure for Minis and PSOne Classics, as those can be the driver for competitive trash apps; at least in the case of Minis.

I could see this being the last generation of dedicated portable gaming hardware. I only hope that Sony moves enough Vitas for it to be well supported for at least 5 years.

Mel B Kicked My Ass (Well, Sort Of …)

Several months ago, on a whim, I picked up Get Fit With Mel B. After all, why not use my PS3 + Move + enjoy Scary Spice doing her level best to get me fit? Like I said, it was an impulse purchase, and the game set on a shelf until I realized that I picked up 5 unwelcome pounds during the miserably hot summer months when I only run once a week at best.

I gave up reviewing games a long time ago, so it is fair play for me to say up front that I have only completed day three with the lovely Mel B. What follows are some random thoughts for your reading amusement, and to give you a decent idea of what Mel B may have to offer.

Let’s be honest; Get Fit With Mel B (Get Fit; or sometimes Mel B as strikes my fancy) is very much geared towards the female audience. Just do a google blog search to see where I am coming from. Besides, what self-respecting guy (much less gamer) is going to get all sweaty with Mel B? Bottom line for any female readers that happen upon this article; I’ll try to refrain from talking about Mel B’s spectacular ta tas and overall great looking body, while at the same time you have to appreciate that I know diddlysquat about aerobics.

Thanks to those unwanted pounds, and because curiosity got the better of me, I finally got brave and fired up Get Fit. You just knew I would sniff the dandelions at some point, right? In the end, I always do.

Get Fit prompts you to enter some basic info – weight, height, DOB, along with your body type (skinny, not as skinny, and overweight). My wife said the not as skinny option was perfect for me, thank you very much, although I think she mistook it for buff, broad shoulders, and overall hunk; not just a little bit chubby around the midsection. Did I ever tell you my wife is too kind?

Next up, Get Fit presents you with a selection of background locations for your workout preference; if Get Fit sells at a decent clip, I could see more backgrounds being added in future DLC packs. I picked a nice yacht club background; beautiful water … picturesque for my viewing pleasure.

Mel B also offers a dietary plan of sorts; at least you can look at a daily menu for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and deserts, complete with recipes and preparations instructions. To this end you are given the opportunity to enter some items you don’t eat. I started to put in lamb; I love lamb, but it is not as if I can find any around here … just not a common staple.

Next up you get to pick an overall diet goal – weight loss, detox (i.e. junk food; I thought it meant no more drinking, which would suck), lower cholesterol, and finally healthy heart.

While all the selections make sense, and are good ideas for healthy living, the reality for me is that I am not going to follow the actual diet instructions. My wife is a great cook and while she may get some ideas from the various selections presented to get you healthy, I doubt she would ever be constrained by the 150 or so recipes (yet another DLC opportunity). In the end I picked weight loss, although if I stick with Get Fit beyond August, I may switch at some point just to see if I am right about these being more diet focused.

After selecting your overall goal, you are prompted to select one or two goal categories. I believe these goals will ultimately drive the types of exercise presented during each workout. You get to select from general health, lifestyle, special occasions, sports and activities, and shape. While I did not play around with all the options to see if this applied for each goal category, shape had several amusing subcategories – pecs, butt, shoulder, belly, upper body, lower body & core, and just Plain Jane looking good. If you decide to pick two goal categories, you can also setup the percentage to dedicate to each one.

Mel B will also allow you to make use of certain exercise equipment: aerobic step, fit ball, resistance band, wrist weights, and ankle weights. Since I don’t have any of these devices, I am not sure if I am missing out on any interesting fitness routines. I could see me getting an aerobic step, although I have plenty of steps on my front porch that I make use of after runs. I have never been into weights. Resistance band? No idea. I thought fit balls were used to break your back …

I decided to go with weight loss, general health and shape (belly focus), opting for a 50/50 split between general health and the dreaded belly fat.

Get Fit is nice enough to allow you to go with a pre-assigned workout routine, allow you to customize your own program, and you can pick the amount of time you wish to work out. You can also practice any of the exercises and there are tutorials where Mel B gives you the run down on exactly how to perform an exercise.

Day 1
30 minutes of torture. I have a whole new respect for aerobics; no coordination. So much for enjoying Mel B’s ta tas.

