By Pat McCarthy
Editors Note: Pat McCarthy is a former AH! contributor who has decided to create his own blog, Arbitration Cogitation. For your enjoyment, we're going to cross post this helpful guide to sports reading.
Working forty plus hours a week in front of a computer lends itself to extensive surfing and reading. As does the Office Space-like workload. Anyhow, in the following I'll give a somewhat brief synopsis of my semi-fortnightly online and literary choices...
Monday-
-Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB) on si.com. Usually very insightful, covers a lot of games and more of the story angles than actual strategy, although there is a healthy amount. My only pet peeve is his two to three name drops per column. i.e. I texted so-and-so after the game... Other than that good, lengthy as well, so that kills a large portion of time. I have never really read his column before this year, so I can't compare this to his previous efforts. Quirky part I enjoy: his coffee nerd update. I enjoy fantasizing over good coffee while drinking the hot garbage at work.
Tuesday-
-Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ, and don't worry, they won't be all follow the day of the week morning quarterback naming equation, I promise) on espn.com. Gregg Easterbrook, an editor for The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Monthly and The New Republic. A smart guy who incorporates a lot of current events and strategy and stats into the column. A lot of his maxims I agree with, but there are times when it gets a bit repetitive from week to week, but all-in-all a great column.
Also, I usually catch Peter King's MMQB Tuesday edition. I don't know how two well know writers can have such similarly named pieces for competing sports news entities. If I thought about it too long it would get me too upset, so I won't - I suggest that you don't either.
Wednesday-
Wednesday is kind of a no man's land, so I'll throw in Stuart Mandel (si.com), Ivan Maisel and Pat Forde (espn.com) and the blog Everday Should Be Saturday (edsbs.com) for the as of yet underrepresented college football portion. I don't know if they have a set schedule, but I usually read them when I can. EDSBS I typically check daily - I don't exactly know how it gets through the work censors what with the rampant profanity and all, but it typically makes me laugh - sometimes aloud. As in using 'lip lazer' to refer to the winner of the Moustache of the Week.
Thursday-
Footballoutsiders.com is another site with extensive pro football dominated coverage, although they do delve into the college realm. Another site I typically check daily, although I make sure to hit it on Thursday for the quotes of the week. I've lagged on reading every day because it delves a bit too deeply into the minutiae of the games - and to be real honest, I don't need to get a blow by blow of Forty-Niner v. Falcon All-Natural sleep aid.
Friday-
The Sports Guy's picks on espn.com, although they were sorely missed last week due to the birth of his second child, first boy. C'mon Bill, get your priorities straight.
Other daily reads that I typically save for home:
joeposnanski.com - Columnist for the KC Star, great author who writes obsessively about baseball, makes me want to be a stat freak, but luckily it lasts only for the duration of the column so I can sort of lead a productive life. Or not, because I spent one night catching up on everything he had written because I was unaware of the blog.
Jason Whitten on foxsports.com - I don't really read this religiously, but I like it, although some times it just seems like he's writing stuff to piss people off, which I'm all for, but it does cause some painful lapses in logic.
I have been getting incredibly good making it seem like I am reading something important. It's all in the furrowed brow...
Monday, November 12, 2007
Pat's Daily Reading Guide
Friday, November 9, 2007
Bald People of the World
By Jeff
With Troy sporting his new bald head, I decided to make a list of famous bald people in history. Some of the coolest people in this world are bald and I’ve made a list of top 10.
1)Me: Thanks to the Foss family and a Raider baseball team that went to state, all of my high school graduation photos have a nice looking bald head in them.
2)Homer Simpson: there are many reasons why Homer is the man. You decide……
5) Jesse Ventura: Not for his role as governor, but for Predator!
6) Torii Hunter and Kirby Puckett: Two of the greatest center fielders.
7) Ghandi: He was a cool dude…
9) Billy Corgan: Siamese Dream kicked ass.
10) Cal Ripken Jr: Good ballplayer and all around good guy.
