The Day is here, Madden Day. Despite the fact that my video game career is on hold (kind of been replaced by a blog come to think of it) I thought that many of you will be running to Best Buy today. Here is the low-down on the changes this year …
In previous years, your QB would drop back and you were able to pass to any receiver on the field, the only negating factor being whether you could get the ball past the defensive players. This year, a vision cone has been added. It looks like a triangle of light that projects from your QB's head, as from a coal miner's helmet. As your QB drops back, you use either the right thumbstick or a combination of buttons to scan the field and find an open receiver.
You can still pass to guys outside the cone, though the further away you try to throw, the lower the completion probability becomes. Theoretically, the better the quarterback, the better his field vision and the bigger his cone. Kurt Warner's vision is much better than to Michael Vick's vision.
Gretzky to coach …
This bothers me on many levels. I love Gretzky so much. If loving the greatest hockey player in the history of the sport is wrong, I don’t want to be right. But now, he risks damaging his perfection. He also risks turning into a a-hole (as most NHL Coaches do). I hope not. But as a Stars Homer, we have to consider this guy, quite possibly the greatest ambassador the sport has ever known, the enemy in the Pacific Division. By the way, that Pacific Division is pretty darn close these days. The Stars will have their work cut out for them, I would think.
Bertuzzi reinstated
…
This is goofy. The dude ends up getting just 13 games for his attack of Steve Moore. I am not for anyone being punished unfairly, but this guy got off sooooo easy. 13 games??? Dale Hunter got 21 for running Pierre Turgeon back in the day. Are you telling me that offense was twice as bad (basically) as this offense? No way. Bettman gave up on this one, as he was too busy celebrating his route of the Players Association to pay attention…
Ric-Rod can’t get out of the first inning, and now what? …
Asked if he'd have to send out a position player from the thin bench to make room for said pitcher, Showalter said: "No, we could send out a pitcher. Especially one that can't throw anymore."
Showalter declined to elaborate on who he was talking about. Rodriguez, however, would be a pretty good candidate.
After all, he still has a minor league option left. After all, Kenny Rogers could come back from suspension this week to replace Rodriguez in the starting lineup. And, perhaps most importantly, there is the little matter of performance.
Rodriguez has not won since June 18. In 10 starts, he's qualified for a quality start – three earned runs or less in six or more innings – only three times. Since that last win, he's 0-3 with a 6.37 ERA in eight starts. That's about equal to Ryan Drese's performance in 12 starts before he got his walking papers so that Rodriguez could come to the big leagues.
Houston wonders why Sports Talk has no ratings ….
"Growth is still incredibly slow," said Ken Charles, program director for the Clear Channel Houston cluster that includes KBME. "It's tough going against the Rockets' flagship station (KILT) and the Astros' flag (KTRH).
"We don't expect to play in the ratings game until next year, so there's nothing that surprises me now."
If you combine the two Houston sports talk stations, you come up with a 3.8 total for men 25-54 weekdays from 6 a.m. to midnight. In Dallas-Fort Worth, KTCK, the Ticket, is No. 2 in the market in the same demo at 7.8.
In the all-day, persons age 12-plus ratings that Arbitron releases to all interested parties (demos are provided to clients only), KTCK and its simulcast partner KTDK-FM rank 12th in Dallas to 23rd in Houston for KILT and 33rd for KBME.
Paul Depodesta has his hits and misses …
The Shirts of Hansen Style …
Do you think that young pitching prospects insure that your staff will be stocked for years to come? Do you think that Danks-Diamond-Volquez means help is on the way? you better read this . There is no such thing as a sure thing…
Are the Cowboys changing their jerseys? …
I know I am several days behind here, but if you haven’t seen the video of Novak v. Carville Click Here …
Eva Longoria loves Cowboys? …
THE TWO FACES OF EVA? "Desperate Housewives" manslayer Eva Longoria may or may not be engaged to San Antonio Spur Tony Parker, but he was nowhere to be seen Sunday when she took to the pool at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with Dallas Cowboys teammates Drew Henson and Keyshawn Johnson. "It was like a harem of athletes around her," says an eyewitness. "I didn't see a ring on her finger. She was all over the place in her little pink bikini, flirting with Jason Pomeranc."