Good Lord; I’m out of shape … haven’t run in a couple of weeks, but I haven’t done aerobics since a junior high school physical education class. Let me be honest and admit that I was really dying at the 20 minute mark, but thankfully I finally hit the cool down exercises without hurting myself.

I was disappointed that I didn’t get to do any sit ups (I thought we were going to fix my belly fat), and I did not really enjoy waving around a Move controller. Interesting enough, Mel B never held a Move, so I am not sure what that is about.

While I was huffing and puffing at the end of my 30 minutes, when prompted, I was ashamed to tell Mel B that the advance cardio workout was too hard, so I went with just right. Probably; Mel B just kicked my ass.

For my efforts I did pick up five Trophies. I am afraid to really look and see what is required to platinum the one. Dance aerobics? Probably not going to happen. Back in “real” life Mel B informed me that I burned 196 calories, which just shows you how much good food sucks – Trophies for burning off a chocolate bar, a pizza and Christmas dinner.

Day 2
I decided to go with a 25 minute workout. For whatever reason, Mel B decided to throw some dance aerobics at me. If I thought I was wasted on regular aerobics, the dancing was a little over the top.

My wife unmercifully made fun of me, which was well deserved. I can’t dance; give me some sit-ups, pushups, park running … anything but clunky uncoordinated fumbling around on the screen dancing.

During the workouts, Mel B would encourage me to let me know I am doing the exercise correctly, or offer up some advice – twist your hips, lift your legs higher, follow the beat, not so fast, take it easy, etc. At some point I am going to have to experiment to see if this is Move related, or just camera tracking technology. Either way, I thought it was pretty cool (a tad repetitive) that Get Fit picks up your mistakes and tells you what needs to happen in order to nail the exercises.

By the end of the workout, I burned 130+ calories, and picked up another three or four Trophies. This “game” is a Trophy whore’s best friend or worst nightmare; really depends on your desire to exercise while earning virtual goodies.

The overall workout was OK at best; worked up a decent sweat, but I also know that I didn’t perform the exercises (dances) correctly. In the end I felt dissatisfied and a little silly, so I told Mel B that the workout was too easy. I then decided to go for a quick run around the park to help me burn off the rest of my energy.

Day 3
This time I went back to a 30 minute workout. Mel B kicked my ass ten ways to Sunday with her fitness routine. 204 calories, three more Trophies, and spaghetti arms (I’m push-up’ed out).

For some reason the camera or Move had trouble counting some of my sit up variations; will probably have to experiment with camera and move placement later.

Day 4 and Beyond
My short term goal is to make a sold week of working out with Mel B using the default (suggested) exercise routines. If I can make it into week two, I will probably play around some with custom workouts so I can pick things I actually enjoy; I will probably cry every time Mel B makes me dance.

The question is will I stick with Mel B? Really depends. If burning an additional 130-200 calories a day helps me lose weight, I am all for it despite looking perfectly silly in the process.

Braves Pick Up Michael Bourn

The Braves finally made a splash with a close of the deadline deal for the Astros Michael Bourn. According the ESPN’s Jayson Stark, the Braves came out a winner.

Enter Michael Bourn. Take a guy who has a .354 on-base percentage, add him to an offense whose leadoff hitters ranked 26th in baseball in OBP ’til he showed up and see what happens.

Now consider the lineup-changing effect of Bourn’s 32-SB wheels (injected into a roster that had swiped 42 all year). And, finally, add in his top-of-the-charts defense. And this was a monster of a deal, especially considering the Braves were able to make it without giving up any of the elite pitching prospects they had balked at trading for Beltran or Pence.

If Bourn fits in and does what he was imported to do, said one scout, “this team is going to be dangerous.”

Of course Stark also listed the Phillies, Giants, and Mets (addition by subtraction) as winners, so small consolation, but the addition of Bourn should be enough for the Braves to at least lock up the Wild Card slot.

From the perspective of Bourn being a finished product (compared to Jordan Schafer) the deal makes sense. The Braves get Bourn for one more year (arbitration eligible in 2012) before he hits the FA market without having to give up one of their top pitching prospects. Sounds like a win to me, especially if they are able to lock up Bourn for an additional 3-4 years at a reasonable price tag.

I think some of the guys over at the bleacher report are a little over optimistic; at least this guy that thinks the Braves are now destined for a World Series run.

