Blackpool, Liverpool & Soccernomics

Just got done flying over the EPL standings as of right now. I figure I've got to post this real quick because there are EPL games tomorrow, so here goes.

Almost done with the book Soccernomics. Good stuff but a couple things do bother me. Not so much on his statistics, but on his approach to race that rears its ugly head mid way through. Maybe I'll get to that later.

So what of Blackpool and Liverpool?

Blackpool has a problem. A few actually. They have only played 17 games while the rest of the league is at an average of 19. 5 teams have played 20 and 11 have played 19. Why is this a problem for them? They stink at home, yet there they sit at 8th place with 2 less games. They are really breaking the mold on away games. If they can get back up to the extremely reliable home mean they have a chance at moving up the standings.

Liverpool has the opposite problem... they are atrocious away from Anfield. If league rank were only home record they would be second. That said Aston Villa jumps the table the most at home. 12 spots actually. From being ranked 15th to being ranked 3rd.

That's all I have for now outside the fact that being able to not loose away from home will win you the EPL. How do you win away from home? have the most fans. That's you Manchester United.

Manual Focus

I long time ago I had to pick up a camera for a photography class. Being of little means (as most in my class) I picked up a camera from a second hand store. It had just about every problem you could possibly have with a camera. Most notably, a light leak. I spent literally days trying to make it work. It took about a roll of film to get one usable picture for grade so nights developing film in a dark room were long. After a few “no grade, more effort” I was frustrated. More effort??

The class came and went, yet that camera stayed with me. So did the dark room. I found that at first I was trying to get what I thought was the perfect picture for a perfect grade but as time went by I found myself liking the other pictures. Light leaks, uncontrolled manual focuses and all. No, this is not a crafted sermon titled: “Focusing on one thing means you miss other things”. I have heard more than a few three point ones on that - no alter calls here.

I felt like the photos were like memories themselves instead of a memory that is a photo. Because of that, I am writing probably the most intimate thing I ever have in the same manner that camera took photos. Gray corners, orange streaks down the left side and a focus on something I didn’t expect at all. A wonderful thing. Beautifully unexpectedly. Beautiful.

COD: Black Ops, Numbers (31)

Yes. Numbers are very ironic with this game. The backbone to the story in Call of Duty: Black Ops has our hero, Mason, annoyingly interrogated throughout the game. He slips in and out of consciousness flashing back to different moments a la Assassins Creed (in a way).

I have a few problems with this. One; Immediately I don't feel like I'm in control. There is no tension. I mean... If I'm dying in his flashback or memory did he do the same? Am I changing his memory of what happened? What is this? The movie Inception? It takes me out of the experience. There is no tension at all. Two; watching any interrogation is awful. Usually in games or movies it lasts for a few moments (See: James Bond, Casino Royal or any and every episode of Alias. Yeah, I said Alias!) In this game it happens after ever objective. So, like, every 15 mins or so WHAM!zzzzapWEEEE... back to the dark room getting shocked with a muffled voice asking about the NUMBERS.

The game has the hallmarks of previous COD games I've played going all the way back to the original COD that I played on my iMac. I like the action formula they use. However, that was Infinity Ward putting that together. This one is Treyarch. And I gotta say... it doesn't work. The gameplay formula is there, which is enjoyable. But everything else; music, SFX, even voice acting (save for one Gary Oldman) is sub-par. Ice Cube is worn out and the guy from Avatar (Sam Worthington), who voices the main character can't... get... the numbers out of his head. Not often I care about this, but he struggles with an American accent.

Graphics and Art are muddled. FX graphics are horrible ('splosions and the like). I feel like I'm floating and not walking, I could go on.

I didn't expect this game to be Helltown's Game of the Year but I felt since I had given this prize to one of it's past sister games I at least gave it a shot.

1: Story
3: Objectives
2: In-game Design
3: In-game Artwork
2: Music (at points, awful)
2: Audio
3: Gameplay
2: Emotional Impact
1: Longevity
3: Package Design
2: Package Art
5: Historical Significance
7: xFactor (I'm still playing it)

It gets 31% score from me. It is #72 out of 89 games I have bothered to assign my arbitrary numbers to since I started me blog.