It Starts Saturday!! The English Premiership Opens for business. This represents happiness on Saturday mornings for the next 9 months for me. Sadly, Chelsea is good enough to already be declared the winner, but the rest of us ponder who finishes 2nd (Arsenal, most likely) and who finishes 3rd. Manchester United will have something to say about that, but so will my beloved Liverpool …It’s time that Alex Ferguson feels the wrath of Rafa Benitez. Heck, after winning the European Cup, now Liverpool hopes to just finish ahead of Everton. Game on.
Soccer fans, keep this Link . It is the upcoming schedule for Fox Soccer Channel. A triple header is scheduled on Saturday from England.
Because I can, here is a back and forth email volley with Marshall. Marshall is not a fan of the way BaD Radio covers golf. In case you don’t know, we only “cover” golf 4 times a year (the majors) and even then it turns into “how is Tiger doing?” We make no apologies for that, but here is Marshall who does not like it one bit, and thought he would rub it in the morning after the Showdown at Sherwood.
now you see why so many of us are beaten down by your infatuation with tiger woods. according to you, there's tiger, then everyone else. If that's the case, how in the world did those pretenders goosen and mickelson wipe him and daly's arse all over the course yesterday? And don't say 'he didn't care about this, this wasn't a major'. this was his name on the marquee on primetime TV - against mickelson, two guys that can't stand each other. if he can't get up for that then he's not
really that much of a champion. is tiger great? yes. is he the best? yes. when it's all said and done will he be hands down the greatest of all time? almost certainly yes. but - he's not the only professional golfer in the world. can you at least admit that other players are 'worthy' of stepping on the course with him? your tiger-gasms whip us to death.
still love your show -
ip1 marshall
I responded last Friday:
From: Sturm1310@aol.com [mailto:Sturm1310@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2005 6:14 PM
To: marshall
Subject: Re: great showing last night tiger
are you seriously ripping Tiger for not winning a make-believe made-for-tv event? This is the craziest email I have ever received, unless you are doing a bit-
Marshall’s response to my response:
no, i'm ripping you for going down on Tiger every time he wins, like no one else should be allowed to play on the same course with him, then taking the 'just don't worry about it' stance when he loses. thanks for proving my point - unless your on-air love fest for Tiger is just a bit. surely it is - no true sports talk show host could be that blindly infatuated with an athlete. he's not the only person to ever play golf you know. in fact, he's not even the first black golfer. i figured i'd point that out to you since whatever web site you go to for golf stats may not list calvin peete as a pro golfer. you're a riot, sturm. your humor amazes me - and they say dan's the 'funny guy' on BaD radio. you crack me up. keep up your Tigergasms, they're hilarious now that I see you're just doing a bit. sorry i took you so seriously. my bad.
later,
mk
And then my response to his response to my response:
who cares if he is the first black golfer? My point, when I say what I say, is that he is easily the best golfer in the business- As Jordan was the best basketball player in the biz. Barkley and Drexler were great, but Jordan was at the next level.
Els, Vijay, and Mickelson are great, but Tiger is at the next level. And if that is too tough to digest, then my apologies.
And then his response to my response to his response to my response:
I agree that Tiger's the best. I said that in my first e-mail. I even said he'll probably go down as the best ever. But he's not the only golfer on tour. What I don't like is the mentality of: "In golf this weekend, Tiger didn't win. Now on the baseball..." It's a dis-service to the other professional golfers to belittle them as nothing. Maybe you don't feel that you do that, but in your diatribe that prompted my first e-mail, your message was "Tiger is the only real golfer on tour. No one else is even in his league" Well, he wasn't even the #1 ranked golfer that long ago, was he? And, if he is as great as you say, he would never lose? They're all playing on the same golf course - if someone shoots better than Tiger, then they deserve the credit. -10 is -10, regardless of who shoots it. Tiger is the best, but others do compete with him - something you just can't seem to digest... ??
