I love Amazon’s Prime Release Day shipping service. FIFA 2010 will be here today for a grand total of $56.99. If you do the math, this comes out to $56.99 for the game + $0 shipping + $0 sales tax. Not a bad deal!
FIFA 2010 ships
Falcons survive Bears 21-14.
It may not have been pretty, but a win is a win. You have to give this one to the Falcons defense inside the Red Zone, which was damn good, including one series late in the game where they forced two fumble, recovering the second one.
For consecutive years, the Dome was loud; unfortunately a large contingent of obnoxious Bears fans where there to support the visiting team. No matter; when it counted the most, the Falcons fans were the loudest and defended the Dome.
Football night in ATL
Tonight the Falcons play host to the Bears. Everyone remembers the drill from last year. Matt Ryan hooked up with a sideline pattern to Michael Jenkins, saving a second on the clock to allow Jason Elam to kick the Falcons to a 22-20 win. It was a riot in the Dome. I still remember all the Bears fans chanting “Da Bears” as they took the lead with only a few seconds remaining, but the last second heroics of Ryan/Jenkins/Elam sent those same annoying Bears fans away in stunned silence.
Tonight is the rematch. Primetime TV on NBC; should be a great time. I am going to take the two oldest boys up mid-afternoon for a tailgate. My seven-year old loves throwing around a football in the parking lot with dad. Plus the hotdogs are always good. Since this one is a night game, mom is going to allow the kids to layout of school tomorrow; or at least get off to a late start. Speaking of late, I doubt the kids will make the whole game, but I am sure we will still have a blast.
The Falcons are favored by 3 points, but I do not like the match-up when you consider that the Bears are coming off a bye, and the Falcons are coming back from a very successful Left Coast trip. Still, I have to believe that the offense will score enough points if Turner and company are able to move the ball successfully on the ground.
Cannot wait for the fun to begin. Go Falcons!
SEC Roundup (Week 7)
Week 7 was a damn good football Saturday. Not only did Georgia get out of their funk against Vanderbilt, Texas also survived the Red River Rivalry to remain entrenched in the non SEC side of the BCS (or should we call it the BS C) race. Top it off with more wins (Georgia, Kentucky, Miss St, South Carolina) than misses (Florida, Mississippi) and my record on the year is a healthy 29-22.
James Bond Blu-ray Collection: Volume 2
I finished up Volume 2 of the James Bond Blu-ray Collection last night, saving Thundarball, my favorite in the collection for last. All things considered, I know From Russia with Love is considered a classic, and it is a good film, but Thunderball in my humble opinion is a lot better. Not only does the story hold up well, but the underwater photography is still pretty damn good. Well, except for the fight scene at the end, which is pretty remarkably stupid.
Bond: “That looks like a women’s gun.”
Largo: “Do you know a lot about guns, Mr. Bond?”
Bond: “No, but I know a little about women.”
As quick ratings go, I will rank Thunderball 5-stars, For Your Eyes Only 4-stars, and From Russia with Love 3-stars. If you are a fan of Bond movies, these are worth picking up because the two 1960s movies in this set have never looked so good. Plus For Your Eyes Only is just a plain fun Sir Roger Moore movie. Yes, some of the fights and special effects do not hold up well, but in general the photography is still top notch. To me this set was easily $30 well spent.
Marauder Single Shot Tray
Crosman is now offering a Single Shot Tray for the Marauder. I ordered one last night. At $14.99 the price is not bad at all, but shipping charges of $9.84 are a little over the top.
Hope this arrives a few days after my new Marauder. I love the repeater magazines; in fact I have four. I like the idea of the Single Shot Tray for quick pellet sampling. I will of course provide a report in the coming days.
SEC Predictions (Week 7)
This is the first real fall football weather weekend (currently 45F as I sit in my kitchen prepping this article). I love this time of year! Brisk, cool air; deep blue skies (but mostly rain around here lately), and SEC football!
