Nintendo E3 Press Conference: My Thoughts

So today as opposed to writing up my thoughts after watching the press conference, I'm going to just go flow of consciousness style as I watch, and then throw in thoughts at the end. That's right kids, BULLET POINT MADNESS. I expect it will read much more the way my Twitter feed did during the EA and Ubisoft pressers yesterday. Forgive me if I run on at parts, but hey, that's just how it goes sometimes.

Thoughts before it happens: I'm mainly hoping for a new Zelda, a mystery Mega Man appearance, mostly some new Kirby, and essentially more "hardcore" type games that aren't just a waggle fest. Also, if I trail off during the handheld stuff, I apologize, but I just don't care about the DS, DSI, 3DS, Game Boy Color, whatever we are on right now. In the interest of full disclosure, I was a Nintendo kid all through my youth. I never had Genesis, from NES through N64, I was pretty loyal. I've had a Wii since '07, so I've had a decent amount of time with the console.

Here we goooooooo

• The big man, Reggie Fils-Aime is out to start, not too surprising. But with a Powerpoint style leadoff? Boooooooooooo. Come on Nintendo, start with something awesome.
• Alright, off to video. Now THAT is what I'm talking about. Big N is coming out guns blazing with a brand new Zelda. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
• Miyamoto is on screen to take us through some of the game. Miyamoto wants us to use the Wiimote as a sword and Nunchuck as a shield. We get some gameplay, with the controls on the screen...I wonder if that will happen in the real game or just for this demo. The guy doing this doesn't get it. Cue myssssssstery Miyamoto showing up for real to show us what's really up. Miyamoto gives us a little run through, claiming 1:1 sword to Wii motion, but he has some issues...this doesn't bode particularly well. I'm gonna chalk that more to it being an older guy and some likely delay with how they have the presentation set up. The game does look very pretty as far as Wii games go. A decent amount of gameplay, but it starts to come crashing down. Miyamoto claims they are picking up a lot of interference they hadn't before. With all the people w/ phones, computers, etc, it's possible. Hopefully that was what led to the control delays. This could make for a rough rest of the conference though if this keeps up. Even with the hangups, this game is a must have for me, and I'm not even in the "Ocarina of Time=bestest evarrrrrrrr" camp. No solid release date given, only sometime in 2011. Fine with me, I want them to take as much time as they need to make this game epic.
• Reggie back on, says they want new experiences for "Everyone." I'm a little worried we will be going into the reallllll casual right now. Going into sports, name checks Madden, PES, and MLB2k10. NBA Jam mention!!!! Damn, we will see it on the show floor, apparently not here. You damn cocktease Reggie, give me what I want. New Mario sports game, these are usually very fun, love Strikers Charged and Baseball.
• Video shows us Volleyball, then Hockey (first ice, then on a beach), then Dodgeball, now Basketball. Game is called Mario Sports Mix, coming in 2011. If these have some depth, this could be great.
• Oh snap, some Reggie flavored smack talk aimed at the doubters. Wear it people that thought the Wii wouldn't keep selling consoles, games, or play them. Lame self promotion, even in the face of declining sales. Can't blame them for taking on those who say people just play Wii Sports and Fit. Claim Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros are "bridge titles" that take the new casual type players deeper down the rabbit hole. Time for a new bridge game: Wii Party
• 13 different party game modes including Board game Island (think Mario party), etc, with 70 different mini games. Good call, this will likely sell quite well. Released in times for the holidays...duh.
• New Just Dance game....this sums up my thoughts pretty well.
• Now getting a new Golden Sun game for Nintendo DS. Apparently lots of people got very excited for it back in the day, I've never heard of it though, so don't know what to tell you. Looks like an RPG for the DS if you are into that sort of thing. Fast forwarding.
• FUCK YEAH GOLDENEYE!!!!!! The same video I posted the other day from Kotaku is shown here. Daniel Craig is in as opposed to the far superior as Bond, Pierce Brosnan. I don't know if you can call it a true "remake" as it looks like we will get some different levels. It will be here this holiday. Get your friend codes ready, I'm going to prox mine the hell out of all of you.
• Next we get a game called Epic Mickey. This will definitely sell well for those with young kids that don't necessarily know a ton about games but trust the brand. It looks like a toned down, Disney only, amateur hour version of Kingdom Hearts. As opposed to swords you use paint and paint thinner to add/take out the game world. Meh.
• Kirby mention with the creator of Kirby and Smash Bros. YES Reggie says it's time for Kirby to return. Called it son! But Reggie says we will be getting a new type of game, Kirby's Epic Yarn. Strange animation style, everything looks, well, knitted. Kirby is shown transforming into things like an Umbrella, spaceship, etc, as well as using a whip to grab opponents and markers to adjust the environment. Not exactly what I wanted, but it could be very cool. Kirby whips as opposed to sucking things(teehee). Will be released this fall.
• Next up, a Dragon Quest RPG for DS. Don't care, FF.
• Now we get Metroid:Other M from the Team Ninja guys. This looks pretty freaking awesome. Fast paced action as well as what you expect after the Prime games. It will be here very soon too, August 31.
• Whoa!!! A new Donkey Kong Country type game! Nintendo is really crushing things right now. Gameplay is the same type of 2d side-scroller as the N64 games. Similar type of action too, barrel shooting, mine cart level, ability to switch between Donkey and Diddy. Donkey Kong Country Returns will be out this holiday. Man, there are a ton of great looking Wii games coming out this holiday season.
• We close with a new game changing type thing: Nintendo 3DS. What can I say, I don't really care about handhelds or 3D. Let's see what we get though. Hey, at least we wont need 3D glasses for it to work. 2 screens, the top one bigger than the lower, allegedly showing us 3D w/o glasses. Lots of talk from a designer that I can barely understand. Highlights: Better graphics, 3d pictures/video, nice a Kid Icarus game. Too bad we won't get one on Wii. Looks like you will be able to communicate between 3DS' as well. We end with a rundown of 3rd party support, and they have some big names. Metal Gear, Resident Evil, Saint's Row, Madden and Kingdom Hearts are among the games announced. Pretty impressive lineup for the handheld.
• Time for the recap of all the big announcements. Reggie boasts that they said they had something for everyone, and with the wide range of games, it certainly seems like it.
• To close, an army of hot girls comes out with 3DS attached to them by a bizarre harness. Each person in the audience is having someone walk to them to try the thing out...I'm sure that's not going to be awkward at all. They are also bringing some Wii's out on the floor for people to test out Zelda

