Washington Redskins Position Battle Update : TE

Things are getting pretty tense on the 'Skins as Chris Cooley competes with Fred Davis for Tight End supremacy:

Oh how the mighty have fallen

When I first started writing this blog it was almost a year ago and the Red Wings were looking like a power to be reckoned with despite some flaws. Fast forward to now and the team that has consistently been among the league leaders in wins is fighting for a playoff spot. What the hell happened?

Granted, the Red Wings are currently surging, but it is still concerning to see them hanging out just a little north of the playoff cutoff. It could be worse. Only a week ago they were barely hanging on the 8th spot but a 5 game win streak has them now in 6th place. With 7 games left to play it could still come crashing down.

So what happened to the Wings? For starters, they are all a year older now. Detroit doesn't exactly have youth on their side and it's been some time since they last did. Like all teams that rely on key veteran pick-ups there will inevitably come the day when everyone turns old all at once. Considering they are still qualifying for the playoffs that day hasn't come yet, but things are looking like they are going downhill. It was never more evident than it was in last years Stanley Cup when the younger Penguins were skating circles around the Wings. Pretty soon they are going to have to replace a lot of key guys. Looking over their roster there area lot of 30s (Datsyuk 31, Draper 38, Franzen 30, Holmstrom 37, Cleary 31, Lidstrom 39, Rafalski 36, Osgood 37).

What else has gone wrong? Well for a couple years now the Wings have been getting by with some pretty sub-par goaltending. I respect the hell out of Osgood but he really only had average talent to begin with and he's not getting any better. In his last 5 years he has only finished the season with Save % above .900 twice. When the team as a whole is dominating you can get by but now that age is catching up and the high profile free agents would rather choose a team like Chicago it's really not going to cut it anymore. They appear to be on to something with this cat Jimmy Howard who appears to have stolen the starting job so my hopes are that he will help should the team make it to the playoffs.

Finally, and with no disrespect to Mike Babcock, the days of Scotty Bowman are over. That man was one of the greatest coaches in the NHL and I was very sorry to see him go. Babcock is getting it done, but it remains to be seen if he is only doing so with the foundation that Bowman left behind.

It's disappointing to see the Red Wings lost their dominance after so many years of beating the snot out of everybody. I am keeping one flicker of hope alive, however. Once the playoffs begin it's a whole new season. They have about a million years of playoff experience on that squad and a fresh new goaltender to work with. I wouldn't put them quite out of Stanley Cup contention yet.

On a side hockey note our Syracuse Crunch have broken ties with the Blue Jackets and affiliated themselves with the Anaheim Ducks. I hate the fuckin Ducks. That is all.

2010 Fantasy Baseball Draft Recap

Last night was the draft for the baseball league that I pay the most attention to. I suppose I can't really get in to it too well considering that fantasy stuff is blocked at work but I certainly want to go over it. So, with a delicious six pack of Saranac Irish Red Ale by my side and Q-Tip keeping me company on iTunes, I jumped in to the draft.

Despite the absolute awesomeness of my team last year I managed to make an early exit in the playoffs so I thought that I really needed a strategy this year. Unfortunately, I couldn't friggin come up with one. That all changed, however, when the commish made an adjustment to the scoring system by dropping a category for both hitters and pitchers: Extra Base Hits and Home Runs Given Up.

Once I made that adjustment to my spreadsheet something really weird jumped out at me: Instead of seeing power hitters dominating the rankings I saw guys with no power shoot up in value.

I thought I had fucked up a formula or something until I thought about it. By having your usual 5 categories (R, HR, RBI, SB, AVE) and including OBP and Ks, the league now favors your prototypical leadoff hitter rather than your heart-of-the-order slugger. A good leadoff guy will get you about five and a half of those categories easily. He'll score a pile of runs. He'll steal bases. He should hit for a decent average and get on base at a good clip. He shouldn't strike out much. And just with the amount of At Bats that a guy in the one spot should get, about 60-70 RBIs should be within reach. Of course home runs will be kind of scarce, which isn't sexy, but that's one category. Within that strategy I feel that I did really well considering that I have about five guys who lead off for their team and a couple more who bat second.

