Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Sports Guy First Month Review

He has the Cavs in the top 10 (#6):
They remind me of MJ's Bulls teams in the late-'80s -- because LeBron has reached a certain level, they're always going to win 50 games, kill any bad/mediocre/decent teams at home, and look fantastic on certain nights. But when a game comes along like that Thanksgiving game against Indiana, and suddenly they have to play defense, and somebody's actually guarding LeBron, and they're settling for jumpers and one-on-one plays over good shots ... that's when they get exposed. Let the record show that the Spurs beat them by 26 and Indy handled them by 18. Wasn't a coincidence.

(Saddest ongoing subplot: The erosion of LeBron's passing skills. Here's a guy who sees the court like Magic and used to delight in setting up his teammates ... now he's hoisting up 29 shots in some games? What happened to the guy who made everyone else better? Remember the days when we wondered whether he would average a triple-double for a season? Long gone. Honestly, I liked watching him more as a rookie. This is right up there with Lindsay Lohan losing her boobs in my book -- it's a borderline national tragedy. I can't talk about this anymore, I'm getting upset.)


I kinda agree with the passing skills. He hasn't lost them, he just doesn't set up as much right now. He still does make some amazing passes, but I don't think he uses them as much right now.

Personally, I think you'll see LeBrons passing stats go up as the year goes along. The offense is still trying to find its flow in the half court. I'll tell ya this: the Cavs will be a much better team come April than in November, and it won't even be close. LeBron will have his passing stats later on, don't worry.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

I'm Glad I Don't Tomorrow Night

So I can watch the Cavs honor World B. Free at halftime.

I'm with Pluto, retire his number(21)!

If you wonder why I care so much, about a player that I never saw play here's why: You like watching LeBron play? Did you like seeing Price, Daugherty and Nance play? Then thank World B. Free. He basically saved basketball in Cleveland.

The team stank, there was no interest, but Free and some coach named George Karl came in and brought the Cavs to the playoffs.

So basically, the reason the Cavs are still around is because of some guy with a crazy name.

World. B. Free.

RIP Stan Berenstain

Stan Berenstain died at the age of 82.

My parents read my siblings and I many Berenstain Bear books growing up, and these books are still popular. At the Hudson Library, the Berenstain Bear books were some of our most popular kids books. And for our Holiday Book Donations at Barnes and Noble, the Berenstain Bears are some of the most requested books.

In more than 200 books, the Berenstain Bears, written and illustrated by Stan and Jan Berenstain, helped children for 40 years cope with trips to the dentist, eating junk food and cleaning their messy rooms.

The first Berenstain Bears book, "The Great Honey Hunt," was published in 1962. The couple developed the series with children's author Theodor Geisel -- better known as Dr. Seuss, then head of children's publishing at Random House -- with the goal of teaching children to read while entertaining them.

Ann Coulter

I used to try to read Ann's column regularly, just to try to see the arugments from the other side.
Needless to say, that didn't last too long.

Anyhow, the Rude Pundit breaks down Ann's latest so you don't have to.

Monday, November 28, 2005

One YearToo Late

Join the club, fuckers.

money quote from the end (which is exactly the way I feel):

Even those who voted against Mr. Bush a year ago saw little satisfaction in his woes.

"Part of me enjoys watching him squirm," said Shirley Tobias, 46, sitting with a colleague from Netscape at a coffee shop in Grandview, a suburb of Columbus. "But he's squirming on our behalf. We're all in this together."

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Thanksgiving Weekend

Every year I look forward to Thanksgiving, and every year it is a delight.

Turkey Bowl was awesome yet again, was it the best? No, I don't think so, but it was fun as always. We've been doing it for 7 years, and my goal is to get 10 of them in. 3 more to go (though no Samir and Jess next year).

Thanksgiving Day was good, played some jazz music, hung out with the family, and got introduced to Sudoku (which is addicting).

