The El Blog

One of my "goals" for this summer is to read more news stuff, so I'm trying to read various online articles for about an hour each morning. I want to clarify that "news" has absolutely nothing to do with politics, to me. So, I'm just reading about sports and video games and maybe some other entertainment stuff. One of the hopes is that it will improve my blogging, since it will be more informed now.

Either way, the first thing I'm writing about today is something I watched on TV last night: the Boston/Orlando game. After a fourth-quarter comeback by the Cs, this game came down to one of those "we're up by three with less than 10 seconds to go, so let's just foul them before they can get a tying three-point shot off" kind of things. So, Doc Rivers and the Celtics didn't let the Magic hold the ball for more than maybe a quarter of a second on any of their final possessions before fouling them. The appropriateness of this strategy may be one of the most pressing issues in the NBA (other than the ridiculousness of referees). I don't remember this being an issue more than five years ago, but now, it seems like every color commentator suggests the foul during any game with a three-point lead. And more and more coaches are starting to listen.

Usually, the debate hinges on whether it's a "sportsmanlike" thing to do or not, and the announcer usually argues that it's a "winning" thing to do. I agree, but it's also one of the worst things to happen to the game since Jordan starting playing baseball. I was watching last night's game on mute because I had to listen to something else at the time, but I would unmute it in between commercials. I ended up having the game muted for probably 10 of the last 12 to 15 minutes because there were fouls and timeouts after every 2 or 3 seconds of gameplay. Most of the times that I unmuted the game, Reggie Miller couldn't even speak a whole sentence before I was muting it again.

I end up watching a lot of sports with non-sports fans. One of their biggest complaints, especially about basketball, is that the last few minutes take forever in close games. In the past, that was just because the losing team was fouling to try to catch up, but if both teams are fouling each other for the last few minutes, even I don't know if I really want to watch that. Of course, none of this would have happened if the Magic had just passed the ball to Dwight Howard.

Speaking of fouling in the playoffs, this seems to be a very physical few weeks of basketball.

The Cardinals got a little bit killed last night. Plus, Ryan Ludwick left the game with an injury, which is bad for me for two reasons, since he's one of my better fantasy batters. I guess we'll hear more news today. If you'd told me at the beginning of the year that a Matthew Leach article would start with "already short on outfielders," I probably would have guessed that he switched teams. The Cards went into this season with way too many outfielders. So, maybe they went a little overboard by moving Skip Schumaker to second and
trading Brian Barton to Atlanta. But then, injuries can't really be predicted, except maybe in the case of Chris Carpenter.

I (fantasy) own both of the pitchers from last night's NYY/Toronto game: Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett. I was really hoping for one of those Zack Greinke games where both starters pitch complete games and the total runs scored is under two. That didn't happen. At least one of them pitched well.

I agree with Matthew that the "Epilogue: Mile High Club" mission of CoD4 is one of the most addicting FPS gaming moments ever. Evidently, he's had more success than I have. The first details about the sequel, Modern Warfare 2, are starting to emerge. There's also been a teaser during the NBA Playoffs about an exclusive preview during the Eastern Conference Finals. Previews of previews are awesome.

It looks like there will be a mode called "Special Forces" that is "in the spirit of [the] Mile High Club" mission, according to Infinity Ward president Jason West. It's also going to be co-op, so that's sweet. But that news only comes as consolation to the news that the rest of the game will not be. I don't understand why anybody still makes FPSs that don't have the combined multiplayer variety of Halo 3 and Gears of War 2. Every multiplayer FPS should have four-player co-op, four-player horde mode, and at least 8-player online mode; it's that simple.

In that same article, Jason West also states that "any good story is on rails." To me, that seems like a completely outdated and close-minded statement, one that I would have never expected to hear from a video game designer, considering that medium has worked without that assumption for years. The fact that games' stories don't need to be "on rails" is probably the biggest advantage that video game stories have over more traditional media.

I also read a few Rock Band stories today, including one about using (Pearl Jam) tracks that were recorded at live shows. That does seem to fit the whole nature of the game, since it sets the band in concert venues, not recording studios. Also, Jenny might be pleased to read about this. I wasn't.

QotD:

If you're team is up three with less than 10 seconds to play, do you foul the other team before they can get a shot off?

My take: Probably. But then I wouldn't watch that segment of the game tape during my video sessions. I'd just skip to my interview after the game because I know I'd want to see that.

So, that's the new and improved blog. I think it's better. We'll see if I can keep it up. It took a long time.