I'm stunned quite honestly. The Wii had several surprise announced games today, including a new Kirby, Donkey Kong, and a revamped Goldeneye. It looks like I will be buying several more Wii games than I expected in the near future. After last year's pretty universally panned press confrence, Nintendo came out and just stole the show. Well freaking done, Nintendo. Some great games were announced today.

Microsoft E3 Press Conference: My Thoughts

Well, if there’s one thing we should realize by now, it’s that the Wii really was a gamechanger. Sadly, this may not necessarily be a good thing. Xbox’s press conference this morning leaned VERY heavily on the once named Project: Natal, now being called Kinect. Certain parts of Kinect look pretty cool. The Minority Report style menu navigation is straight up future awesome. They also showed off a lot of voice control ability for everything from movies to music.

The games that were shown off though…well, they were either a dead ringer for Wii Sports, or Wii Fit. Joyride, the game announced last year for free is now under the Kinect umbrella as well. Kinetic Sports and Adventure look like they could be amusing, but they are still essentially just Wii rips. I can hardly blame Xbox, they know Nintendo has been printing money with the inroads they’ve made with the Casual gaming market, why not get a piece themselves. The workout games (I think 3 of the 1st 15 games announced would count as one) will appeal to the soccer mom crowd as well as letting Microsoft fight some of the gaming—>obesity advocates. Kinect Adventures reminds me of the old Nick Arcade show. Goofy, little replay value, don’t see it being worth much. Dance Central is, well, come on, it’s a dance game. Some may enjoy this one, but it’s not gonna work for me. Props for using Bel Biv Devoe’s “Poison” on the demo though. One of the most amusing little games shown was Kinectimals. If you can’t guess from the name, it’s you, playing with animals via the Kinect. You may recognize this as say, Nintendogs. However, credit to Xbox for upping the cute factor by using a small child and an adorable baby tiger. Would I ever play this, God no, but again, Xbox is looking to get in on the new market that the Wii opened video games up to. The one Kinect game that had a little bit of potential was the Star Wars game. If it can actually give you a solid lightsaber/force power gameplay experience, it could be pretty sweet. The Forza demo looked very pretty, but I don’t see a sim racer working very well with this type of tech.