Here's how I ended up:

C-Mike Napoli-This was a catcher that I was targeting. He has performed great in spring training and provides a little bit of power in what you will see is a rather weak hitting line up. The only concerns I have would be that Napoli has gotten injured in the past and he will be splitting time with defensive catcher Jeff Mathis.

1B-Lance Berkman-I had determined that first base would be very deep this year and so I was determined to wait and was able to get Berkman deep in to the draft. Unfortunately the Big Puma is dealing with some injuries and may start the year on the DL but if he can deliver even the same numbers that he had last year I'll be happy. Also, the waiver wire still has guys like LaRoche, Garrett Jones, Konerko, and Gaby Sanchez so a replacement is well within reach.

2B-Gordon Beckham-Another target of mine. I had to reach a little bit to get him so this one may come back to kick me in the pants but the potential is just too good to ignore. There is a real possibility that he will deliver a 90/20/90/15 season. Despite the fact that he is starting a second for the White Sox he doesn't yet have eligibility so I had to draft Detroit rookie Scott Sizemore to fill in for the first five games. And if Sizemore takes off you won't hear any complaints from me.

3B-Alex Rodriguez-I hate the selection at third this year, so I knew that I had to get one early or take a chance on someone much later in the draft. So with the 4th pick of the draft A-Rod was still on the board and I rolled with it. My hope is that his numbers last year were the real deal and that he doesn't deal with anymore lingering injuries. If he doesn't stay healthy this year then I will have literally no power to work with.

SS-Derek Jeter-I never really had Yankees on my fantasy teams before so to end up with two high profile guys was kind of surprising. I can even honestly say that I did not reach for either of them. Anyway, like 3rd, SS was another position that I thought that I would have to go for early or be stuck with turds later. In retrospect that may have been wrong. There are guys like Alcides Escobar and Everth Cabrera still hanging out there. However, Jeter was my third ranked SS and he fits the profile for my strategy so what the hell? I am well aware that repeating last years numbers will be very difficult for Jeter but with that lineup and in that ballpark it was still a good choice.

OF-Jacoby Ellsbury-Drafting Ellsbury hurt me on the inside. The fact that he is the exact blueprint of my strategy (shitload of runs, some RBIs, piles of SBs, NEVER strikes out) and he was my highest ranked outfielder could not be denied. Who knows, the idea of having to root for the Sawx may push me to get him off my team. But at that point can I ever get rid of the taint?

OF-Bobby Abreu-Another guy to fit in my strategy. The power seems to be quickly leaving and I believe the 30 SBs were a fluke but Abreu is the definition of a patient hitter. Hopefully I am not getting him at the beginning of a quick slide into old age.

OF-Denard Span-Yup. Another lead off guy. Span has the privilege of batting in front of guys like Morneau, Mauer, Cuddyer, Kubel, and Thome. The fact that his OBP is close to .400 means that Span will be crossing the plate ALOT.

Util-Conor Jackson-I like Jackson a couple years ago but, at the time, he was playing first and he doesn't exactly have corner infielder power. Then he disappeared off the map last year due to a bout with Valley Fever and was quickly forgotten. However, everything I've heard about him this spring made me want to take a chance on him. He's now a starter in the outfield and word is that he will get the lead off spot. Considering Jackson's excellent plate discipline and his little bit of speed and power, this could be a huge sleeper for me.

Bench-Juan Pierre-You know the drill. He's leading off again in Chicago and word is that Ozzie is going to have him run, run, and run some more. I have never set myself up to be this competitive in stolen bases as much as I have this year. Wouldn't be surprised if I was getting 10 a week.

So there's the batters. There's no way in hell I will ever win the home run category unless it's a week where Napoli, Beckham, and A-Rod all happen to get hot but I should be pretty solid in every other spot. Only time will tell.

On to the pitching. I'm not sure how I feel about the squad I set myself up with. My original goal was to go strong on offense for the first ten rounds and ignore pitching but the way the draft went caused me to change that up. I really just took what was given to me and went with the flow. It surprised the crap out of me that people ignored closers. I ended up with five friggin closers on my staff and I think there's another 50 saves still sitting on the waiver wire. Weird.

