SEC Predictions (Week 13)

As we turn into the final regular season weekend of the year, we get all the classic rival match-ups, playing for Boots, Iron, and Eggs! I am 44-36 on the season; let’s see how I finish out, once again against the BETUS.com line as seen on USAToday.com.

2 Alabama at Auburn
The Tigers have had ample opportunity to reflect on blowing a game against the slumping Dawgs, and to get up for a game where they are getting 9.5 points. Everyone expects Alabama to blow Auburn out of the water, but I expect this one to be close. At least for a while before turnovers change the course of the game and the Tide’s rushing attack finally wears down Auburn. I keep staring at those 9.5 points; I think Alabama wins, but Bama will not cover.

18 Clemson at South Carolina
South Carolina is getting 3 points at home, but I do not think that will be enough. When I first thought about this one, I thought the Fighting Chickens would put up a hell of a fight, and they will. With that said, I think the Tigers will just be too much for another South Carolina team that stumbles down the stretch.

Florida St. at 1 Florida
The Gators are giving up a whopping 24.5 points to the down and out Seminoles. This year I have been burned multiple times by taking Florida to cover huge point spreads, which means that I am going in the opposite direction and will probably get burned. I am going to take Florida St. and the points, but Florida will win.

25 Mississippi at Mississippi St
Those other SEC Bulldogs are getting +7.5 at home and will need every bit of it to capture the coveted Egg. Over the last few weeks I have become a true believer in Mississippi so I am taking them to cover.

Tennessee at Kentucky
Not sure who to pick in this one; both teams are fairly disappointing, but Kentucky is coming off an emotional high after kicking the Bulldogs in the teeth between the Hedges. The Wildcats are getting 3 points at home, so the pundits don’t have a clue either; at least it is not just me! The Volunteers have lost all three of their road games this year, but I don’t think the trend continues. Begrudgingly I am taking Tennessee to cover.

Arkansas at 15 LSU
This one should be entertaining. LSU is giving up 3.5 to Arkansas, but the Tigers will cover and capture that Boot.

Georgia at 7 Georgia Tech
This is going to be painful for UGA fans; a Nationally Televised Prime Time thrashing at the hands of the hated Bumble Bees from ATL. I would love nothing better than for Georgia to win, and kick Tech out of the Top 10. A loss puts this downtrodden Georgia team at 6-6, and in danger of a losing season. I am shocked to see that Tech is only giving up 7.5, but they cover easily. When I pick against the Dawgs, it is always based on reality, not my desire for the win.

Go Dawgs!

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Thanksgiving Football – No NFL Network

I wish the NFL Network and the various cable companies would kiss and make up. Can’t we all just get along? It seems like there would be enough money to be made to keep everyone happy.

I am not sure who is really to blame. In my case it is either Charter or the NFL Network, but I tend to side with Charter on this one. I am already paying high enough prices as it is, so adding an additional fee (assuming Charter and the NFL Network could reach some sort of agreement) is not very appealing. As I understand it, the NFL Network does not want their fledgling channel to be part of some sort of premium package, but the cable companies think the NFL Network fee is just too high to absorb the channel into their various packages.

Oh well, I guess a lot of NFL fans will not get to watch the best matchup of the day – New York Giants at Denver. I will be pulling for Denver, to help out the Falcons, but I will be watching Texas Hook the Aggies!

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Contemplations – Making a difference

Earlier this morning I had an epiphany! The Recycle Bin no longer makes a difference. Not that way it once did.

When the site first started, it made a difference (at least in my own mind) because folks visited for the video game reviews and gaming news commentary. While the reviews may have been long winded, they were completely honest, in-depth, and painstakingly crafted (with a little bit of love). By the time you read a manifest on a game, you knew if it was something you wanted to purchase. The reviews were even picked up by other major (at the time) review site conglomerates. My commentary was never as hard hitting, sarcastic, and insightful as the heyday of Sports Reviewers, but I did my best, finding my own style. For what it is worth think I held my own pretty well.

Calvert Games eventually evolved into a small, but healthy community of gamers, supported by an enthusiastic user base posting in the CG Forums. It was fun, it was different, but it made a difference to the other site writers and the forum community. Of course it eventually because a chore, the site software was not secure and was often hacked. The last straw came when the site was hacked on my oldest son’s birthday. I was livid, and pulled the plug on the site, much to the surprise of Kevin and company. Looking back on it, that approach was a mistake. I should have suspended the site, and told everyone what I was considering and why. So belated apologies to Kevin, Ted, Adam, and Derek.

