EA Screwed Up, AGAIN!

Electronic Arts F’ed up again. And it’s why I’m saving myself $60 buckaroos this year, as I’m not going to buy NCAA Football ‘09. Or at least not until they patch the dang game up.

I was all set to buy the game Tuesday. I was ready to dish out $60 like it was nothing. However, after learning that the game is missing five teams (Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Troy, Western Kentucky, Wyoming), you can’t change player names on the rosters, etc., I’m not going to be buying the game. It’s going to be the first time I haven’t picked up NCAA Football on its release day since the 2003 version.

It’s just unacceptable.

I’ll wait until they patch it up. And even then, who knows if I’m going to buy it.

I’ll just stick to my exercising regime and reading books — more beneficial to my life anyway.

The Soldiers in Iraq

So I was browsing YouTube the other day and found some videos that exemplified some U.S. Soldiers treating the Iraqi and Afghani kids like crap. As in, the kids were begging for water, and the soldiers were taunting them. I even found videos of the soldiers teaching the kids to say things like “Nigga bitches.” And since the kids didn’t know what they were saying, they said it anyway, with glee.

Even one soldier talked about how he cussed the kids and smiled, and because they didn’t know what he was saying, they thought he was being nice.

Thinking about it, I’ve come to a couple of conclusions:

1.) Not all soldiers/marines in Iraq are like this.

2.) The reason these kids are asking for water is not because they don’t have any, it’s because their water is hard and they like the taste of soft warter (they hardly have any of the soft water).

3.) Iraq kids are just as cruel/mean to American soldiers, and sometimes even try to hurt them by throwing rocks at their convoys.

4.) When you’re in 120 degrees, full army uniform for a year with bullets flying past your face, you don’t — and can’t — think straight, so it’s really easy for us to sit in our comfy chairs, degrading these men, but if you’re out there in those conditions, let’s see how well you handle it!

My Awful Poetry Attempt

I felt truly swindled
My mind in a rush
Feeling that the world is petty
My thoughts cluttered like mush

Yet it’s no time to weep
Nor a time to scream
But a time to relax
That’s better it seems

And there you have it. My God-awful poetry attempt written in LESS than one minute.

The Vols’ Offense

Look for the Tennessee Volunteers’ offense to be more explosive than expected this season. After reading numerous amounts of articles on the Vols’ young, enigmatic offense, I need to no longer be convinced, because I am already convinced.

Because the need for a deep threat receiver, the Vols’ freshman wide out Ahmad Paige is being seeked to become a filler to that void.

Junior quarterback Jonathan Crompton is also in the talks. The last time he’d stepped on the football field was two years ago, filling in for the Erik Ainge, in two starts against the LSU Tigers and Arkansas Razorbacks. Crompton didn’t fare too well. He was a fresman then; now a junior, expectations are lofty. Vols offensive coordinator Dave Clawson says those expectations are fitting, as the junior quarterback exemplifies many tools at the quarterback position.

Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman

Chuck Klosterman’s first novel Downtown Owl will release in September. It’s a story set in North Dakota in 1983, following the lives of three different people who are coping with life in a violent rural area.

Klosterman is one of my favorite writers. The book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is excellent. And while I’ve never read any of his other work, I’ve always had an affinity for the pieces he’s written for ESPN.com. The week long blog during Super Bowl XL in 2006 and the March Madness blog in 2007 were great reads.

With that said, I can’t wait to pick up his first novel in September, hoping that his fiction debut is worth the wait.

Nick Saban and Jimmy Johns

Saban is a joke. He points that Johns wasn’t going to play, yet he was named best linebacker in the spring.

If you read the article in the Advertiser, he is leaving his character building to an outsourced company who probably has never worked with college football teams.

The background check on recruits? Your top recruit involved in a drive-by murder case, so maybe that didn’t come up. What about working with the guys who are there already. Seems like they come out and say no more can happen then the leasders (Castille and Johnson) from last year and this year have been arrested. Those were nothing, Saban said, but then he fails to notice an armed robber and drug dealer in his midst. Maybe recruits come there so they can do as they please. Saban seems to be in Georgia when all of this happens, by the way.

The guy just doesn’t get it. He’s an average coach, who lucked into sharing a NCAA title. Since then his ego has blurred everything.

The Cubs are Rich

I think this was a good trade for both of Cubs and the A’s, since Gaudin can add depth and solid help to bullpen and sure Harden is a great pitcher and all probably even better than Sabathia, but with his injury proned past I am not quite sure if he will be capable of starting more than 25 games the years he is in the Cubs, maybe this year yes, but no one knows when injury will hit him.

This trade is looking real good for the A’s future, Beane has scored a big one here. He has already stated that this will be his Rebuilding year, clearly stating he will trade tenured big leaguers for young minor leaguers or ones who are getting settled in the bigs.

Here are the players that A’s got: Sean Gallagher, Josh Donalson, Eric Patterson, Matt Murton.

Starting with Matt Murton, he is the kind of hitter Beane was drooling over. I was wondering the past few years if Beane would ever pursue him but it has finally happened. He can hit, and draw walks. Past two years he has hit .297 and .281 with OBP of .365 and .352. This year he barely got any chance to show himself in the bigs only allowed to play 19 games so far. This guy will be the gem Beane has got off the Cubs. Playing full time, no one knows how good he will be. My projection is that he will hit either in 2nd, 3rd, or 5th spot in the future for the A’s.