And then, I just end it:
Well, if I ever gave you the impression I am a golf media expert, I do apologize. I am a Tiger Woods fan, and no doubt enjoy his dominance. If you want insight on Dudley Hart and Jason Gore, please check out the Tee Box or PGA Radio. Otherwise, I love you.
Does your head hurt?
welcome to oxnerd
ReplyDeleteI think my Dad has 3 of those shirts...
ReplyDeleteAnd that cowboys jersey thing better be bulls*** rumors
1. Marshall is gay.
ReplyDelete2. Bob, did you intend to touch dan's knee on live tv and then giggle at each other, or is that just habbit now?
can we not have any hansen talk on days he's not on the ticket? please make him go away.
ReplyDeleteThose Cowboys jerseys look sharp. I don't know why they ever went with the royal blue numbers and stripes. I think the Blue jerseys are the best in the league and this will give the Cowboys a great look. I wish they had these ready for this year....
ReplyDeleteThere's a reason the sports radio stations in Houston have such low ratings: they su-su-su-su-suck. You know it's bad when you'll only turn on the local sports station after they start with the national ESPN or Sporting News shows. I'm just praying for the little Ticket to go satellite. In the meantime, thank God for the internet and Asian oil derricks.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Madden: I avoided it entirely last year on the Xbox, thanks to the nice little game from ESPNVideogames NFL 2k5. Now that EA has monopolized the NFL rights, not to mention the ESPN rights, I have no choice to purchase yet another refacing of a game starting to show it's age. At least Gamespot was honest.
ReplyDeleteI traded my Xbox for a psone with the LCD screen. Playing through Madden '04 (again). No regrets mate. Waiting for the 1st nextgen madden. I'm so sad.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me, or does Dale look a little like drunk Nellie?
Is it Bertuzzi's fault there was a lockout? Technically he sat out the entire season plus those 13 games. Besides, Bertuzzi is a superstar and this league needs ALL of them now more than ever!
ReplyDeleteBertuzzi is no SUPERSTAR! He is a fine player, but he is not a superstar. I don't think you can say he is up there with Forsberg, Lemieux, Modano, etc. I don't consider Billy Geurin a superstar, but I'm not sure if Bertuzzi is even at that level. He may be the best skilled goon in the league. After what he did he must be considered a goon, and not in the good Aaron Downey kind of way.
ReplyDeleteI like golf but I love Tiger. I'll watch 15 minutes of golf on TV, maybe, if there's nothing on the other 100 channels that's more interesting. But if Tiger is playing I'm more likely to watch for much longer. Tiger and, for me, Michelle Wie are the big magnets to golf watching for me. Tiger is not the only golfer out there but he's obviously the most fascinating. Same with Michelle Wie. One of these days she'll be the first woman to make a PGA cut in a very long time (last time in 1945) and I want to watch it when it happens. So BAD radio, no golf news just Tiger news, please. By the way Michelle was on Letterman last night. She's definitely a future hot and a future poster girl for the LPGA.
ReplyDeleteDisco
Michelle Wie will be a hot one day if not already now (kind of creepy). But Tigger Woods sucks ass.
ReplyDeleteFT
The only uniform change the Cowboys should make is to go with the 1960 retro helmets/jerseys full time. It's a great, clean look.
ReplyDeleteIt was time for Bertuzzi's suspension to end. Is Steve Moore playing in this league right now? No. Is that due to his health? Nope. He's been cleared to play by his doctor. By the last report, however, Moore does not like that judgement, and is seeking a second opinion. What's going to stop Steve Moore from playing in this league is the fact that he's a mega-spare who's currently suing a team, a GM, an ownership group, a coach, and players.