As I wrote a couple of days ago, the current incarnation of The Recycle Bin is more a less a mess. Eureka! For me Calvert Games has always been a way to express an opinion; hopefully an informative one. It is also a stress relief. I have often said that I may not write well, and if the site had an editor, I would get roasted on a frequent basis. Ah, but I enjoy writing, and the only way to get better is to write. Perfect practice makes perfect. Something along those lines.

Now I get it and understand what is currently missing from my musings. I just need to figure out what I am going to do about it and get on with things. For me to soldier on with the site, it has to make a difference. What is the point of chaotic, random expression of thoughts and opinions? That is kind of where The Recycle Bin is today. Maybe that is OK – maybe it makes sense to focus on SEC football, the Falcons, soccer (from a Team USA fan vantage), and airguns. The video game commentaries may have to go, or at least it is time to morph the way these are presented. Not sure about the other video game stuff – these days I am such a casual gamer that what I write is probably not very useful. All I can say is WTF was I thinking when I threw up a birdwatching category?

So where to from here? I have no clue, but I want the site to make a difference. At least I figured that part out.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Contemplations – Thanksgiving is almost here!

Tomorrow is a great National Holiday – a day to give thanks, and I have a lot to be thankful for. First, of course there is my family – my wife is a saint and my kids are truly precious. Second, in these down and out economic times, I am gainfully employed; allowing me to pay the mortgage and allowing my wife to stay at home to home school the kids.

So as I look to Thanksgiving, I have to thank the Good Lord above for all the blessings in my life.

Tomorrow, bright and early I will be grilling a very non traditional Thanksgiving dinner – Boston butt roast (AKA pulled pork). Hey, who likes turkey anyway? Should be a good opportunity to see what the Weber Q 220 can do with a big ‘ol hunk of meat.

Hope you and yours have a blessed holiday!

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Contemplations – A change in directions?

Calvert Games (AKA The Recycle Bin) has existed in one form or another for over eight years. As my grandmother was fond of saying – “that is a hell of a note!”

I posted the first Calvert Games article on September 27, 2001, and “officially” launched the site October 1, 2001. Prior to that I spent some time with the infamous Sports Reviewers, and of course stretching back in time even further, Usenet was my original proving grounds for videogame reviews, commentaries, ramblings, and whatnot. Eight years with a site is a long time; 12+ years of writing about videogames feels like an eternity.

These days the Recycle Bin has more or less lost focus, and while I have explained that I have a few primary seasonal writing interests, including adult oriented airgun articles, Georgia Bulldog and Falcons football, and maybe even some Dungeons and Dragons, videogames seems to play second fiddle. Over the last few months it has felt like more of a chore looking for something interesting videogame related to write about.

Would you believe that I have posted daily articles going back to June 18? By my reckoning, that is 160 days of continuous writing. Can you say burn out?

Over the last 60 days I have purchased Demon’s Souls, renewed my WoW subscription, picked up OOTP 10, and ranted about the PSP Go all in the name of trying to renew my videogames jones. It is just not there right now. I have not played FIFA since the first week it was released. It is a fine game, I just do not have the time, energy, or inclination to play the game and then write about my experiences. Something has to give.

While there are a few very successful older videogame writers (we will call them journalists for our purposes here), I think that as I close in on 40 that my time as a videogame blogger is nearing an end. There are better writers elsewhere, sites with fresher content, and certainly sites with more focus. When things become a chore, it is no longer fun, and certainly no longer a hobby. That was the primary driver for me closing down the last incarnation of Calvert Games, which resulted in the current blog format. Déjà vu all over again.

I am not saying that I am down and out; done if you please. However, I do think that I will take the Thanksgiving break to evaluate a change in direction. I think it is time.

Regardless of “where to from here” – even if the site retains its current format – I want to thank all the readers that have supported the site over the years.

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Falcons visit Giants in a must win game.

The “must win” moniker is often over played, but for these two 5-4 teams, it is the real deal. Win and you have a shot at one of the two Wild Card slots, lose and you are almost assuredly out of the Playoff hunt. Well, maybe not for the Giants; they are only one game back in the East, but for the Falcons, the South is already lost.