Eric Patterson, Corey Patterson’s younger brother is a fast guy like him too. Here is his stats in Triple-A this year: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st…&pid=452221

hitting .320 and .358OBP, not the most patient hitter but his speed and double hitting power will help the A’s lineup. He will possibly be the A’s leadoff in the future.

Sean Gallagher is a 95MPH throwing 5th starter for the Cubs. His minor league stats were impressive, but he has to prove that he can pitch in the bigs. He has a 4.45 ERA right now, not bad for a rookie starter, I think he will end up as the A’s 3rd or 4th starter in the future.

Josh Donaldson, a catching prospect. If you just look at his overall stats he seems like a sucky hitting catcher. But when you look at his stats vs lefty you’ll change his mind. He’s hitting .286 and .400OBP and best of all .948OPS. I think he’ll end up being a platoon hitting catcher or Beane might be planning on training him to improve against righties in the minors before calling him up.

A’s didn’t see any need to hold on to Harden and Gaudin since they were in their rebuilding year and their SP rotation is doing really well without Harden and bullpen is too. Duchsherer is pitching with an 1.96 ERA in the rotation and no one is over 4.00ERA except for Joe Blanton. Andrew Brown and Casilla Santiago seems to be doing well with 2.00ERAs.

Expect Duchscherer and Street to get traded next time.

Top 25 Toughest Places to Play

In the new edition of NCAA Football ‘09 which releases for the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3 next Tuesday, the top 25 toughest places to play in the game are set. Three SEC teams in the top five. Not bad.

#1 LSU
#2 Florida
#3 Ohio State
#4 Penn State
#5 Tennessee
#6 Oklahoma
#7 Oregon
#8 Wisconsin
#9 Virginia Tech
#10 Nebraska
#11 USC
#12 Texas
#13 Michigan
#14 Texas A&M
#15 Notre Dame
#16 Georgia
#17 Florida State
#18 Alabama
#19 Auburn
#20 West Virginia
#21 Clemson
#22 Arkansas
#23 Colorado
#24 Boise St.
#25 South Carolina

Why on earth is Oregon, Wisconsin, and Southern Cal ahead of Georgia, Auburn, and Alabama? The latter three should be in the top ten instead of the first three mentioned. Southern Cal has to cover up 30,000 seats and they still can’t sell out. I guess it’s tougher to play in Autzen Stadium (50,000+) than in the SEC? Ha. Here’s my top 25:

1. LSU
2. Florida
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. Ohio State
6. Penn State
7. Auburn
8. Alabama
9. Michigan
10. Virginia Tech
11.Nebraska
12. Texas A&M
13. Florida State
14. Texas
15. Oklahoma
16. Clemson
17. Wisconsin
18. Notre Dame
19. Oregon
20. Arkansas
21. Southern California
22. Arizona State
23. South Carolina
24. Colorado
25. West Virginia

No doubt, LSU is the toughest venue in all of college sports. Regardless of a team’s record there (Bama used to dominate LSU in Tiger Stadium, but no more, and Florida — under Steve Spurrier — toasted LSU a few times), they all would have to admit that the intensity, noise, and electric feeling of a Saturday night in Tiger Stadium is to be feared by all.

The closeness of the crowd and enthusiasm of those Louisiana folks is just crazy. I wouldn’t want to play there for anything.

Does LSU play any games during the day anymore? If I were LSU, I would try to practically play every game at night. It’s a tough place to play. Glad to see Ben Hill Griffin Stadium still up there.

Summer Reading List

It seems that many people are writing up their Summer Reading lists, so I figured I’d join the party.

Wisdom of our Fathers: A Collection of Laters from Sons and Daughters by Tim Russert
The Last Banner: Story of the 1985-1986 Boston Celtics, the Greatest Team of All Time by Peter May
I am Legend by Richard Matheson
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Summer of ‘49 by David Halberstam
Everything They Had by David Halberstam
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Do Travel Writers Go To Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm

The list will augment pretty soon.

Committed to College Football

“I’m just an SEC guy” I told one of my buddies. It’s true. Even though I’m a Virginia Tech Hokies fan, I’m a mark for Tennessee, too. The buddy I told that is a big time ACC guy. So these debates are a little bittersweet when we compare these different conferences.

I’ve always been more of a professional sports man than a college sports man, but this year is the year I’m going to try to balance it out. I’m going to make a commitment to watch every Saturday night AND Sunday night game, throughout the season. No matter what, I MUST do it, and I MUST come here to Extra Curly Fries, Please to blog about it.

The past few seasons, I’ve kept up with it every week, but not adamantly — not to the point where I could break down more than two teams at once and tell you their top notch strengths and their colossal weaknesses. I couldn’t tell you a QB’s level of play and how he fared against the spread. I was more attentive to the pro game, more understanding of what was going on there than in college football.

So, I’m telling you all now, I’m going to make a stand and watch every Saturday AND Sunady night college game this season. If I don’t, dig up this post and berate me. But if I do, go ahead and give me my imminent well-deserved props. Mike Patrick is always fun to listen to during those Saturday night games, so it won’t be too bad on the ears. ‘Holy cow!’