I think Friday night was my highlight for the weekend (as I worked all Saturday and Sunday). Jess, Sepe and I went to Brubakers Pub in Hudson, where we met up with Douche Bag. He just got back from Iraq and he's now 21. So we bought him some drinks. Anyway, Douche called up Little Stauffer and her friend. There were also a ton more Hudson kids there, many who I haven't seen for quite some time.

It was great seeing Amburgey and Melissa, I'm not gonna lie. I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: As a trombone player, I got more out of the Hudson band then anyone else on any other instrument. I've kept in touch with so many of them, its amazing. I've talked with people from other sections, and none of them keep in touch with more than one or two people. I see a ton every year at the Turkey Bowl and I hung out with Douch and Little Stauffer at the bar.

Anyway, I'm just glad I was in that section, and got to be friends with these fuckers.

/Sappyness

Friday, November 25, 2005

Cavaliers vs Pacers

The Cavs just arent' there yet. They just aren't.

The Cavs were never in the game yesterday vs Indiana. The Pacers have more depth, have more experience and have more talent.

It looked like the Cavs were shocked at how hard the Pacers played yesterday. The Cavs half court offense (while better than last year) still needs a ton of work. Everytime LeBron or Hughes would drive the lane, someone on the Pacers rotated and contested their shot. Every. Time.

On the flip side, the Cavs played terrible defense. Guards got to the lane easily, big men made easy passes to cutters, and the Cavs couldn't guard a 3 point shooter to save their life.

The whole team played poorly, though one particular guy stood out to me.

Damon Jones.

Now this isn't to say that Jones was the worst guy out there, or that if he played better, the Cavs would have won. No, the whole team sucked yesterday, one guy won't make a difference. But Jones stood out to me.

First of all, Jones hasn' been talking to the media since Eric Snow got named the starter. Even though the Cavs are winning. And Jones is playing big minutes. But he's pouting. When he did speak to the media, he defended T.O. He's saying if the Eagle won't play him, they should cut him, so he can play somewhere else. Um... no. That's not how it works, you can't be a pain in the ass, piss off your bosses and just go somewhere else and play. You get punished. T.O. is getting punished.

But Jones did more yesterday. Jones has a little dance he does whenever he makes a 3 pointer. When the Cavs are at home and they are winning, its cute. However, when they are on national TV getting their asses handed to them, it looks retarded. But that didn't occur to Damon. He hit a three, then celebrated with his little dance/handmotion thing. Then on defense he let his man shoot 3s. A lot of 3s. Jones was guarding Jaskivioafdhjahfs the guy who almost came to the Cavs. The Euro pg who can shoot. Well, there was at least 3 times when the Pacers sent him off a pick, and Jones went under the pick (instead of fighting through it) leaving the dirty Euro open to shoot 3s. Which he made. The Pacers kept running the same play, cause Jones kept doing the wrong defensive move.

Now, it sounds like I'm ripping on Jones, and I kind of am. But if he wants to start, he has to play better defense. Not terrible defense. And showboating when down by 20 points doesn't exactly help either.

As for the rest of the Cavs, they just aren't there yet. LeBron isn't there. Hughes isn't there. Z isn't there. Offense. Defense. Nothing. Can they get there? I think so, but they needed to play a better team game in the half court, and they didn't. The Cavs should make the playoffs and hopefully get to the second round. I think they are number 4 in the East after Detroit, Indiana and Miami.

But this game might be different come April.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Great Story on James

By Stephen A Smith (he's much less annoying in print)

Heh

Blue

Damn

8 in a row

Turkey Bowl '05: Avian Flu Edition

11:00/11:15 at Darrow Road Park Thanksgiving Day.

This is A) the park on Rt 91 and B) the same park we've played at for the last 6 years, if you can't find this... well... good luck. If you have cones, spray paint or your neighbors driveway reflectors, bring them, we'll need to mark lines somehow. Also, if you own a football, bring said football.