Bourn is the speedy center fielder the Braves haven’t had in quite a long time. The speedster is leading all of baseball in stolen bases with 39. He is the type of base-stealer that I really want the team to just let him go. Let him pick and choose his attempts, because it could really help a stagnant offense.

Along with his speed, Bourn is hitting .303 this season, which is .032 points higher than his career average. He has two Gold Gloves to his name and is one of the best defensive outfielders in the league.

It has been a while since the Braves has had quality bat at the top of the order with true speed. The added bonus is that Bourn plays great defense in center, which will only help a strong pitching staff look even better.

Not that I pay that much attention to fantasy baseball (have not played in a few years) but I thought it was interesting that for most of the year Bourn has been better than average in points value. Not spectacular mind you, but hopefully well enough to translate into a NL East challenge and a deep playoff run.

Go Braves!

Falcons Secondary Needs Help

I wrote earlier today that I am firmly in the camp that believes a good pass rush will do wonders for a poor coverage secondary. So did the Falcons improve enough with their signing of DE Ray Edwards to compensate for a lackluster secondary?

Nope. Not there yet. Last year the problem for Atlanta was that Dunta Robinson did not perform at anywhere near to a shutdown CB. Not that there are many true shutdown CBs in the NFL, but when your d-line has trouble getting to the QB, the secondary becomes exposed.

Last year I kept thinking that at any moment Dunta was going to show his worth; never saw it manifest on the field. Not that Dunta sucked; for from it, but I would say that the threat of the possibility of Dunta being special actually kept Dunta from being completely exposed. That and the other side of the field was considered more fertile ground.

Last year’s underwhelming d-line and a suspect secondary forced Atlanta into a prototypical bend but don’t defense, which was a nice concept, however the problem with that approach is that you give up big yards, while holding your breath that you keep the opponent off the scoreboard. I think it is the same mindset as the dreaded prevent defense, except over the course of any entire game instead of the closing minutes of the 2nd or 4th quarters.

Why even gamble? I say attack the QB; penetrate the backfield to disrupt the QB and running game, which in effect means limiting a team’s ability to control the clock.

This approach will never work if the secondary cannot do its part. While the Falcons made a splash going after Dunta, he has not lived up to his contract, which means no matter how much pressure Edwards and the rest of the d-line can put on the opposing QB, the Falcons will simply be exposed if the secondary cannot stop opposing receivers from catching the ball. This article hits the nail on the head …

According to Football Outsiders, Asomugha had a 55 percent success rate in coverage during the last three years, while Robinson’s was less than 44 percent.

He has 14 career interceptions, but hasn’t picked off more than two in a season since his rookie year.

Robinson had an unspectacular year in his first season in Atlanta. He is a solid, above-average cover corner, and definitely not worth the $8.5 million he will make this year alone.

Playing opposite of Dunta is the athletic and overachieving Brent Grimes. Yes, he had a nice year, but I am still not sold on the athletic approach vs. pure ability. To me Grimes is best suited as a backup, and maybe as a nickel back in certain passing situations.

It will be interesting to watch the next few days to see if Atlanta’s front office attempts to make another splash and shore up the secondary, or if they believe that the d-line is going to get to the QB enough to limit downfield shots on Dunta and company.

Story of two quotes – Falcons DE Edwards may be missing piece.

Now that I am back from my UK sojourn, I have been catching up on some of the Falcons coming and goings. Of course the big news of the weekend is the signing of former Minnesota Viking DE Ray Edwards.

The ESPN NFC South Blog had this little ditty from Edwards:

“I definitely came to a great team who went 13-3 last year and hasn’t lost any key components,’’ Edwards told Daniel Cox. “I feel like I was just the missing piece.”

Wow; balls saddled up, sounds like Ray is ready to play. With ego comes pressure to perform, except in this case the pressure seems to be manufactured (or at the very least hyped) by Pat Yasinskas. I really like Mr. Yasinskas’ work, but the problem here is that the quote seems to be taking out of context. At the very least, the ESPN article is going for sensationalism, while D. Orlando Ledbetter at the AJC takes a more low key approach.

Edwards amassed 20.5 sacks over the past two seasons, if you count his four in the playoffs.

He was quick to note that he has sacked Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers six times. Rodgers and the Packers eliminated the Falcons from the playoffs last season.

“Hopefully, I’m the missing piece,” Edwards said.