1-Dan Haren-I tried to ignore taking a top-tier pitcher for as long as I could but eventually I couldn't ignore Haren any longer. At that point he was the second guy left in the tier and there were no batters that I was eager to draft, so why not?

2-Josh Beckett-...and then Beckett was the last guy left in that top tier for me. Again, I couldn't ignore it anymore. Didn't I say that I hated both of these guys in a post not too long ago?

3-Ricky Nolasco-Ricky has looked electric in spring training and coming out like he has something to prove. That 5.00 ERA he had might have something to do with it. If he can keep up the second half he had I will be very happy.

4-Tim Hudson-About time to start taking on some injury risks eh? Hudson has been exhibiting some pin point control so far in the spring. He's also only a year removed from being a great starting pitcher. High risk/ high reward.

5-Ted Lilly-More injury risk! Lilly's a good pitcher if he can stay healthy. Like I said earlier, home runs allowed was dropped as a category which can only help Lilly out.

6-Francisco Liriano-I was really surprised to see he was still available in the 2oth round of the draft with all of the Dominican League/Spring Training hype but maybe not everyone is as obsessive about that as I am. If really has recaptured his old form from a few years ago this will end up being a steal. If not, it's not like I really gave much up to get him.

Closers-Andrew Bailey, Chad Qualls, Mike Gonzalez, Jason Frasor, and Ryan Franklin. Holy crap that's alot of closers. Hopefully it doesn't come out to bite me in the ass.


So like I said, by conventional means my team looks weak in the batting department. The more I think about the strategy I am trying to employ, however, the stronger it seems. Pitching seems pretty tight as long as at least one or two of those guys don't have their arms fall off in the middle of the season. On top of that, only one of my batters shows a consistent track record of batting worse in September.

Regardless of what happens, I'm friggin excited for the season to start. Only about a week until opening day. WOOO!

Deem and Pass?

I've heard about enough Congressional methods of passing legislation lately to make my head spin. Almost none of it is understandable to any but the most enthusiastic political process buff.

The filibuster I barely get. In the past it was that members of the opposing party had to go to the podium and physically stall the process. They had to at least make the effort. Now it has become an un-written rule that all you have to do is say that you will filibuster and that is enough. Seems kind of lazy doesn't it? As another example of how weak the Democrats are there is no reason why they haven't been forcing the Republicans to physically do this every time they try to obstruct legislation. Let the public see how ugly the process is. The Democrats whine about how awful it is that the minority party forces them to muster up 60 votes for every little thing but they do nothing substantive about it. But that is a dead horse and, therefore, I shall not beat it.

Reconciliation I don't get at all, save for that it is now being identified as pure evil by Republicans despite their own frequent use of it when they were in power. All I know is that it is how the majority party gets by the super majority requirement and gets legislation to only need a simple majority.

As for this latest bit of business, the so called "Deem and Pass", well that makes no sense at all. I've tried reading up on it in a couple places and it is still beyond all understanding. The gist of it seems to be that you take a piece of legislation, draw up some amendments, and pass the amendments which in turn passes the bill. The fuss being raised in this instance (health care reform) seems to be that this would cause the amendments to be passed without the bill actually being complete. I could be completely off base.

Most of the objection I am hearing is that HCR would be passed without a vote. That is confusing because I see that there will be a vote on Sunday. Politics is so full of misinformation that I don't know who to believe.

Take the cost of this reform, for instance. The CBO recently announced that this bill will save money ($1.6 trillion) over a ten year period. That should be good news, right? Well all the conservative talking heads are now just talking about the cost and ignoring the savings. If they do acknowledge the CBOs report they are saying that you of course can't trust what the CBO says. The CBO has something in common with polls in that the numbers will be ignored by people when they don't serve their purposes. When Republicans hear how expensive a Democrat program is from a CBO report then they will wave that baby in the air for all to see. When the CBO reports that a Democrat program will save money then you can't trust the CBO. I'm sure that this goes both ways.

Anyway, my issue is with how this bill gets passed. I have read that the reason the Democrats are using(?) Deem and Pass is because some Congress men and women dont want to go on record as having voted for the bill. If that is true then those people need to be booted from office. That shows more concern for their political image than their actual job. If they don't believe in the bill, then they should vote no. If they do, then vote yes. It's that simple.