On a personal note, I'd recomend wearing cleats and layers of clothes. People who own cleats have a pretty noticable advantage over non-cleaters. And I always go with the layers, cause I start out freezing but by the time the game gets going, its way too much.

Confirmed
Samir
Sepe
Gilmore
Polak
Phil
Gary
Stauffer
The Pole
Myself
Nick Mohan

Unconfirmed, but contacted
Crazy Bill
Dan Gross ("I'll be there if I'm not too hungover." Bullshit! You're playing)
Nick Bolan
Kasik
Douche (and I believe Douche contacted Lemon Boy some random T-Bones from my senior year)
My Bro

Not sure if contacted
Siley
Moleskis
Westphall
Bass
Fabian

Definitely Not Playing
Bitch (Philadelphia)
Brian Sepe (Arizona)

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Ugh

Dear Major League Baseball,
If you want me to visit your website, please don't send me an email with the following in the title: 1. Scott Stapp 2. of Creed. I like baseball, my love for baseball is why I signed up for your newsletter. If you had just put Scott Stapp in the title, you could've fooled me. But you screwed up big time by mentioning Creed. In the future, if you want me to visit your website, offer more baseball related stuff.
Sincerely,
Ben Cox

Jean Schmidt

She isn't just a crazy bitch, she's also a liar.

So I haven't posted in awhile

I was out of town plus I had a paper to write, but if you read this you probably knew that. Anyways...

What a weekend be an Ohio sports fan, the Cavs won both games this weekend, a blowout at home and a great game in Philadelphia. The Cavs were down 16 at one point, and they came back on won it.

The Philly game was Saturday night, during the day I was watching a little football game between Ohio State and Michigan. I'm not going to go into the game that in depth, but I'll say this: Troy Smith has won me over. It took me awhile, but Smith should be the starter, this is the first game I thought he really took control of. Though, I will say this, one of the annoucners mentioned how the Texas game would have turned out if Smith had played the whole game. Fair question I guess, but how much would have that changed Ohio State's season? I mean, we still lost to Penn State, and Smith played the entire time in that game. I don't know, but I'm lookin forward to his senior year.

And then the Browns shut out the Dolphins on Sunday. How the hell does that happen. And Charlie Frye played.

And it was all good.

Friday, November 18, 2005

A Nice Story on Hughes

but a better quote from Sasha Pavlovic:
"I'm not worried because your military commitment is delayed if you're a professional athlete," Pavlovic said. "I don't think I will have to go even when I retire because we change the rules every year in my country. We even change the name of the country. Everything will work out for Vlade."

Roger Brown Rips on Edwards

I'm not a big Roger Brown fan.

Can anyone

name a mammal that begins witht the letter 'I'? All you need to know is that it invovled a fillibuster joke that went horribly wrong.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Former Cav Johnny Newman

guilty of domestic battery. Newman is only 41? Man, I figued he'd be older than that. He played with Price and Daugherty while they still had Ron Harper (dammit, everytime think of Harper on the Cavs I get sick).

By the way, Newman's wife? Robin from Hangin with Mr. Cooper.

Work Today

So on Wednesday I had to do a bunch of shifting and cleaning up CDs because we had pulled a lot out. Why did we pull CDs during holiday season (it is the holiday season, we have 34593489093490 Holiday CDs to prove it)? All the CDs were from Sony. Why Sony you ask?

In case you've missed it, read about Sony's shitty (illegal) CD software. Oh, and boycott Sony for sometime, this shit was ridiculous.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

The Rude Pundit

Nowhere near as rude as normally, but a great post, here's the beginning (read the whole, short thing):

Let's be a little bit wonky today: Yesterday, in another one of his pathetic little whines about critics of the Iraq war, George Bush, making a not-unlike-Nixon trip to Asia, stopped in Alaska to say: "Let me give you some quotes from three senior Democrat leaders: First, and I quote, 'There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons.' Another senior Democrat leader said, 'The war against terrorism will not be finished as long as Saddam Hussein is in power.' Here's another quote from a senior Democrat leader: 'Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think the President is approaching this in the right fashion.' They spoke the truth then, and they're speaking politics now."