ReplyDeleteThe only, and I do mean the only reason for anyone to sign Steve Moore expires on December 21, 2005. Until that point, Bertuzzi will not be allowed to play if Steve Moore is. Before this provision ends, Vancouver will play Colorado(6 times), Edmonton(5 times), Minnesota(4), Phoenix(3), Chicago(2), Detroit(2), Calgary(2), Los Angeles(2), Dallas, Columbus, Anaheim, Boston, Ottawa, the Rangers, and Philly. Much like the story of Cinderella, after December 21 Steve Moore turns back into the mega-spare who's currently involved in litigation against every aspect of the NHL other than the league itself. If he gets signed at all, it will be one of the above teams, and for this precise reason
Bertuzzi sat out 13 regular season games, 7 playoff games, the World Cup of Hockey, the IIHF World Hockey Championship, and was unable to compete in european leagues during the lockout (you know, where most of the NHLers went to collect paychecks?). The suspension has cost him close to a million dollars, and it has been close to a year and a half since the incident occurred. Additionally, Bettman has warned Bertuzzi that he is effectively on probation, and will recieve harsher sentences for misconduct. Further, if you don't think the refs are going to call anything and everything Bertuzzi does, you're out of your mind.
Its time that Bertuzzi be allowed to come back.
the cowboys blue is the best jersey in the nfl. although the whites are among the best as well, it's always been a bit unstable that the shades of blue on the helmet are different than the numbers and stripes on the jerseys. this new jersey will provide for that consistency and give the cowboys a crisp look.
ReplyDeletethefncrow,
ReplyDeletenobody reads when you write crap that long.
Just a tip.
TF
Bob,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Teebox plug, although I'm not sure anyone is interested in Dudley Hart...
Rick
The big day has indeed arrived-opening day at the Walker's. Full-time result: Leicester City 4 - 2 Stoke City. Nothing like a David Connolly hat trick to get the season going.
ReplyDeleteThe Gambler is back early....
ReplyDeleteRogers to be reinstated from 20-game suspension
NEW YORK -- Kenny Rogers was reinstated Tuesday when an arbitrator ruled that commissioner Bud Selig overstepped his authority by suspending the Texas pitcher for 20 games and fining him $50,000 for shoving two cameramen.
Rogers has already sat out 12 games. He will return to the Rangers for Wednesday night's game at Boston, and his fine will be converted to a charitable contribution.
The ruling, by arbitrator Shyam Das, followed a hearing Monday in Chicago.
"I strongly disagree with arbitrator Das' decision today," Selig said in a statement. "It sends the wrong message to every one of our constituents: the fans, the media, and our players.
"There is a standard of behavior that is expected of our players, which was breached in this case. The arbitrator's decision diminishes that standard and is contrary to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. In my opinion, the decision is seriously ill-conceived," he said.
Rogers began serving the suspension on July 27th during the appeals process.
Reducing Rogers' suspension is a seriously ill-conceived ruling indeed. However, between Rogers, Palmeiro, etc, what in baseball these days ISN'T seriously ill-conceived? God, I can't wait for the NFL to get started so we can quit talking about this crap...
ReplyDeleteAnd though I hate Bettman, at least he had the sense to break the NHL players union. Selig needs to do that to the MLB players union - and then only then, can players actually be punished properly, instead of the joke suspensions that Rogers and Palmerio have gotten.
ReplyDeleteI live in Houston and still listen to 20 hours a week of the ticket. Thanks Internet!!!
ReplyDeleteListening to Houston talk radio can almost be as bad as listening to Dale! At least 610 gave up "junky radio" when they tried/failed to be more ticket like a couple of years ago.
When was the last time a "goon" scored 46 goals and 97 points, his last full season? As far as Modano, he shouldn't be mentioned in the same breathe as Forsberg or Lemieux, well, maybe Claude. He's washed up. Bertuzzi is a power forward superstar, just like John LeClair was when he was great.
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time a "superstar" jacked a dude from behind like a coward? Bertuzzi has game, no doubt. But he wil always be remembered as a goon for his cowardly act. he should still be suspended this year. The NHL needs superstars, your right. But it needs superstars that everybody can root for, and he aint one of them.
ReplyDeleteModano in his prime was a true superstar, and we shall see how "washed up" he is this season. Lemieux isn't what he used to be either, but he is still held as a superstar by the fans. Bertuzzi will never be viewed by the fans as a superstar. They will remember his as a violent goon. This wasn't his first offense, and this event will overshadow any goal or assist he ever had.
Rasta no abide Cowboys uniform change.
ReplyDeleteThey've been rocking that same great look since the late 60s and won five SBs. No need to trick it up. Look what a uni change did to the 49ers.