I follow the philosophy that a strong pass rush can hide flaws in a poorly contrived secondary, and to this end Edwards can help, however the Falcons secondary is in need of repair. More on this subject next …

The Olde Country

As they say in the Old Country, I shall not be posting for a few days, hopefully lifting up a few pints of new previously undiscovered deliciousness during my travels.

I don’t think there is anything worse than international travel. Arrive at the ATL airport super early because the kiosk either will not read my passport, or I have been flagged as a naughty and dangerous super spy. Probably both; I’m a bad man. Stand in line with a bunch of equally grumpy travelers, and all that before we get violated by the security lines.

Traveling on a plane, outside of business / first class is really awful; and I think the airlines do their level best to make it as uninviting and intimidating as possible. The seats suck, are uncomfortable, and you just know luck always dictates getting a fat or smelly person (sometimes both) that wants to invade your personal space. I’m sorry, but if you cannot fit within your own seat, you should be required to purchase two tickets. Not to mention that the seats are too damn small in the first place, but I digress. If you stink, security should kick you out before you are allowed in the terminal. Just saying.

In short, if you cannot tell, I’m really not looking forward to this trip to (not so lovely) Nottingham; probably 18 hours from the time I leave my house to the hotel. For my troubles, hopefully I’ll get to partake in at least one drink at Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem.

All Texas, all the time?

According to SI, the rest of the (why do they still call it) Big-12 is a little nervous (running scared) about the new Texas Longhorn network. Rightly so; Texas will get a sizable financial and recruiting advantage, which in addition to the merchandising efforts, was really the reason for establishing such a presence in the first place.

For Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas State, none of this matters. Texas is Willy Wonka, and they are Charlie Bucket. They’re just happy to be there. Kansas is closer to those three than it is to Oklahoma, but it has some juice thanks to its basketball program and probably could snag a Big East invite if things went sideways. Missouri would find a major-conference home, too, thanks to two large media markets within the state’s borders. Meanwhile, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech had a chance to change conferences last year. Texas A&M and Oklahoma were courted by the Pac-10 and the SEC, and a sizable portion of Texas A&M’s fan base remains angry the Aggies didn’t jump to the SEC.

I’m all for it; why not, I’m a native Texan and love to watch the Longhorns as much as possible. Besides, it’s time to put aside the notion that college football is some glorified form of amateur sports. In this respect, I give you Ohio St., Cam “I don’t know nothing about my father shopping me,” USC’s disgraced (former) Heisman winner, and so on and so forth.

This new Longhorns network could be the last crack in the door before holy hell sets forth on the college athletics landscape. Anyone that does not think college football is all about the bottom line is naïve. Of course recruiting the top prospects in Texas and across the country will ultimately contribute to the school’s coffers, and maybe even eventually to the determent of the current fraud known as the BCS.

It will be interesting to see how this develops. I hope the Big-12 attempts to block the Longhorn’s network from finally seeing the light of day. Maybe we can finally get a couple of super conferences; somehow the Big-10, SEC, and PAC-10 dividing up the spoils. Or maybe Texas sees the light of day and goes Independent.

I support the new Longhorn network, not because I am a native Texan, and not because Texas is my 1B (to 1A UGA). Why? Because I see the network as a catalyst. No matter how it plays out, Pandora’s Box is about to be irreparably opened. For better or worse, college football’s landscape is about to change (again), and hopefully the NCAA (rules and infractions IRS like infrastructure) and the BCS comes crumbling down.

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection

It looks as if the HD version of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus now has a firm release date of September 27. Hard to believe that I preordered this last November during Thanksgiving shopping season.

What do I get for the long delay? According to the official’ish Sony blog, a couple of free themes.

As if that wasn’t enough reason to pick up this collection in September, I’m happy to announce that the disc will also come with some amazing bonus content. Packed in every new copy of the game will be a voucher for two XMB Dynamic Themes, one for ICO and one for Shadow of the Colossus. In addition, on the disc itself will be a ton of exclusive video content from ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian that fans won’t want to miss. We’re busy finalizing the videos as we speak, and will have more details to share next month.

I am sure the videos are going to be interesting, but pre-order specials should include some nice, even if minor, trinkets. At any rate, I am looking forward to play ICO in HD. This was one of the many games that I missed the first time around, and have always been curious about the implementation; mostly because of the rabid, if niche following.