The Falcons come into this one at an extreme disadvantage. First the numb-nuts that provided for Atlanta’s blatantly unfair scheduling having giving the Falcons another game, this time on the road, against a team coming off a bye week. This makes for of these on the year, which is the highest in the league. What did Atlanta do to piss off the scheduling folks? Second, the Falcons are getting hit hard by the injury bug, with Turner doubtful to see any action, and Norwood, for the first time in four games, will see limited action at best.

Then there is the case of the slumping Ryan. I am not in favor of the sophomore jinx thing, but I think the more he presses, the worse things get. I have written a good deal about this over the last few weeks, so I am not going to go into more detail right now. Just suffice it to say that Ryan has to avoid turnovers and re-introduce the deep ball to have a chance against the Giants.

I love the Falcons media packages that Atlanta puts together for each game. There is some hope for the Falcons because the road team has won the last 12 meetings. If Atlanta gets off to a quick start, and holds the lead at the half, they are 16-1 under Coach Smith. The Falcons rank fourth in strength of schedule, of course as mentioned above that number should have an asterisk due to the number of bye games crap. At any rate, the amount of statistical information in the Falcons media packages, including break downs by games and players is amazing. Well worth a read!

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SEC Roundup (Week 12 – Georgia Blows Lead at the Half)

I am not even sure how to put this one together this morning. There has been a lot of stuff going on (that real life stuff) so I have been more or less sleep deprived the last few days. I decided to call it a day after Georgia took a very safe 20-6 lead into the half. The Dawgs looked good in all facets of the game – the rushing attack was strong, Cox was making good decisions, and the defense was holding a woeful Kentucky passing attack in check. Imagine my surprise this morning when I was putting together this article – Georgia lost 34-27?

I am tempted to look at this one on ESPN360 just to see where it all went wrong. The box score shows that the Bulldogs dominated the game, but KY held onto the ball while the Dawgs turned it over 4 times.

Words cannot describe how disappointing this loss feels, but I guess it was fitting end to a week that saw UGA VII pass away. What a downer of a season this one has been. Instead of being 7-4, and looking for a shot at decent Bowl game, the Dawgs are staring 6-6 square in the eyes. The only hope left to this miserable season is that the Dawgs do not get completely embarrassed by the Bumble Bees on National TV (ABC) next Saturday night.

Making matters worse is that the coaching staff decided not to give an opportunity down the stretch to the QB of the future (TBD). Instead, they thought this team had what it took to be better than .500, but in the end, what would that have been worth? Either way the Dawgs now must face the fact that they could have a losing season (let’s assume they lose out to Ga. Tech, and their Bowl opponent) and next year’s QB will have virtually no experience. So I can picture some early mistakes that are “covered” by the staff as a lack of experience. Excuse me? That experience should have been earned this year during this sad excuse of a season.

Week 12 Roundup
I went 4-2 on the week. Winners were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, and LSU, while my Losers were Georgia, and Tennessee. This brings my total on the season to 44-36. So no matter how bad I miss on my picks next week, I am guaranteed to have a winning season, which is something that cannot be said of Georgia!

Most of the picks were not really surprising, but how about LSU and their poor clock management in the last 30 seconds? I also had a feeling that Tennessee would not cover, but Vanderbilt has failed me too many times this season.

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4E Players get a break

In what can only be described as a tremendous deal, Wizards of the Coast is offering up a special “holiday” bundle for 4E players. Featuring the Player’s Handbook (PHB) and the Player’s Handbook 2 (PHB2), 4th Edition Player’s Handbook Collection: 4th Edition D&D Core Rulebooks is a steal of a deal. Amazon has this set listed for $23.07, which just happens to be the same price as the PHB and PHB2, so you are getting a buy one get one free deal.

For those so inclined, this bundle also includes a voucher to save $12 off a yearly D&D Insider subscription.

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SEC Predictions (Week 12)

This will be a short prediction article. I’m using the Danny Sheridan lines this week, and for the two games not on the board, I am reverting back to the Calvert’s Odds which requires the favorite to cover 31 points. Going into the weekend I am 40-33.

Mississippi St at Arkansas
Arkansas is giving up -10.5 to the Bulldogs of Mississippi. For the most part Mississippi St has sold defense, but I think the Razorbacks are too solid at home not to cover. Arkansas is the pick.