This HCR issue has been dragged on long enough and it needs to be over and done with. It should have been settled long ago. It's time they finish writing this baby up and bring it to a vote. Enough of this pussyfooting around. They all owe the people that much. As much as the Republicans love to declare that "the people have spoken", it was in the vote of 2008 where the people spoke. Its about time that the Democrats remember why they were voted in and do their damn job.

Random Question

When people listen to Rush Limbaugh and he says throughout the show that Obama/Democrats are purposely trying to destroy the economy, are there actually people out there who believe that? It would definitely be interesting to know the answer to that question.

Update: Well I know there's at least one. On the program that comes on directly after Rush a caller declared that "Rush is correct 99% of the time". I would love to see the detail on that report.

Sexy Rexy comes to Washington

Well that's awesome. I know that the 'Skins need a backup but usually what you look for as your #2 is someone reliable who can manage a game and not lose it by themselves.

The numbers on Grossman are:

7 Seasons, 37 Games, 524/971 Comp% 54, 6197 Yards, TD/INT 33/36, QB Rating 69.5

The numbers on Campbell are:

4 Seasons, 52 Games, 1002/1637 Comp% 61, 10860 Yards, TD/INT 55/38, QB Rating 82.3

These guys are almost the opposite of each other. Grossman is an absolute loose cannon slinging the football around with all of Favre's enthusiasm but with none of the accuracy. Campbell is all about safe passes and taking few risks.

The only bright side of the signing is that maybe it's an indication that the Redskins have no intention of drafting a quarterback with the 4th pick of the draft. Maybe, just maybe, they will do something smart and start working on rebuilding that offensive line that is crumbling apart before Campbell's very eyes. I'm not overly enthusiastic that this is the case considering that over at ESPN there's a question of if the 'skins should draft QB Jimmy Clausen in the first round. If that happens I will most likely throw up. I don't know how it isn't apparent to the guys in control but it should be obvious that, no matter who the QB is, no one will succeed if they have defensive linemen breathing down their neck every single down.

I probably shouldn't be getting worked up about this as it makes no sense to get upset about something that hasn't even come to pass, but I've just seen how the Redskins operate for a decade now to understand what they will do. We're talking about a team where that just signed Rex Grossman and Larry Johnson; two guys who have little to offer at this point. The best take on the Johnson signing is the fantasy article titled "Larry Johnson to make Portis look spry". Ain't it the truth.

So I suppose that I should simply be happy at this point that the Redskins haven't gone ahead and ran up a bill on free agents that will haunt them for years. You can bet, however, that I will be watching the draft to decide whether or not the new coaching staff will bring in a new era (hope and change if you will) or just more of the same.

You sick little monkey

The more I hear about Rep Eric Massa the more skeeved out I get. It took me a couple days to even start to pay attention to this guy as I started hearing his name pop up and I wish I had never decided to do so. Here you have a grown man, an elected representative, discussing his history of tickling, groping, SNORKLING(???) other grown men who have been subordinates. And the whole time he's talking about it like it ain't no thang.

It's so strange becomes he confesses freely to any and all alleged activities and then says that nothing is wrong with this. I'm pretty sure that if I were to ahead and give my buddies at the bar a good tickle tonight that I'd get a punch to the face. Sure, getting punched in the face wouldn't be anything new, but that is irrelevant.

So this fella was recently on the Glen Beck show for an interview and a fascinating thing happened where Beck eventually turned to the camera and apologized to his audience for "wasting their time". I'm not sure what he thought was going to happen but you know something isn't right when you've managed to out-crazy Beck.

The serious issue about this, however, is who knew about it. The rumor is that Nancy Pelosi did. If this is true, then there is no excuse for that and she will forever be right there with Dennis Hastert and John Boehner in relation to the Mark Foley incident a couple years ago. That kind of behaviour has no place in our government, and it won't end until these people in positions of authority take steps to curb it, rather than hide it to protect one party's majority.

Again and again the politicians that we are stuck with continue to shock me. Every level of depravity has been uncovered so far at the nations highest offices. We've had all sorts of sexual exploits, perversion, uncountless greed, hypocrisy, zero ethics, lack of integrity, and any other sort of bad behavior you can think of.