Since Bush dared not speak the names of the Democrats in question or offer any context for their quotes, hey, why not do some good bloggy work here?

Turkey Bowl '05: Avian Flu Edition

Here's what I got so far, and this is just a rough estimate:

11:15, Darrow Road Park (off of 91, I'm pretty sure it's the name of the park) Thanksgiving Day. Be prepared to rock. It's gonna be sweet.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

MNF

What a game last night. That was a great Monday night game. If you couldn't enjoy that, then stop watching football.

Personally, I think McNabb is done for the year. He's too hurt, the team is too messed up, theres so much shit going on there. He needs the surgury, its that simple. They aren't winning with him playing hurt, might as well get it over with.

Interestingly, both McNabb and Bledsoe had killer interceptions last night, just killer. Bledsoe was being sacked and just threw it away (poorly) and it led to (seemingly) the game clinching touchdown. What an awful throw.

But McNabb may have pulled off a worse one. McNabb didn't even see the defender, threw an out rout to nodbody and Roy Williams took the ball right in for a score. We were at the bar, so there wasn't much game sound, I can't even imagine what the stadium sounded like. I'm sure you could hear a pin drop.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Athiest wants God off of Money

Technically, he's probably right. However... it's not worth the fight. It's just not. This guy, and he may be well intentioned, isn't really doing a whole lot. Most people don't give a shit about whats on the money, besdies the numbers.

This will just get the Bill O'Reilly's of the world all bent out of shape. Especially with Bill fighting the War On Christmas.

(He recently stated that the phrase Happy Holidays is offensive to Christians.... Wow. As for that whole story, I always assumed Happy Holidays included: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, Chanunka and New Years. See, multiple holidays. It doesn't mean Christmas sucks, or fuck you Christians. It encompasses all holidays of this time of the year. But aparently including everyone is offensive to Bill.)

There are some fights that are worth it, and there are some that aren't. This athiest (and the Pledge of Allegience one) are going to be the face of the entire American left, whether they should or should not. Do they have a point? I think they do. Is the bad press worth it? I don't think so. This is how the whole 'Democrats hate God' shit comes about. Stories like this.

Cavs vs Magic

Good win by the Cavs yesterday, this was the first game I actually got to watch, so here's somet thoughts.

Last year, they would have lost this game. I had seen this script before, the Cavs get a large lead in the early goings, and over the course of the game, the other team makes a comeback, eventually taking the lead and winning the game. The Cavs lost games like this (off the top of my head) to Boston and New Jersey last year. They had control, then lost it. Last night showed both their lack of maturity AND their growing maturity. Did you see Marshall celebrate after he hit the tying 3 ball? No. The Cavs are still young and learning (Marshall should have never had to of taken that shot, the game shouldn't have been close). Things came undone but the Cavs held in there. And once overtime came around, it was over. They got the control back and took the game away.

The offense still needs work. There were a couple sequences like this: James gets the ball, jab step, jab step, dribble, step back jumper. Sometimes this worked, other times (like late in the game) it didn't. Austin Carr was screaming that LeBron's teammates didn't set picks for him, and that partially true. But LeBron didn't make a move towards the hoop and settled for the jumper.

The defense needs work. The Cavs had 17 point lead at half time. And the game went into overtime. I think if this game were in Cleveland, the Magic could not have come back. But the Cavs lost focus, on offense AND defense in the second half. The Cavs let their intensity slip a litte, and the Magic made them pay.

Damon Jones needs to get over himself. Jones is on a self imposed ban from the media, after coach Brown picked Snow to be the starter. Jones is going to get a ton of playing time, especially late in the game. Snow and Hughes smothered the Magic backcourt early on in the game, setting the tone. Snow may not score, but with Hughes, James and Z in the lineup, he doesn't have to.