Chattanooga at 2 Alabama
Wow. What a late season clunker of a game to have on the Tide’s schedule. Alabama is the pick to cover Calvert’s Odds.

Florida Intentional at 1 Florida
Another scheduling head scratcher. Florida to cover Calvert’s Odds.

8 LSU at Mississippi
Mississippi is giving up -3.5 at home. This one is hard to predict. The Tigers had an off game last week, almost resulting in an upset at the hands of Louisiana Tech, while Ole Miss completely thrashed the Volunteers. I am going to take LSU and the points.

Vanderbilt at Tennessee
Tennessee has to cover 16, and Vanderbilt always plays Tennessee well, which makes for an upset. There has been a lot of off field turmoil coming out of Volunteer Nation over the last couple of week, plus they laid an egg against Mississippi last week. I have sworn off taking Vanderbilt this year, so I am going to have to go with Tennessee, which probably means I am going to get burned two years in a row.

Kentucky at Georgia
Life without A.J. Green begins this week, and Georgia is still favored by 7 points. The Bulldogs are going to be in mourning over the sudden loss of UGA VII, so hopefully they win one for Loran’s Best! UGA is the pick to cover by 12+ points running away!

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Turner out? For how long?

According to the official Falcons site injury report, Turner did not practice again today, but Norwood saw limited action. I know Turner wants to play, but it does not look good. A backup combination of Snelling and Norwood would not be horrible, but Snelling and recently resigned (again) Stecker does not give me a lot of hope.

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PSN Subscription Fee Rumors

The rumors are running rampant – PSN no longer free. Or premium offerings for a special fee. And so on and so forth. This bit from PSXExtreme:

We see the same question at least a few times per month from readers: “will Sony start charging for the Network?” We always have the same answer: “no, but they may charge for some sort of premium service that is optional.” This seemed almost inevitable from the very first moment we learned the PSN was to be free; once they were in a good position (which is now), Sony would likely provide users with an optional primo service that delivers extra content for a small fee. And now, according to this slide from Sony’s Media/Investor Conference, it seems clear the time has come: right at the bottom of the PSN features on that slide, it says “New revenue stream from subscription.” Now, this could mean any number of things, but we certainly don’t believe you’ll suddenly have to pay to play online. That will always remain free if we take Sony’s words at face value; this new addition will be something special for members and if they want to pay for it, that’s their choice.

I may pay a premium for extra content, but the price has to be right, and certainly there has to be value for my hard earned dollar. I did pony up for a Qore subscription, but have since let it expire because it frankly was just not worth the money. If there would have been a free downloadable PSN game each month, along with Remote Play (or downloadable play) on the PSP, then I would have said it was a good deal.

It will be interesting to see what Sony plans to offer for this new subscription revenue stream.

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OOTP 10 – Just Getting Started

I have been attempting to get into OOTP Baseball 10, which I purchased on sale for $29.99 a few hours after the 2009 World Series ended. I say attempting, because the game in damn complicated. Maybe insanely in-depth is a better description.

I skipped the last couple of iterations of OOTP. Going back a few years, OOTP 6.5 and to a lesser extent OOTP 2006 were the last versions I played extensively. I have not played any version of OOTP in the last 18 months (probably longer). After being away from the game for an extended break, OOTP 10 is different, much different than the versions I used to play (that night vs. day thing), but at the same time sort of a welcome home experience. My biggest issue is just finding the time to really concentrate on learning the game.

Simple things can often be a chore, but for now we can chalk it up as user error. For example, during one of my games I received a message that one of my pitchers had been suspended for two games by the commissioner. Why? I clicked on the message, but that did not give me much info. After clicking around for a while I finally found what I was looking for under the player’s history section. Apparently he was a key figure in a bench clearing brawl.

OK, so the above example has nothing really to do with the game, but that is sort of the point. OOTP 10 is deep. Lots to do, lots to learn, and I have not even scratched the surface. Hopefully I will have some time over the next week or so (Thanksgiving) to really plug in deeper.

Right now I am just messing around with a Quick Start league with the 2009 MLB rosters, but I would like to start a season directly after the 2009 season (or at least with rosters more current than the start of the 2009 season) and play around with managing the Braves, just controlling the line ups, depth charts, and pitching. Of course this means that I have to find new rosters, and then figure out how to switch the game to use the new database. All of this use to be old hat, but assuming I can get a little free time, I am sure I can figure it out.

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