Perhaps the Teabaggers have it right with the idea of mob rule. Christ, when Glenn Beck and teabaggers start looking sane, you know shit is getting crazy.

Tear the roof off

We here in Syracuse have a problem. One of our main highways, Route 81, is currently cut in half with a detour due to a disintigrating building ready to fall on it. This drama has been unfolding for weeks now and yet 81 remains closed, and the building remains standing. The owner has been letting this structure fall in to disrepair for years now, and claims that rt 81 caused it to fall apart in the manner that it is now. I'm no insider on this story but it sounds like this guy is full of crap.

In the meantime, the city has taped off the property and given it the old "condemned" treatment while the owner has not allowed the city access. So right now there's a stalemate and a pissing contest rolling in to one. While nothing is being done, traffic is being diverted to the streets where it has become an ugly logjam.

Although this is the dominant news in Syracuse right now with around the clock updates, it is not what bothers me. The thing that baffles me are the quotes by the state on what it will take to knock it down. Initially the figure stood at $500,000, which sounds like a lot to destroy a building. Perhaps it's vicinity to the highway was the reason or special permits were required, whatever. Lets say that's a reasonable figure. Fine.

Next thing you know, the figure jumps to $2 million. How the hell does the price to knock down a building quadruple to that astronomical kind number? There was a letter to the edior recently saying that if the city supplied him with 50 men and a bunch of kegs, he would take care of it for free. Then the rumors started the price would now by $3 million. And that is just plain disgusting.

I highly doubt that it would even take $3 million to even build that structure. I can only guess that the state is giving these figures because they are in a hole right now and trying to get some revenue. I could be completely off base here but there just seems to be no justification for the price of a demolition to increase by six times over the course of two weeks. It would benefit the city if some enterprising individual should throw some dynamite in the place in the middle of the night. At least that way I could stop hearing about it.

Milk-a-what?

I hate to delve in to TMZ-ish type material but some days I just get in the blogging mood and just about everything seems like a good topic for me.



Poor Lindsay Lohan must be falling on hard times. She decided that the E-Trade commercial that aired during the superbowl was an attack on her and is now demanding $100 million from them. The reasons are: a) the baby is named "Lindsay" and b) she's a milkaholic. Therefore, they must be basing the character off of Lohan.



It's so absurd it is beyond understanding.



Listen, Lindsay. I know it must be difficult leading your lifestyle of having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment on nothing but the income earned from "I Know Who Killed Me" and the occasional obscure magazine shoot with "tasteful nudity", but this is a new low.

We're talking about a ton of cash for the usage of the name "Lindsay".

This is America, people. No lawsuit is too frivilous and your dignity can easily be turned in for cash. God bless the USA.

Don't threaten me with a good time

I now want health care reform to be passed like never before courtesy of Rush threatening to leave the US if it goes through.

"...if this passes and it's five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented -- I am leaving the country."

Update: What a downer. It turns out that Rush is only going to "leave the country to get private medical treatment in Costa Rica", not to live there permanently. Perhaps we can invade Costa Rica and give them Universal Health Care?

More Political Hypocrisy

The world of politics is full of hypocrisy. It's kind of sad that these people are in charge of the most powerful nation on this here planet. However, this is the hand we are dealt, and all we can do is point out the BS and hope that eventually these people may feel shame. So here's some recent WTFs, bullet point style:

• Sarah Palin used to skip across the border to get some of that Canadian health care
• Uber Anti-gay Senator Roy Ashburn was caught driving home drunk from a gay nightclub with a "friend"
• Karl Rove is critical of "smear tactics" being used in campaigns

I don't even have to discuss these. They speak for themselves.

Good talk, see you out there.

Jim Bunning: Right idea at the wrong time.

Republican Senator Jim Bunning recently came under intense criticism over the past couple weeks for his continued opposition to a bill to extend unemployment benefits that were about to expire. I'm not exactly positive on the process of Congress (nor do I ever hope to devote that much time to understanding it) but he was able to single-handedly stop the benefits from passing. In a time when people are losing their jobs and being left vulnerable without medical insurance and those things we working people take for granted it was too easy for every pundit and political talking head to take shots at the guy. In the end, the bill passed.