If you add a zero to my 31 score you get 310. Add the word Million to the end of that and that is the amount of money this game made on opening day. It broke every opening day entertainment release in history. That includes the movie Avatar.

It's all about the numbers! Zing!

For a final note on the game; I thought that taking on real covert operations that have been declassified could have worked and been really interesting. It isn't here. It is a lost opportunity. The perfect metaphor for the game was a scene set in Vietnam where you are piloting a swift boad. "Woods" turns on the radio and you hear the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil". A moment that, man, should have worked because it had the right ingredients. But didn't.

Above: Picture of Tugg Speedman from Tropic Thunder. Below: Woods from COD: Black Ops. Keep it original Treyarch. I literally chucked when this character appeared on screen. Nice effort there.

VIII. Only Interesting To Me

1. Happy Boxing Day

2. Soccernomics is a great book
A friend got me this for Christmas, maybe he read my in depth objective mathematical analysis of the World Cup? I doubt it. I wish I picked it up when it came out early this year before the WC so I am a year late on this book, but well worth the read now. It looks at soccer from a broad view, but also digs into the EPL a great deal. I read about half of it last night, couldn't put it down.

2a. Another book I was digging into is Lean Thinking
Until Soccernomics came along. The "bible" for anyone in manufacturing that I had yet to read.

2b. Impulsed bought The Bible last night.
By The Bible, I mean the 1611 King James version with the Apocrypha. I have not had a copy since I moved to Ohio. Looking forward to getting it in the mail. Sorry Amazon employees that had to work today. I had to work as well though. So thar.

3. 2010 is hath neareth an end.
Therefore, verily I say unto you, a game of this year of our Lord needeth to be made. Doest thou beleiveith the dearth of such in this year? Ok.

4. Jim Tressel
There are rumblings of OSU coach Tressel leaving after the bowl game already. Chicagonow.com is reporting that two sources have said as much. More on that in another post.

5. My beenie weenie dip today includes queso blanco dip with roadhouse chili for the Brownies game. We'll see how that goes. My relationship analysis based on history, experience and weenie density is telling me with high probability that it will result in a nap.

Center of a Sports Storm

Last night I was having dinner with a friend and his wife and the conversation was about the Bucks. As I was out and about this morning enjoying the day the news of the OSU players getting suspended dominated on the radio and on the voices of people out and about. Christmas? Sadly, no. For this is Buckeye country.

What I noticed is that yesterday, the voices of misdirection were out in full. Today? A different story. Voices of reason seem to be taking over. This spells disaster for OSU because the smokescreen arguments coming from AD Gene Smith did not work at all (help their families, didn't know the rules). In politics you see smokescreen (lies) arguments (example: Every politician) that last more then 24 hours. What folks in power want to achieve with smokescreen arguments are:

1. Kill the story. OSU made the announcement right before Christmas in the attempt to have it forgotten and not on the lips of "major" figures (talking heads and writers) off for the holidays.

2. Get the investigators out of their backyard. Gene Smith and the University went as far as falling on the sword, claiming that it was their fault.

3. Get people to feel sympathetic to the guilty. This is where the "help the families" comes in. If you can get sympathy then anyone arguing against you looks heartless and evil. What? wouldn't you have done this for your mother you sick person?

4. Misdirection. Turn the wolfs against themselves. Smith covered this with the "selling personal property" stuff. Misdirection is the most powerful tool the guilty have. Now you have writers arguing over NCAA bi-laws and paying players.

The sad and disappointing thing here is that if they just stayed quiet they would have been in better shape. See: Cam Newton story. But this is OSU. Arrogance and pride has led them down their path. I know this is eating Jim Tressel, an outwardly Christian person here in Columbus, up inside.

What I am seeing here in Columbus has happened before other places, many times. At this point it is running a course similar to the Southern Methodist University path back in the early 1980s. That ended with the school getting the "death penalty" and loosing it football program for a year. It took the school nearly 25 years after that mess to even make another bowl game.

For a resonable take on the whole OSU situation go HERE.

Below are a few sentences from the article:
"This incident at a Columbus tattoo parlor took place in 2009, after the ’08 season. Players sold everything from Big Ten Championship rings, to Gold Pants charms (awarded for beating Michigan) to jerseys and shoes with their autograph on them. Terrelle Pryor even sold his ’09 Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award."

