Claw’s Blog for September 28th, 2008

As I was flipping channels last Sunday, I wanted to know what was on Fox NFL Sunday, or at least on what game they were showing.  It turns out that the network was showing Misty May-Treanor and Kerry Walsh playing beach volleyball.  Now, I have nothing against seeing 2 very attractive ladies in the near-buff playing volleyball, but to replace the NFL with this?  I think that’s going way overboard.  The only time most people would see them compete are the Olympics, which is now long over.  I’m sorry but you don’t cancel out a perennial ritual like football, especially when you have network rights to broadcast it (I’m talking to you, Fox!), in a cheap attempt to boost ratings.  In fact, you failed, IMO.

The reviews for Mega Man 9 are overwhelmingly positive, but I have not downloaded the game yet.  It’s $10, but I’m sure it’s worth it.  There’s also new downloadable content in which you can play without the helmet.  Roger and Shazam, this game should be for you. 

Speaking of which, Mega Man 1 and 2 are available for the Wii’s Virtual Console, but I suggest you skip those to get Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the GameCube in which there are Mega Man 1-8 and 2 Mega Man Power Battles games.  It’s $20 in most GameStop stores, indie video game stores, Amazon, and Ebay. 

The NFL has gone a bit topsy-turvy lately in which Peyton Manning has been struggling, with numbers not shown since his rookie year.  Even though he’s 32, has age caught up with the future Hall of Fame QB?  Tom Brady goes down with a season-ending injury leaving the Patriots even more vulnerable, losing to the Miami Dolphins as well as their 21-regular-season-game winning streak. 

DODGERS WIN THE N.L. WEST!  WOO-HOO!  With the regular season coming to an end, the Dodgers can rest and wait for their first round opponent.  Joe Torre did a magnificent job leading the Dodgers back to the postseason.  Manny Ramirez was definitely a plus, with talks about being the NL MVP.  It’s a bit of a shame that they also have the worst record entering the playoffs (83-77, at the time of this writing).  In fact, it’s even a bigger shame that there are teams with better records than the Dodgers who failed to reach the playoffs simply because they belong to a different division.  For the uninitiated, the four teams that qualify for the playoffs are three Division winners and one Wild Card team for each League; the Wild Card team goes to the team with the best record (in both American and National Leagues) that did not win a Division title.  Of course it isn’t perfect, but it does give all teams on each division the opportunity to qualify.  GO DODGERS! 

If you’re an avid video gamer, then you have probably heard who Jack Thompson is.  He’s the Miami-based anti-video game activist/attorney whose career actually started when he protested against rap group 2 Live Crew for obscene lyrics.  He won that battle in effectively putting the controversial rap group out of business.  After that, he turned to his activism on video game violence and its alleged effects on the kids.  Now, of course there are many psychological studies in which kids can be influenced by video game violence, and there have been copycat crimes such as imitating grand theft auto inspired by, well, GTA.  Yet, what I don’t understand is that how can psychologists find the connection between real-world violence and video games when the vast majority of gamers, such as myself, don’t commit these kinds of crime?  Why the disparity?  Now, Jack Thompson seems to believe the psychologists’ viewpoint (who wouldn’t, but they are wrong in this case).  So until recently, he has kept making claims that video games are directly responsible for the any mass shootings that have occurred, especially in schools, such as Columbine and Virginia Tech.  Well, in his crusade to ban video games altogether, Jack has castigated anyone, especially in the courtroom, who disagrees with him.  To make a long story short, he accused a judge in one of his cases of being in league with Take Two, the company that makes GTA and Bully, who is also Thompson’s primary target. There were also reports of him making harassing phone calls to one of the secretaries of Take Two, to the point in which she broke down in tears while being testified by Thompson.   The judge apparently had enough of Thompson’s rhetoric and recommended that he’d be disbarred by the Florida State Bar.  Well, it turns out that he’s now officially disbarred and can no longer practice law in Florida.  Technically, he can apply to practice in another state, but with the kind of damage he brought on himself as well as his reputation, it would be very hard for anyone to take this guy seriously any more.

Washington Mutual has failed, as the biggest bank to fall in U.S. History.  Prepare for things to get worse!

#1 USC falls to non-ranked Oregon State 27-21.  How does a number #1 team, that has ripped apart a #5 team a week ago, lose to a non-ranked team a week later?  As of this moment, USC can forget about winning a national title.

UCLA also loses.  They lost by 5, but still no surprise. 

Discuss Here.