Honorable Mention-
Samuel L. Jackson: Sometimes he doesn’t sport the bald look.
Bruce Willis: DIE HARD DIE HARD DIE HARD
Jason Alexander: George was the best tv personality of all time.
Vin Diesel: Can’t act and sucks at life…
Patrick Stewart: never really watched Star Trek.
Micheal Stipe: REM kicks ass.
Billy Zane: for his appearance in Zoolander.
Andre Agassi: He wore a big earing while playing tennis and I like cannon cameras.
Paul Shaffer: Because Dave Letterman is funny.
Sigourney Weaver: was bald for Alien and I loved Ghostbusters, but her voice in Planet Earth was wicked.
Mike Haas: although not bald yet, he will quickly top the list in the next few years!!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Why I Wish I Had My Nintendo 64
By Michael Haas
Here in Northeast Minneapolis, my roommates and I like to play video games. We have a pretty cool set-up. There is a big television for regular viewing, and a small 13-inch screen for playing games. The problem is, we only have one gaming system; the Nintendo Entertainment System. It's pretty fun, what with all three Marios and RBI baseball and Tecmo Superbowl. But sometimes we think that our 22-year old gaming system is becoming dated. We decided it might be time to move up to a new gaming platform: The Nintendo 64.
The Nintendo 64 debuted in the year of our lord, 1997. It was dubbed '64' for the 64 Japanese engineers who perished during it's long and fabled development. Dr. Orokosaki Nintendo was a powerful businessman, samurai and luminary, who rose to prominence in 1967 after slaying the last secret dragon. He went underground after his coke habit nearly killed him in 1979.
He was so bored without his drugs, that he contracted eight of the best technological experts to build him an entertainment machine even more addictive than drugs. The first Nintendo Entertainment System was finished in 1983, and warmly received by Dr. Nintendo. He never intended for his machine to be mass produced and sold, until he needed more cash to pay his growing army of technicians hired to produce more games for his personal pleasure. At first, his gaming habit was more expensive than his drug habit, albeit less destructive. His system was introduced to the general public in 1985, and people have been wishing they could shoot that dog ever since.
I don't know where I was going with that. The point is, I really want to play MarioKart and GoldenEye.
Daymonster's Baseball Video Game Review Special
Baseball games, like most sport games translate well to video games, every year there are new teams which makes the user need to constantly update their collection. Baseball in particular isn't super fast paced so transitioning from player to player was possible on the earlier systems. RBI baseball remains one of my favorite videogames of all time. (Check out Game 6 of the '86 WS recreated on RBI)
I have been playing video games all my life and have almost every mainstream platform available. While I pride myself in knowing my fair share about video games, this is my first attempt at a review. Let's see how it goes, we can learn together. All ratings are out of 5 Protective Cups.
Essentially there are two games that could even be called baseball simulations on the next gen systems. One is "Major League Baseball 2k7" which I have for the Xbox 360 and "MLB 07: The Show" for Playstation 3 (PS3).
The third game, which is more of an arcade style game is called "The Bigs", I have this game for the Nintendo Wii. Generally I do not like these types of games (NFL Blitz, NBA Street etc.) but I was drawn to this game for one reason and one reason only. Justin Morneau graced it's cover last year. Also, I figured if there was any system that could make these over the top ridiculous games fun, it would have to be the Wii.
Now that you have a little of the back story let's get into the games in the order in which I bought them.
Major League Baseball 2k7 (360)
Originally thought to be a machine only built for playing the Halo Franchise, turns out Microsoft's Xbox 360 can also play other games! This was my first baseball game on one of the new systems. I bought it expecting/hoping the graphics to to be like watching a game on TV. While its not quite that good, the stadiums and the player representations are about as good as anything I have ever seen from a video game. I sometimes I just start a game to see what a stadium looks like from the field level. My only issue is the crowd at times, when the Blue Jays are playing the Royals in May, I don't think it would be a packed house (and certainly it wouldn't be filled with the same 7 different people wearing generic Royals and 2K sports t-shirts)
The controls are pretty good for pitching and hitting. It's your standard timing system for throwing a pitch but instead of a meter, the outline of the ball expands and then contracts, the wider the outline expands the harder you throw the pitch, but more difficult it is to pinpoint the location.