Z haters can shut up. This was a type of game where Z was supposed to fizzle. He was playing a young kid in Dwight Howard, who is quicker and more athletic. But Z played great all game. He had some clutch rebounds, some clutch shots and some clutch defensive series. What more do you want? He's not flashy, he's not out spoken, but he is a very very good basketball player.

(On a side note, the post game interview with Z and Tait was awesome. Z talked about how even though he's been here forever, he's still finding his niche in this team full of good players. "It used to be me and LeBron would have to shoot 20 times for us to win, now thats not the case.")

This team is going to be really really good. They have an early 4 game winning streak, just imagine what this team will be like once everyone gels together... Play the Cavs now, cause you won't want to come March.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Hmm

when muslims attack

Indians Prepared to Lose Pitchers

I'm not really surprised at any of this. All of them (Wickman, Millwood, Howry and Elarton) had career-type years. It would be surprising if the Indians had the money to pay these guys. Though the talk of getting Tom Gordon is nice to hear...

NBA

I've only seen a few games so far, but I'm pretty sure Detroit is the best team I've seen in quite some time. Under Flip Saunders they've shown they can not only defend, but score too.

That is all

Friday, November 11, 2005

Barak Obama

is awesome

Cy Youngs

I don't totally disagree with the Bartolo Colon AL Cy Young win. Some people do.

For the NL, if I had a vote, I'd have given it to Clemons.

Although, this whole 'a pitchers wins don't matter' vs 'a pitchers wins are all that matters' arguments are getting out of control.

While it's true that pitchers can't help what the rest of their team does, so if they give up 1 or 2 runs, but their team scores 0 or 1, then they pitched very well, but got unlucky. So I understand the talk for Santana and Clemons. But at the same time, pitchers are pitching in a vacum. A few runs given up early is different than a few runs given up late. If the Astros take a lead and Clemons gives it up the very next inning, those runs hurt a lot more than if he gives up a run here or there when he's spotted 5 runs.

I understand all the baseball stat stuff, I really do. But I think theres a limit to what you can measure. I tend to agree that most clutch hitting averages the same (over time) as a players normal batting average. However, if its a big AB, you'd rather have Derek Jeter up than a wide eyed rookie. Or Bip Roberts. So while I agree that the Win is overrated, I just don't think that it is completely useless. I dunno.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Why People Hate the NBA

Jack MacCallum has a great column on all the unjust criticism that the NBA recieves. Patrick Hubry had a similar NBA Myths column a short while ago also.

I love the NBA. I'm one of the few true NBA fans out there, it's my favorite sports league, college or pro. The players are the most athletic and graceful of all the sports. I think it's the best blend of induvidual and team skills out there.

Everyonce in awhile I'll hear a friend who isn't a real big basketball fan talk about how they just can't watch the NBA anymore. The most common reasons are A) the players are all thugs, B) they just don't call traveling, C) no one tries and D) the players are all thugs.

First of all, the whole 'thug' issue is border line racist. Oh Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, see? Iverson and his problems. His tirade versus practice. Latrel Spreewell.

How about Ray Lewis? One of the most undercovered sports trials I've ever seen. How about Leonard Little? Heard of him? He's a DE for the St Louis Rams, he killed a woman while driving drunk. Then he got a DUI a couple years later. Um? Ray Caruth? The starting running back for the Baltimore Ravens spent time in JAIL this offseason! There's the whole TO stink right now (I'm not linking to any TO news, I'm sick of it) I know it's not anywhere near as serious as the aformentioned, but he's a selfish showboat, which I thought everyone hated about the NBA?

How about Ugueth Urbina? Or Doc Gooden?

My point roughly the same as MacCallum's:
Barry Bonds acts like an idiot and that's on Barry Bonds. Terrell Owens acts
like an idiot, and that's on Terrell Owens. Iverson rants about how he dislikes
practice, and that's on the entire NBA. I can't even imagine what people would
be saying if the NBA had a steroid problem like the one plaguing baseball right
now. Or if Iverson had torn apart the 76ers in the same fashion that Owens
tore apart the Philadelphia Eagles this season, I honestly feel he would've had
to fear for his life.