"How did they get caught? The US Attorney’s office found the items in question at the parlor and contacted OSU to see if any of these items had been stolen."

Wait... hold on. The US Attorney's office? yeesheesh. This is something that has to have been happening over an extended period of time. Bad bad bad.

I'm still trying to figure out what and when the other shoe will drop on this story. I've never seen Terrelle Pryor out and about around town, but I do hear stories. They ain't good. This story is very far from reaching its end.

Oh, Ohio State (My fault?)

Today the first ugly shoe dropped on THE Ohio State University football program. But before I go any further, some perspective.

Ohio (and the rest of the mid-west) is the cradle of football. It was born here and its Valhalla is here (hall of fame). Ohio State University is one of the cornerstones of the sport. Looking at the big picture; OSU (and that "school up north") are bigger then the Big Ten, the division of which the are in. Not only in tradition, but in economy and just shear size. OSU is the largest institution of higher learning on the planet. If that doesn't get your attention, I'm not sure what will.

The reason I mention a bit of perspective first is because of the ridiculous amount of spin going on around the current situation they find themselves in. A situation of the very serious kind. Six total players have been suspended for games starting next year. Five players for five games and another for four. All are significant. Terrell Pryor and Daniel Herron. Starting receiver DeVier Posey, All-Big Ten offensive tackle Mike Adams and backup defensive end Solomon Thomas. Ohio State fans will remember these names for decades to come.

The infractions they committed are selling personal items. Things like 2008 Big Ten Championship rings, jerseys, "gold pants" they get for beating Michigan. Even getting free tats for autographs was mentioned. For old timers this is a crime in the highest order. For the rest of the country it is just another bunch of entitled kids taking advantage of their situation. For the press? Just another story to keep College Football king and a chance to take swipes at the NCAA.

The players in this story, outside of the players (because at the end of the day, the players matter not):

Gene Smith, Athletic Director OSU

Jim Tressel, Coach OSU.

The NCAA. The rule makers.

Now, I live in Columbus. I know that all major programs push the limits of the rules. Hummers, nice apartments and the like. It goes on in most top tier programs. But for the NCAA to take action on a school like OSU? You have to be doing something really - really wrong.

Right now Mr. Smith is throwing the University on the sword stating that it was that they didn't inform the players enough. Coach Tressel, wearing a black suit, stating the "we as coaches, fell short". Never underestimate what a man wears to a extremely stressful situation such as this. Never.

Anyway, the press is out in full. Claiming that players should be paid and blah blah blah. I can't stand it. Fact is, they broke the rules they had to follow. I have to follow the speed limit on the way home. Why does the press feel that players don't have to follow the rules that they sign up for?

Mark my words... Another shoe has yet to fall and it will be ugly. This school's reputation has taken a major hit. I'm not that old, but old enough to know that when this happens... you are done for years. Even decades.

So how is this my fault? I may have just upset the football gods by reaching out to a nice lady up in Ann Arbor yesterday. My bad.

And my bad for saying my bad.

For Wendy

A 1988 Camaro that will not be forgotten. Yeah, a car. She only got driven once by me, but I have a lifetime of memories around it.

Sing it Boss!

Caught In the Wild: Bronco II

The Christmas holiday season is in full gear right now and I'm working a lot. It's amazing to me sometimes what interests me this time of year because my mind is souly focused on getting product out in that the simple things become more important.

Behold; a 1989 Bronco II. You may not see too many of these on the roads anymore. They were replaced by the juggernaut that was the Ford Explorer. But there is a lot to like here. First and foremost a two door, four seater SUV or, if I may, a Ford Ranger with four seats. A nice little find and still kicking after 21 years.

a la "curbside columbus".

Helltown vs. Helltown

Question is: was it the Growlers that beat the Brewmasters? or was it the Brewmasters v. Brewmasters? Growlers v. Growlers? Perhaps an existential battle in my own mind?? You'll never know. Just know that it was a battle!

If anyone is interested, you... yes YOU! can download the Helltown Brewmasters United and Hellown Growlers Football Club.

Just go to HERE. Sign in and go to the creation center. Once there... search teams with key word HELLTOWN. Download it and then go to the Creation Center on your XBox. I... I mean, the teams will be on your XBox.