For an announcement I actually cared about a little bit, Trey Wingo and Josh Elliot of Sportscenter showed up to announce an exclusive deal (Full story from Kotaku here) between ESPN and Xbox. There is a lot of potential here, especially for those who currently can’t access ESPN 3 like me due to their service provider (h8 u Time Warner). The ability to choose your team, do trivia, etc isn’t really a huge deal, but kind of amusing. If this isn’t shut down by blackout restrictions and doesn’t have an insanely long delay from live TV, this could be amazing. Lots of people have tried to ditch cable and use the internet for most of their TV needs. The main thing lost for this plan has always been Sports. This could take out that block and really allow a new way to do TV. Did I mention it is FREE if you already have a Gold account? You like free don’t you?

How about the games finally?

• Call of Duty: Black Ops: We get a similar trailer to the one that was out before E3, but with some additional scenes that were, well, insanely awesome. You got several different looks in the trailer today. There was a slower, stealthier portion, an insane run and gun, and then a more directed section where you are in a helicopter gunning people down. If you don’t enjoy roasting enemies from a helicopter, you probably aren’t going to keep reading my thoughts on all of this. They also announce that Xbox will continue to get DLC for the new COD game 1st, just like they have with Modern Warfare 2.
• Halo:Reach got a new campaign trailer. To put it simply, this looked awesome. Both you and your Spartan teammates can use the armor abilities like sprint and armor lock that we saw in the Multiplayer Beta a few weeks ago. They didn’t show us anything on whether you select the different loadouts before each level, if they are dictated by the specific level or what. The level we saw had a decided Beach of Normandy feel to it, up until your Spartan got into a spaceship and took off. At first it looked like it was just a cutscene, but then it turned into an EPIC SPACE DOGFIGHT!!! Let’s be serious, most people think multiplayer when they think Halo, but this looked fantastic for the campaign.
• Gears of War 3: The big announcement here was some 4 player co-op action. This will be a big selling point to many, but admittedly I’m not huge on doing campaigns in a co-op mode. The video looked fantastic, and I don’t mean to take away from that, I just personally prefer to focus on the campaign, which usually when I’m in a co-op mode is harder to do w/ buddies. As you would expect, the game looked insanely pretty.
• Metal Gear Solid: Rising: MGS is finally making it’s appearance on the Xbox. It looks absolutely nut. The trailer was flatout gorgeous, as one would expect form a Metal Gear game in this console generation. The trailer mostly showed Raiden being an absolute beast. He’s gone from a whiny sub-character nobody liked to a badass robot ninja. Not only did we get a gorgeous cutscene, but then got some gameplay of Raiden slicing through brick, cars, and people with ease. This looks great.
• Fable III: Fable III looks like, well, it looks like it’s going to be pretty much the same as the 1st 2 Fable games. I played the first one, it was ok, but not my favorite. This is for those of you that like the action-RPG genre.
• Codename:Kingdoms: This looks like it will be a gladiatorial combat game… It comes from Crytek, but the trailer was live action, so who knows.

The last major announcement was a brand new Xbox 360. Where was this 2 months ago when my old one crapped out? For $300 you get a new, smaller Xbox with a 250GB harddrive, built in wi-fi adapter (bout damn time), and an allegedly “whisper quiet fan.” If you are looking for a 360, it’s a good deal, but this late it isn’t going to have a huge impact for most. Microsoft finished by going Oprah and giving everyone who was there a free one. Not a bad idea to try and garner some love after what was a very meh press conference.

Microsoft without a doubt is trying to get in on some of the new gamers that have been brought in by the Nintendo Wii. You can’t blame them with how much cash Nintendo has made with the Wii over the last few years. According to Engadget, the Kinect is going to come out at $150 with games costing the full $60 price tag we are used to. As of right now, I can’t see any reason why I would pick it up. The games look like Wii clones, years later and more expensive. While the hand controlled menu’s look awesome, video chat seems to work well, and ESPN integration all look good, none seem worth buying. Video chat works between Kinect and Windows Live messenger, but between things like Skype and iChat, if you have a webcam, this is still old news. Most of the games have been done on the Wii or even with the Playstation EyeToy. Not a great look from Microsoft, which is disappointing since they had the opening word. Sony is probably licking their chops right now.