There are two different options for hitting, you can go with the simple button hitting option that has been a staple of baseball games for years or you can use the analog stick to fluidly time your swing. On the PS3 version you can take advantage of the sixaxis (which is a palindrome) controller and swing it like a bat. Button mashing is by far the most efficient, swinging the controller is the most fun and using the joystick falls somewhere in between.
The one area where 2k7 falls short is in the base running and seemingly at random game play glitches. Base running can be difficult to manage at first with players constantly overrunning people in front of them, and others not running at all. Game play glitches include a ball passing through a shortstops chest or a catcher throwing the ball into right field in an attempt to throw down to second.
Franchise mode and the ability to create a realistic or outright crazy player make this game one that you don't get bored with quickly. It's fun to make a pitcher with 105 mph fastball and a 50mp eephus pitch and let him dominate single-A ball. All in all, I recommend this game to any fan that likes baseball and video games.
Daymonster rating:
_______________
MLB 07: The Show (PS3)
I heard really good things about this game so I decided to check it out. Having three systems can make it difficult for picking out games, sometimes I put thought into which game would be best on each system and choose accordingly and sometimes I just randomly pick a system. Fortunately in this case I didn't have a choice. The Show is produced by Sony Entertainment meaning my only choices were PS2, PSP or PS3.I won't bore you with going into the details as it doesn't vary much from MLB 2K7. It's still a baseball game and they tend to play on basic principles. But where this game excels is the "Road to the Show" mode. It's great for anyone who doesn't want to play a franchise mode but still wants a game mode that offers a lot of depth. Instead of creating a team and playing through a season you create a ballplayer, pick a position, and find a team you think you can make.
Instead of playing every pitch of every game, you play only when you're directly involved in the game. For example, if you're a right fielder, you'll play only when a ball is hit your way or when you're at bat. When your turn is over, the game simply fast-forwards to the next time you're involved. At first it might not sound like tons of fun, but believe me it's pretty awesome.
You can improve by reaching goals that are given to you. Like a pitcher will be told to do things like strike out the opposing batter or force a double play. While the batter is told to get a hit, or make contact. As you get points for doing what is needed you can use these to train your player. You can request trades, get contracts, etc. It's a pretty cool feature. It's very rewarding to work your way up from a nobody to a big star. Or if you're old school The Show has a classic Franchise mode that doesn't disappoint.
Daymonster rating:
_______________
The Bigs (Wii)
The Bigs is your classic arcade style game where every hit is a home run and every pitch is a 120 mph fastball. However if you're into that sort of thing The Bigs is a lot of fun. The ability to actually determine how fast you throw the ball by how hard you move your arm in real life is pretty entertaining, and very dangerous. After a few innings my elbow gets tingly and my fingers get numb.
The game looks okay, not nearly as good as the other baseball games I own. Partly because it's not supposed to look great and also the Wii is not as powerful of a system. Fielding and base running are also poor, but the hitting and pitching definitely make up for it. If you are looking for an accurate baseball sim, The Bigs is not for you, but if you want a good drunk party game where you have a decent chance of putting a hole in your TV screen the size of a wiimote, then this game is definitely worth checking out.
Daymonster Rating:
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Fair Weather Wolves fans will soon jump back on board!
by Mark Waters
I just want to start by saying this 2007 T'Wolves team is going to be terrible. But that's completely acceptable. I know the interest is down for most Minnesota sports fans, but I'm very excited to watch these youngins come together. I figure I'll do some get to know 'ems and discuss other reasons as to why I think my favorite basketball team has a chance to be a force in the not-so-distant future.