Believe it or not, I side with Bunning.

His opposition was simple: don't extend the benefits unless we can pay for it. Is there anything wrong with that? How much better would the economic situation of the USA be if we just made sure that we could afford what we were buying? Want some entitlement programs? Fine, just be sure they're paid for. Want to go to war? Sure, how about making sure the money is there (and the WMDs, but I digress).

It seems so ridiculous that the same things that citizens can get in trouble for with the government can be done by the government without a second thought. Except for 1997-2001, our nation has not had a budget surplus in 30 years. Can you even wrap your head around that kind of spending? We have not been out of debt since the 70s. That's just... wow.

I give credit to Bunning for being the one guy to go out there and stick his neck out. Who's to say how that will play out the next time he's up for election.

I do have to disagree with the timing, however. As I said, this is a crucial time for the unemployed. This isn't like holding back on welfare or any other program typically criticized by the right. So as to why he chose this issue and this time I can't say why. He apparently thought that it was the right situation to make his stand.

Something has to change in this cycle we have gotten ourselves in to. Democrats spend too much and Republicans don't take enough in. It all amounts to the same thing. Where are the politicians who believe in both tax cuts and reduced spending? As our (soon to be) ex-governor in NYS has learned, it is extremely unpopular to be the guy who tries to clean up the mess. It would take a large influx of elected officials to all get together on this, because one or two just won't get it done. There's too much money involved. Too many special interests. Too much corruption.

I have to believe that the people we have put in to positions of power want to help this country dig itself out of the hole. I just hope that it isn't too late before they remember what they are in DC to do.

Bank Happy

While reviewing the 2009 Annual Report for Mr CFO, I noticed that our wee little bank made it in to the top 10 of the 2009 Best Banks countdown in Forbes magazine. Suck it, Flagstar Bancorp!

Celebration bitches!

It somehow escaped my notice that I surpassed post #100 a couple posts ago. Blogger.com should celebrate by sending me a cheese sandwich. Byaawwwhh!

Legos and Lightsabers!

Did I mention that I'm a nerd?

"We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change"

I'm not the biggest Al Gore fan in the world but I do admire his efforts. Unfortunately, Gore is one of the least charismatic politicians to ever grace the earth. I honestly believe that he would have been a much better president than George W Bush, but I also believe that Bush was more suited to the tasks that fell to him in the wake of 9/11. However, the whole Iraq thing will forever tarnish him in my eyes.

But this isn't a Bush/Gore critique so moving on...

Gore recently wrote in to the New York Times with, what I think, is a really good piece on the recent climate change hysteria. I'm not sure why he is wasting his time with addressing the people who think a snow storm during winter in DC automatically makes climate change a hoax while ignoring the fact that Vancouver was experiencing weather in the 50s while trying to conduct the Winter Olympics. The weather in one place at one time does not a global climate theory make.

But now such esteemed minds as Sean Hannity and random twitter guy are calling for Gore to be called before Congress to face charges of fraud. Really? So working on this case for years has suddenly become a crime because of a snow storm in the nations capital? It's mind-blowingly insane.

Give the piece a read, it might make sense to you. At the very least for the haters it'll give you something to get cranky about.

Sometimes Rush just plain confuses me

It's been awhile since I last complained about Rush so I figure it's ok to take 5 minutes to discuss something he just brought up.

As soon as the show started Rush exhibited glee over the fact that the recent earthquake in Chile did not produce 5 foot high waves to pound the Hawaiian islands. I get that. Thank God nothing bad happened on US soil. But the actual reason that Rush is happy has nothing to do with the welfare of his fellow citizens (big surprise), but in fact it is because this (non) event proves once and for all that you should never trust scientists because they are evil and manipulative.

Which leads me to this conclusion:

Preventative measures taken to avoid potential catastrophes of nature is bad.

Preventative measures taken to avoid potential military (at the cost of billions of dollars and thousands of lives) catastrophes is good.

Rush would have rather that the people of Hawaii had continued on with their lives as if nothing was amiss until the actual moment the wave was sighted.