Is it race? The NBA is the blackest of all the sports leagues, by far. It's also the one most linked to hip-hop culture. The baggy pants, the corn rows, all that. Black players in baseball had cornrows (I know Lofton had them for awhile, all I remebered is that I missed the flat top), and NFL players do to. But Joe Public never really sees them. NFL players have helmets on, baseball have caps. The NBA players are right out there, tank top and shorts. You see the tatoos, the emotions, the cornrows- everything. It's definitely more raw/in your face. All I know is when some one says "I hate the NBA, its full of thugs" I get a little irked.

Maybe it's not, I dunno. I do know that it's not just me who thinks this. Jason Whitlock had a great column(Insider$) about the Olympic basketball team when they sucked it up in the olympics. All those tatooed and the cornrowed millionaires misrepresenting our country. Bah.

As for the traveling nonsense... My buddy pulled this gem out the other day, "I just can't watch the NBA, they never call traveling anymore." I'm sorry, but this is the lamest excuse to not watch a sport. Just say you don't like basketball, its okay. Like man, I never watch football anymore, they just never call offensive pass interference. I used to like baseball, but the guys never really touch second base on the double plays anymore.

Do NBA players travel? It happens *cough* LeBron* cough. But it's not like there's an epidemic of walking going on. It maybe happens once a game. If this is what is keeping you away from the NBA, then stay away.

As for the whole 'not trying' complaint... Are the most tense minutes in a football game the beginning? How about baseball? Are early innings more intense than late? Basketball is the same way. They try the entire time, no one is loafing around. It's just, as the fourth quarter is closing down, the intensity picks up.

I dunno, I love the NBA, despite and because of its faults. I love the 45 month playoff system. And how the last 2 minutes of the fourth quarter take 20. (Cue lame ending) I love this game.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Simmons Interviews Cuban

I really do like Mark Cuban, he seems to be having fun. Half the time I think he's too defensive, but half the time I think he doesn't care what people think. It's a quality interview, Cuban is candid as always.

Tribe Stuff

It looks like Howry and Millwood aren't really close with the Tribe at this point. Millwood is the key here, he really helped this team. If the Indians offer him a fair/market value deal, then I am content. They can't over spend for him, they just can't.

With Howry its a bit different, his status depends on Wickman. If Wickman retires, then Howry becomes much more important. If Wickman decides to stay, then paying a ton for Howry doesn't make sense. In a perfect world, the Indians could sign both these guys and find a way to trade for Manny.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

I Hate T.O.

I guess he said something, I haven't heard anythingthough, EPSN refuses to give this guy more air time.....

(that being said, my TO and Moss on the Raiders dream could still become reality. I think Joe Buck's head would explode if he had to announce a game with T.O., Moss and Sapp)

Urbina

what the hell?

Monday, November 07, 2005

Cavs road trip

Hasn't been too good so far.

I don't think its a big deal, if they had lost the home opener, I'd be more concerned. Then we'd have stories everyday about when Mike Brown will get his first win and all that.

The Cavs very first road game, with the new coach and new players, was against the defending world champions, who some are picking to lose 10 games or less. So they lost a game they were suposed to lose. Okay.

The Memphis loss? I can understand it, but I'm not exactly pleased. I mean, its not like Memphis is a bad team, they made the playoffs, so it's not like the Cavs lost to a patsy.

Tonight the Cavaliers play in Toronto, which is a game they should win (need to win?).

Liberal Preachers aren't allowed to talk politics

or something like that.

Quote of the Day: "Wow! Brazil is big." —George W. Bush, President of the United States

from an excellent Altercation today.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Simmons NBA Preview

Part 1

Part 2

It's hilarious as always, but I have a little beef with this coment:
Although I'm not as high on the Cavs as others -- does anyone else find it ironic that a guy who couldn't play defense (Danny Ferry) put together a team that doesn't look like it can play defense?