Al Jefferson - Sky is the limit for this PF who helps at Center sometimes. He has already established himself as a pure scorer and rebounder. He's not a shot blocker, but his power and numerous post up moves make him an elite PF for years to come. I can see how he and Mark Blount didn't get along back in Boston. Al Jefferson has a post presence, is good at basketball, and actually works hard. They are polar opposites.
Ryan Gomes - Celtics Writers/Fans/Followers all agree that this young swingman has the potential to be a solid Small Forward in this league. He can quietly put up 15-20 points on any given night, and has a great attitude/work ethic. Unlike Ricky Davis, Gomes will actually make his teammates better. Expect him to score around 15 ppg this season as our starting SF.
Corey Brewer - It will take some time before he becomes a key factor - when he puts on about 15 lbs of muscle, you'll notice. He was one of NCAA's best defenders for the last 2 seasons and is a shooting threat as well as a slasher. He has already received numerous comparisons to a young Scottie Pippen due to his size and athletic ability. Again, it might take a couple years for him to adjust to the league, but he will be a valueable piece to this organization sooner rather than later.
That tie pwns hard^
Rashad McCants - tough call on McCants. His defense has looked better than last season, and has been scoring throughout all of preason. Only 2 games in, it's foolish to make bold predictions on how well he'll produce, but all indications are saying that he should be a legitimate 2 guard. His streakiness as a shooter is my main concern. Hopefully he has cured that, or will cure that as he gets older. The Wolves need him to step up and be one of the leaders this season.
Craig Smith - I love this guy, but he is simply too short to ever become a great player. His scoring ability has picked up where it left off, but he still isn't good enough defensively to be a starter. His role as a scorer off the bench is good enough for a favorable contract extension.
Randy Foye - Injured (which sucks) but when he returns there is no reason why he won't score 15-20 ppg. However, he isn't a true point guard, and this team already has enough 2 guards. Hopefully he can develope into a permanent role as our starting point guard.
Sebastian Telfair - If he can keep his head screwed on, within a couple years, this kid should develop into a fine point guard. This team desperately needs a true point.
Gerald Green - he is only what 20 years old? People have been very negative towards him, already calling him a bust. I'd like to see him get alot more playing time this season, but so far after 2 games he's played a total of 1 minute. Given playing time, he can be an energetic scoring threat.
I don't feel like mentioning Ratliff, Antoine Walker, Micheal Doleac, etc. because I really don't care about them. The're not that good, old, injury proned, and probably wont be on this team next year. Buckner has a chance to be decent, but the verdict is still clearly out with him.
On top of acquiring these good young prospects guess what? Blount, Davis, Hassell, Nate James, and Troy Hudson are no longer on our roster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All five are losers with terrible, long term contracts. McHale must be smoking drugs...or Hoiberg is playing a huge role in these moves. (more likely the latter)
A 15-25-win team this year will bring in a top 5 pick in what looks to be another deep draft. WIth all these crappy contracts that were bought out, and/or will expire within the next 2 seasons, this payroll will fall well under the cap allowing us to bring in a solid free agent or two to go along with a young, up and coming Wolves team. And I don't buy the "Good luck getting a free agent to come to Minnesota" crap. If you can pay them and you have a good team, they'll play in Mystery Alaska.
Come on Fair-Weather Minnasodah Rubes!!! Jump back on the T-Wolves train, cuz a few years from now, we're gonna be a serious contender. We're coooommmiinnnnnn!
I hate HTML-ing a bunch of links in my posts cuz I'm too lazy, but here's a crappy link to the wolves roster/stats
Rock Band: The Video Game
I have to be one of the most musically uninclined individuals of all time. But that doesn't mean I haven't dreamed of being a rock star like Axel, Prince or even that dude from Creed. Up until the last few years I had to live out my rock star fantasies in private or at the occasional karaoke bar. But I always dreamed of something more, the ability to play an instrument dummed down just enough that I could be successful.