This is what happens when idiots argue science. Most of what exists in science is theory. There are very few absolutes. However, there would be very few breakthroughs if science had to be absolutely 100% verifiable before being acted upon. That is the world that Rush wants. I just wonder if he would feel the same if those same restrictions were placed on Oxycontin and Viagra.

A man chooses, a slave obeys.

Every once in a while you find a game where it goes beyond just playing games and the story sucks you in. It sometimes goes beyond saving the princess, earning a ton of experience points and beating the bad guy, and scoring touchdowns. It says alot when the story is as good as reading a book as they could just give you some flashy graphics, big guns, wind you up and set you free.

Bioshock is one of the rare games. They manage to flesh out the characters in the game so well and the voice actors do a fantastic job. The single most thrilling aspect would have to be penetrating the defenses of Andrew Ryan or Frank Fontaine and hearing them steadily more frightened, angry, and defiant as you get closer and closer. The NPCs sometimes plead, sometimes insult, and sometimes muse. It's awesome how much they can flesh out some characters that you don't even meet through the use of taped recordings spread throughout the underwater world of Rapture.

As usual, there is a twist or two, and at least one of them is enough to force you to suddenly reflect on the previous 20 hours that you've put in to the game and go "Ohhhhh......!".

I finally finished the game last night, which is a rarity in itself, but what can I say. It's just one of those rare games that I want to finish. Each enemy, no matter how repetitive, was an experience and not just fodder for my machine gun. They never lost their creepy value, nor did the little sisters or the big daddy.

Graphics were outstanding, and with a game set underwater they made that water as beautiful as possible. Gameplay mechanics were spot on. Music and sound effects were genious. The game was also nicely polished. There was one spot early on where I experienced a couple crashes, but that was it. There are a couple odd glitches but nothing to get worked up about. All told, Bioshock is a really good game.

Now would you kindly go out and play this game.



PS FRAPS is the shit.

You gotta love sports! (USA! USA! USA! Edition)

Happy Monday! Meh, no such thing. Especially when it isn't football season. Anyway, the Olympics are over and that makes me happy as the NHL gets back in to the groove and I no longer have to come to terms with the fact that I treated curling as a reasonable sporting alternative for two whole weeks.

First off, congrats to Canada for pulling out a big win to take the gold in hockey. If it weren't for Ryan Miller I can guarantee that USA would not have sniffed the gold medal game. Simply put, he was amazing. In the end, however, it simply seemed like the Canadian team was constantly working with a man advantage. They straight up out-played us and if it weren't for a last second goal by Parise, the game wouldn't have been nearly as big as it now seems. I'm kind of pissed that the phenomenon known as Crosby-over-adulation reared its ugly head again. Crosby was, for the most part, invisible for most of the tournament. Just like with the Stanley Cup, though, one play suddenly makes him a freakin' hero. Blow me, Crosby. On a side note that is in no way related to my Red Wing fandom, I have to give a ton of credit to Brian Rafalski. It seemed like he was on the ice at all times and leading just about every offensive surge. Hopefully he can carry that spunk back in to the regular season because he was playing like a turd prior to the Olympic break.

Secondly, yeah f'in USA! It's practically a given that we yanks will show up and just dominate the field. Just give us all the medals. We takes them!

Thirdly, it has come to my attention that I have reason once again to tune in to the YES network this week. That's right, baseball is back! Sure it's only spring training. Whatever, it's still sports.

Fourth, with baseball being back, it looks like it's time for me to finalize the fantasy baseball tiers. I participated in a public league draft last week for practice and I think I did alright. The very frustrating thing was the fact that Yahoo's draft program was constantly disconnecting. If it happens to be your turn to pick and you have some guys loaded in to your queue and you disconnect at the same time, the comp automatically selects the first guy in the list for you. This was to my detriment at least twice. But my offense is loaded. My pitching, not so much.

So there you have it sports fans.

Wait, I forgot something.

Fifthly, SU brought the lumber against 'nova this past Saturday. Being the fair weather SU fan that I am, I've decided it is now safe for me to get on the bandwagon. Rankings come out this afternoon and if SU doesn't get #1 then I am calling shenanigans.