Ferry wasn't exactly a known defender, but he was a tought Madsen type guy. He got in peoples faces, he got dirty, he'd punch a guy here or there. My point is, Ferry hustled, and thats about 90% of defense, actually trying. So combine the trying factor with athletic people, add a defense-first coach, and there ya go.

As for a non defender putting together a team of defenders... Billy Beane couldn't exactly hit real well, but his Oakland teams tend to score runs, don't they?

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Civ IV - so far

This post will probably only interest two people (Jess and my bro), but I'm gonna talk about it anyway.

CivIV.

I rarely buy computer games, the last game I bought that wasn't a Civilization game was Black and White. Needless to say, I don't play a lot of high graphic PC games. So when I bought CivIV, I learned that my computer, after 5 years, was out to date. That's a whole other story, but needless to say after some video card and rdram installing, the game is working great.

I've played a few games so far, and heres what I think:

Leonard Nimoy is sweet. Spock himself narates the game, and there are nice little quotes from throughout history for every tech you learn.

Religion is weird. This is the biggets change in CivIV and I'm still getting used to it. There are 7 religions, and they are all the same, its a matter of when you learn them. The goal is for you to try to get other Civs to adopt your relgion. The more you spread your religion, the more people like you. I haven't gotten to where I really know what I'm doing yet. I don't find myself trying to make missionaries to spread my religion (so far I try to get one early, to get it out of the way). If another civ adopts your religion, you can see into their cities, which is kinda cool. But I'm not very aggressive, I don't really start a lot of wars, so I don't particularly care what people are defending their cities with.

Bring back the Great Library! They switched up some of the Wonder attributes and I don't like it. The Great Library now gives you 2 Scientist specialists in the city you built it. The old attribute (gain any tech that two or more known civs have) is now with The Internet, which is practically useless (although, I do like that its icon is Al Gore). By the time I have The Internet I already have almost all the techs or I'm at least the most advanced.

Other Wonder stuff:

The Pyramids don't give every city on the same continent a granary any more. It now enables you to access any of the government civic functions. Honestly, either one doesn't really make sense.

There is no Darwin's Voyage Wonder, which sucks. That was a great Wodner to grab some free technology. As one poster said "They stuff the game full of religion and take out Darwin? Where was this game made, Kansas?"

Wonder Videos. Still not at cool as the CivII videos. They just aren't. Speaking of CivII stuff, still no talking advisors. Those guys where sweet. I almost never used my advisors in CivIV (or at least my advior screens).

Still no Hitler and where's Abe?. There are a ton of leaders in CivIV, the most I think to ever start a game (At the end of CivIII, after all the expansion packs, there were more total Civs and leaders). Some Civs have two leaders, which is kind of cool. Cause a French team led by Napolean has a little bit more aggression than one led by Louis XIV. The American are one of the civs with two leaders, FDR and George Washington. This is the first time the Americans have been Lincoln free, and I kind of miss the lanky bastard. The Germans also have two leaders, but neither are Hitler. I know, it probably wouldn't be the most PC thing to do to put Hitler in the game. But they have Napolean, Genghis Khan and Mao Zedong. These aren't exactly nice guys either. Meh. Also, would it kill them to have Churchill for England?

One final leader note, their clothes don't change. I know its a small beef, but since the origional Civilization, the more advanced you became, the nicer your leader dressed. When you start the game, everyone is in rags and by the time you ended you were wearing a suit. Now you start a game and Bismark is in full uniform with a metal helmet. Bah.

Workers really work. There's a ton of stuff for the little buggers to do, you can buld farms, pastures, quarries, mines, towns and a million other things. I'm not smart enough to have them do it all myself, so I just put them on automate and let them go. They don't seem to like to chop down forests as much as in III, but its still a problem.