And that game was Guitar Hero. I snatched up the game for the PlayStation 2 faster than Mama Cass Eliot could eat a ham sandwich. I still play all four of the Guitar Hero games, with the most recent version, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, currently taking up all my free time.
However, I am even more excited about a new game. A game that takes my favorite games, combines them and then multiplies them ten-fold. This new game is none other than the highly anticipated "Rock Band."
For those of you who do not scour the Internet superweb for updates on video games, let me explain the premise behind Rock Band. The game lets four equally nerdy people play over 45 songs spanning 5 decades (full song list) on small plastic guitars, basses, vocals and drums. How could this be possible on one screen?
As you can see in the image above the Guitar is on a track to the right, similar to the Guitar Hero style board that Harmonix made famous. The base line is on the far left with the drum track in the middle. Of course the vocals scroll along the top from right to left, like the equally fun Karaoke Revolution Series by Konami.
Now this might looked cluttered, and if it weren't for the newer wide screen TV sets all the young kids have these days it probably would be. But not only can you rock out on the same TV, you can rock out over the Internet or with a LAN (Local Area Network). This lets you get together with your bandmates from down the hall to across the world.
Now I hear you out there. "I don't want to be jamming with a little plastic Fisher-Price Guitar." And the good people at Fender must have heard you as well. That's why they made this solid Fender Stratocaster replica so you can look cool will playing fake guitar over the Internet. The guitar features 5 fret buttons to be used while strumming the sting bar, and unlike the Guitar Hero guitar, it will also have 5 similar fret buttons at the base of the neck that you can finger tap for sweet solos where no strumming is required.
Also featured on the guitar is a whammy bar and a five-way FX switch lets players choose their own showboating audio FX, including flanger, wah wah, echo, and chorus.
As you could probably guess the same instrument can be used for lead guitar, rhythm or bass. Also, the official word on if the Guitar Hero guitar will be compatible is yet to be seen for certain but most sources are saying it will, but with some limited functionality (i.e. finger tap fret buttons).
Yes, guitar playing video games are not new, and have by many people's accounts have already been perfected. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for drums.
The drum kit (which ships with the game) is probably the most anticipated aspect of Rock Band. The drum kit includes a snare, bass pedal, tom-tom, hi-hat, and crash/ride cymbals. The kit ships with real drumsticks and any sticks can be used. Here is a picture of the kit. 
As stated before, the game ships with one guitar, one drum kit and one wireless microphone. I won't bore you with too much info on the microphone as I am going to guess it will be the least fun instrument in the band, but sources say that you can freestyle lyrics to get the crowd pumped, as well as use it as a tambourine or cowbell when appropriate (think: Blue Oyster Cult).
The game will be released for PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 20th, and a PS2 version will follow shortly in early December. It should sell for about 170 dollars for everything.
I know where I will be at 12:01am on Novermber 20th, but I am interested in getting the AH! reader/contributor's views on this game and others similar. I know we have a lot of musicians in our group and I would appreciate their views and opinions.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Case of the Mundays?
By TwinsWin83
Things have slowed down a bit here on AH! so I figured I would do my best haasertime impression and throw together some randomness for a little Monday Notes-type post.
-I know we tend to steer clear of all things Vikings on this blog (and for good reason), 
but it’s hard to ignore what Adrian Peterson did yesterday against what was supposed to be a decent Chargers team. What impresses me most is not simply that he ran for an NFL-record 296 yards but that he did so with the opposing defense flooding the line with eight men in the box most of the game because everyone who has a pulse knows the Vikings can’t throw the ball. With an improving defense, a solid offensive line and a running back that is All-World right now it isn’t hard to imagine where this team could be if they had a decent quarterback running the show. Ok, that’s enough Vikings talk to last us till Christmas.