This week I am turning back to Danny Sheridan’s odds. Let’s be honest; the point spreads this weekend suck, making this a scary weekend if you are throwing around something other than Monopoly dollars. Let’s see if I can improve on my 25-20 record
Miss. St at Mid Tennessee St
I am surprised that Miss. St. is only giving up 3.5 points to the Blue Raiders. I am not sure if this is an indictment on some of the lower tier SEC teams, or a stunning endorsement of the Sun Belt Conference. The Western Bulldogs will win and cover; it may be hard early on, but their depth will take them over the top. Miss. St is the pick.
Arkansas at 1 Florida
The Gators are giving up 24 points to the piglets; that is a lot of damn points, which makes this a total trap game. Arkansas may be over confident after thrashing Auburn, but are they 24 points bad to Florida? I am not sure why, but I am going to take Florida to cover.
UAB at Mississippi
Another trap game; the old guys from Mississippi are giving up 22 points to UAB of Conference USA. I don’t know jack crap about the Blazers, other than Roddy White rules thank you very much, but Mississippi is not about to beat the Blazers by 22 points. It is just too big of a spread to get folks like me to take the points. Done; UAB not to win, but I like the points.
Kentucky at Auburn
Kentucky is 0-3 in the SEC, but I do not think they are 13.5 points bad to the Tigers from Auburn. Both teams are coming off devastating loses, but they are different losses. The Tigers loss was just plain bad, while the Wildcats played their hearts out against the Fighting Chickens. Kentucky is the pick; not sure if they will win, but I like the points.
22 South Carolina at 2 Alabama
So far the Tide has easily dispatched all comers, and South Carolina should not be any different. The problem here is the spread; Alabama is giving up 17 points. Ouch. That is a nasty spread. If South Carolina brings their A defensive game, and their QB does not start throwing picks to the boys in crimson, the Tide will not roll. Alabama to win, but they will not cover. South Carolina and 17 points is the pick.
Georgia at Vanderbilt
It is always a scary proposition to take Georgia to cover (the Dawgs are giving up 8 points), but Vanderbilt is not very good this year. After the Commodores took it on the chin against Army, I am done picking them this year. Georgia covers.
Pretty bad state of affairs when I am just treating the Dawgs game as another ho-hum match up, but that is where we are right now with Georgia.
For what it is worth, I am taking Texas over Oklahoma. Not only will the Horns Hook ‘em, but I do not think this one will be as close as the betting lines are predicting.
Go Dawgs! Hook ‘em Horns!
PSPGo bashing continues
Longtime reader, contributor, and friend of CG, wco81, posted a link to this article which points out PSPgo flaws compared to Apple’s iPhone/iTouch platforms. You guessed right, price point of games is a central issue.
Sony says serious gamers will always prefer pushbutton controls to a touchscreen. I think they’re right. I played the sword-and-sorcery game Hero of Sparta on an iPhone and on the PSP Go, and it was no contest. Whether running from enemies or slaying them, it was easier and more fun on the PSP. But the PSP version cost me $6.99. The iPhone game is priced at $1.99. PSP games often cost more. The iPhone version of Madden NFL 10 costs $9.99, but the PSP version is $39.99. A Sony official said that the PSP version has a lot more features; I’ll take his word for it. Still, few consumers will long tolerate such a price gap.
I mostly agree with the overall point of the article, gaming is more fun with buttons, but Sony is screwing itself in a big way by pushing proprietary memory sticks and pricing points that a multiple times more expensive than games on Apple’s portable gaming platform.
There will always be something said for Nintendo and its Mario experience, but why not look towards what EA and others can do on the iTouch? I just do not see how some of the more “serious” games (sports, rpg, platformers) can work on the iTouch, but I also do not see Sony’s higher prices being sustainable for long.
Another problem for Sony is that the negative news just keeps rolling in; stories like this one from the Australian edition of PC World are a dime a dozen.
In a span of four years Sony squandered its position as console leader and is quickly make a run at making its PSP platform (Go or regular) an also ran in the probably gaming market. While I believe Sony can recapture console market share and its leadership position, I am not so sure about the future of the PSP. While I have been an adamant supporter of the PSP, I have grown weary of the lack of direction and the price point of the games.