Resources matter. There's tons of more food stuff you can trade. And you can mine marble and stone. If you get these, you're set to build some Wonders. Certain Wonders cut their production time in half if you have marble or stone. So it's good to explore early and stake your claim to the valuable land.

Settlers are different. First of all, they can move 2 spaces a turn, which is cool. But the bad thing is, there are now wild animals that attack your units, so its imperative that you send the settler out with a defense, or theres a good chance they will get eaten. I find myself having to actively push myself to make more settlers. I seem to lose track of them in my race for religion and wonders, to the point where I only build 4-5 cities. Which is bad, cause some wonders require 6 buildings to construct (6 of you cities need a University to be able to construct Oxford University).

Map Size/Game Speed. I find the default map a little too constricting. I don't mind competing with Civs for land, but I don't like dealing with 4 on a rather small continent. I like larger maps, more space, more resources, more room to let me just horde Wonders.

My cheap attack mode doesn't work any more. My CivIII tactic was to get an Right of Passage aggreement with a civ and then load my military onto their land. Once I have all my guys situated, I attack in one giant turn. I tired that in CivIV, and once you declare war, all your units move off their land.

Speaking of war, I had a tank get killed by a defending Longbowman! What the fuck. Can't we fix this shit. The longbowman is the best defensive unit in the game by far. They remain relevent for a long time (they can even stop tanks here and there).

UN Victory? Does it work?
I build the UN Wonder, we have vote to see who should be UN Chairman. I have enough votes to get it, but nothing happens. I dunno, maybe I'm seeing somethin wrong (not everyone voted for me, but I'd get 500+ and I'd need 423 out of a possible 600+... I dunno)

Inside jokes/cool stuff. As mentioned with the Al Gore/Internet Wonder joke above, there are some fun Easter Egg type things. There are a ton of Great People (prophets, artists, scientists, merchants etc) and they each get unique names from throughout history. These are just cool to see, Shaskpere, Plato, etc. Fun stuff. The quote for the Rock and Roll tech (and the song for the Rock and Roll Wonder) is by the Velvet Underground. Cool stuff.

That whole Charlie Weis 10 year deal

Jason Whitlock thinks it's racist.

Now, I kinda agree with Whitlock on this, but it's not that simple. And maybe it's not race at all, I dunno, but it doesn't look good.

The fact remains that Willingham was Notre Damn first black coach. He also happens to be the first Notre Damn coach that was didn't get to complete his first contract (he was fired after 3 of the 5 seasons).

Charlie Weis comes in, takes all of Willingham's players and scores a lot of points. Starts off worse than Willingham did during his first year. Then gets a 10 year deal.

Again, is it race? Probably not, at least its not the simple 'I hate blacks/I love whites' line of thinking. But, if nothing else, it looks bad.

Cavaliers season starts tonight

And the paper was ready this morning:

Bill Livingston on how Z is actually appreciated

Bud Shaw on new coach Mike Brown

Terry Pluto is being optimistic for the season

My favorite part is Livingston talking about Z's defense (and his critics, like the PD's Roger Brown):

Z often seems to be strictly an offensive guy. The battering his feet took early in his career robbed him of what quickness he had on defense.

Still, he was among the leaders in blocked shots last season, while serving as the besieged last line of defense. That should improve this year, both because of Brown's emphasis on getting stops and because of the addition of guard Larry Hughes.

It might be surprising how much better Ilgauskas looks on defense this year when he is not having to pick up guards who have blown past Jeff McInnis.


Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Digby

This follows the line of "I'm glad Kerry lost, because now he won't get blamed for Bush's mess" or "If Kerry had won, he would've had to clean up all of Bush's mess and not looked good".

Cause personally, I'd rather have my side look good than have the country try to improve.

NBA's fake Injured list is no more

It's too bad, I always enjoyed when random cases of tendinitis showed up for 5 games.

Edwards

Braylon Edwards think Frye should start. He's hoping he'll be too.