[Editor's Note: Haasertime had an interesting take on the Viking's performance yesterday entitled: "Superman wears Adrian Peterson Pajamas"
On Sunday, Vikings Rookie Adrian Peterson broke the all-time single game rushing record with 296 yards. The Vikings won the game, but they're still just three and five, with barely a shot at the playoffs. Ryan Cook and Anthony Hererra are clearly weak links. Their quarterback situation has been all flublagargalled all season. Everyone knows that Crad Bhildress is one of the worst coaches in the league. But the Purple also feature two good running backs, in Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson. It's clear that one of the running backs should be moved to one of the weaker positions. Let's take a look at a couple of the possibilities.
Adrian Peterson takes over right tackle for Ryan Cook
Chester Taylor rushed for over 1,000 yards last season behind a decent o-line. By removing one of the weakest links on the line. Brad Childress talks about how good of a blocker AP is all the time, so why not move him to a position where he could really help the team?
Chester Taylor takes over for Brad Childress
Chester Taylor has only fumbled three times in his purple career. There's no way he would accidentally drop the red challenge flag accidentally as Childress often does. Taylor has been in the league for six years, and while probably not the best candidate for the head coaching job, I believe the Purple would win more games with him at than helm than on the field.
Okay, back to your regularly scheduled TW83 Post]
-So the Timberwolves are horrible. 
Sorry Wuturs. I predict they win 20 games this year. 15 if Foye doesn’t return within a couple months. It’s sad to see a team that was so close to the top just a few shorts years ago fall flat on its face so quickly. Who knows though, with all the young talent they seem to be acquiring and the draft picks that are on the way over the next few years maybe they can make it back to the postseason by 2012.
-Vermont has dethroned Minnesota as the healthiest state in the country. Vermont is a random state.
-If you haven’t checked out the new graphics and video of the Twinkies new ballpark you are missing out. I was kind of worried when I saw the first drawings of this place a year ago but after seeing these new renditions along with the model I couldn’t be more pumped for 2010. They really did a great job designing the park to fit the tiny amount of land they had to work with.
-I really like that the Wild wear their red jerseys for all home games this year.
-If you have the chance to you really should see the movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. 
They haven’t given the movie a wide-release (it’s a weird situation and I can’t find a real answer anywhere online) but there are a few places it’s showing if you look into it. I saw it in Northfield this past weekend and it was amazing and more importantly it is probably the most accurate film portrayal of James ever put together. Instead of “Hollywoodizing” the actual events of the outlaws life to make him into the Robin Hood-like figure that most films have, The Assassination tells the tale of the final year of James’ life as he struggles to deal with his past sins. James (played by Brad Pitt, who I have never been a particular fan of but who does a nice job here) is now surrounded by new gang members he doesn’t trust and his paranoia begins a slow downward spiral for him and those around him. Casey Affleck steals the show as the wanna-be-outlaw Robert Ford. You don’t have to be from Northfield or a history geek like me to enjoy this movie so try and check it out if you can.
-What’s wrong with the Gopher hockey team? If this keeps up I’m going to have to shift my focus from “I hope they make it to the Frozen Four,” to “I just pray they beat UND so I don’t have to listen to all the same people who gave me crap when NDSU beat the Gophers in football.”
-Anyone else think Joe Torre isnt going to make one bit of difference in L.A?
Well that’s all I got, I guess if this article was going to live up to Haas’ Random Notes I probably shoulda put in some link to an 80’s hair band or something.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Final Standings, Awards, and why Curt Schilling Sucks
Well I can admit that this little Playoff Pool idea was a little more involved than I anticipated. I apologize for all the mistakes I made while trying to do this, but I am over 86.3% sure the final results are accurate.
After a pretty lame postseason if you ask me, only one man came out ahead. He didn't lead the whole time, but as the only person to pick the Red Sox to sweep in the World Series, it gave him enough points to come out on top.
Here is his trophy.
Congratulations Haasertime!TW83 - 37pts
Aunt Mary - 18pts
Jeff - 15 pts
Soup - 13pts
LittleJo - 12 pts
Brex - 8pts
Roy - 4pts