Marauder goes under the knife (update 2)
The Crosman warranty department told me that my Marauder was beyond repair. Actually, the quote from the service rep was that was “a good amount wrong” with my Marauder.
Crosman is shipping me a brand new replacement; should be here next week. Hats off to Crosman for being such a standup company and making things right for me.
Team USA overcomes adversity; U.S. 2 – 2 Costa Rica
When does a tie feel like a win? Last night it sure did, as the U.S. overcame plenty of adversity to escape their final World Cup qualifier with a tie. Since the U.S. had already qualified in their previous match against Honduras, this one did not matter, but in so many ways it did. The U.S. squad wanted to win for Charlie Davies, and in the process, they showed they could come from behind against a pretty good team that desperately wanted a win to qualify for South Africa and the 2010 World Cup.
With the Americans trailing 2-0, Michael Bradley put in a rebound in the 72nd minute. With Costa Rica just 20 seconds or so from getting the win it needed to qualify — and with the United States playing a man short after losing defender Oguchi Onyewu to a torn tendon in his left knee — Bornstein headed in a corner kick from second-half substitute Robbie Rogers from about 7 yards.
There is a lot of work to do before the trip to South Africa, and the team is starting to get injury plagued. Of course none of this mattered; Davies is alive and should recover, and Team USA showed some serious pride and determination on a rainy pitch when it mattered the most.
Wishing Charlie Davies a speedy recovery
I had already decided that I was not all that excited about tonight’s Costa Rica/U.S. match-up. After all, we already qualified for the 2010 World Cup, so this match was unimportant, except to maybe get some of the younger guys some quality playing time. After the Davies accident was announced, the game really seems unimportant.
“Injuries of this nature usually require a recovery period of six to 12 months and extensive rehabilitation,” U.S. Soccer physician Dan Kalbac said in statement. “Due to Charlie’s fitness level, his prognosis for recovery and his ability to resume high-level competition is substantially improved.”
Here’s to wishing Mr. Davies a quick recovery!
The things people play – PUFF!
I am not sure if I should laugh or cry. I saw this last night on Screen Savers and again at All About The Games. Seriously, are you kidding? Upskirt taken to a whole new level. In the future I guess there will be bonus packs, add-ons, and different versions featuring different girls, outfits, and blowing techniques. I wonder how well this will sell?
Inside Matt Ryan’s numbers against San Fran and Chicago preview
If you like statistics head over to the NFL South Blog at ESPN and take a look at the Ryan’s numbers broken down by play action vs. regular passes, and formation types. I would love to see more of these types of articles, and I am sure this is what coaches do when breaking down film and game planning.
Going into the Bears game I would expect the Falcons to mix it up a little. Chicago will be expecting the Falcons to pass out of formations with U personnel (2 TEs, 2 RBs). The key to the game will be for Turner to be able to pound the ball between the tackles, which will open up the passing game much like the numbers in the link above. When Atlanta’s offense is untracked, it should be damn near unstoppable.
Is the future for UGA now?
I have high expectations for the Dawgs, but I am also reasonable. This year I predicted that Georgia would end up with an 8-4 record, which would be disappointing. Unfortunately, it is going to be tough for the Bulldogs to make it to 8-4, which is a damn good reason to start Murray (or whichever QB is anointed the crown of QB of the future). Mark Bradley of the ajc makes a case for at least getting Murray some playing time.
Clincher: Even as it was struggling in 2006, Georgia had already committed to going with true freshman Matthew Stafford. He suffered some reversals — in the loss at Kentucky, he threw interceptions from the Georgia 2-yard-line and the Kentucky 1 on consecutive series — but he learned.
Conclusion: I wouldn’t start Murray ahead of Joe Cox, but I’d bump him above Gray and give him some snaps. Murray is the future. With one more loss, the future officially begins.
As I have said before, nothing against Cox, but there is a lot that is clearly not working and the Bulldogs need to make sure someone is ready for 2010.
More PSPgo fun.
OK, you have to admit that this is sort of, kind of, almost funny.