My 1st Round NBA Playoff Predictions

It's that wonderful time of year again kids. 40 GAMES IN 40 NIGHTS 40 GAMES IN 40 NIGHTS. TNT will brainwash us with this mantra while shilling whatever crappy drama starring some washed up beat actress or Tyler Perry hack comedy they are pushing this year. While the commercials will make you want to go homicidal, there's a whole lot of awesome basketball coming our way so get pumped. In past years I've gone all the way through the playoffs, but when my predictions come crashing down after the 1st round, it makes the whole thing moot. So as TGIF taught me back in the day, a guy can become cool by not wearing glasses, his pants to his armpits, and changing his name to the exact same thing but awesomely, psuedo-foreign sounding...and to take things Step by Step. Join me won't you?

Western Conference
(1) Los Angeles Lakers (57-25) vs (8) Oklahoma City Thunder (50-32)
Regular Season Series: LA 3-1
Prediction: LA in 6
I'm not going to lie, I could not be more excited for this series. If the NBA adopted the D-League policy of letting you choose your own opponent, I'd put considerable money down that they would not want to take the Thunder in the 1st round (Roy-less PDX would obviously be your top choice, and you have to wonder if all the Spurs are back at 100%). The fact that this 50 win team boasting the NBA Scoring champion in Kevin Durant is the 8 seed once again shows how good the West is. Since I'm on the internet and don't hate fun, I obviously love watching the Thunder play basketball. They can score as much as anyone in the league and Scott Brooks has turned them into one of the top defensive teams in the league (even if they have slipped on that front the last few weeks). If the Thunder get back to focusing on the defensive side of the ball, the Broingtons can score enough to hang with anybody. Just the possibility of late game situations with Kobe Bryant d'ing up Durantula as the clock ticks down is enough to make this series must watch ball every game for me. I hate to pick the Thunder to lose in the 1st round, but I think the young guns just don't have enough to beat Juggernaut that is the Lakers. Maybe in a few years, but not yet. That doesn't mean we won't get some fun games out of this matchup though.

(2) Dallas Mavericks (55-27) vs (7) San Antonio Spurs (50-32)
Regular Season Series: 3-1 Mavs
Prediction: Mavs in 7
This is painful for me. I'd love to say that the Spurs are going to be able to pull off the upset this year now that everyone is back. Tony returned a few weeks ago and George Hill made his return in the JV game against the Mavs without Tim and Manu. When I say JV game, trust me, I was treated in person to huge minutes for Matt Bonner, Garret Temple, and Ian Mahinmi. Yes the Mavs won the season series, but Pop gift wrapped last night's game for Cuban's Crew. Regular season shenanigans aside, I originally had this as Mavs in 5. Call it homerism if you want, but I think the Spurs will come through in a few games this series. The more I think about it, last year's curbstomp is what makes me think the Mavs could end this early, but at the same time, both Tim and Manu were banged up last year. The history of the Mavs and Spurs in the playoffs over the last decade is as good as any pair you could ask for. The battle for I-35 has produced some classic battles, cheap shots, and trash talk for the ages. There is really no doubting this year that the Mavs are the better team. Dirk has played out of his mind this year, Jason Kidd continues to put up great #s even though he's old as the wind. Throw in a fantastic trade to get Caron Butler, Brendan Heywood (who still feels the sting of Etan Thomas' hate elbows) and the face waving Deshawn Stevenson, and you have a very deep team. Where I think the Spurs are in the most trouble is depth down low. Dirk is always a threat to draw fouls and now Rick Carlisle has plenty of options to bang with. Sadly these are not the Spurs of yesteryear, and I'm afraid I'm going to be hearing from lots of obnoxious Mavs fans over the next few weeks. This should be a hell of a battle though. It's also worth noting, that the Spurs in sitting Tim and Manu last night essentially guaranteed that they would get the Mavs here in the first round. Jeff Caplan had an entertaining piece here on whether or not the Spurs intentionally threw last night's game to get the Mavs in round 1 that's worth the read. Maybe Pop has one last trick up his sleeve...I'd love to be wrong

(3) Phoenix Suns (54-28) vs (6) Portland Trailblazers (50-32)
Regular Season Series: 2-1 Portland
Prediction: Suns in 5
I want to pick a sweep here, but I'm a little girl and I have no faith in the Suns killer instinct. Portland can not get a break this year. From another Oden injury to the revelation the other day that superstar Brandon Roy tore his meniscus, Blazer fans have to be wondering what they did in a past life to deserve this. At least with the Jailblazers they knew what was coming. For the last few years everyone has been saying "watch out for Portland, in a few years ohhhhhh man they will be gross," yet we keep pushing back the payoff endgame thanks to freak injuries like these. Phoenix on the other hand pretty much stunned everyone when they didnt trade away the malcontent manbeast that is Amare(I say no to your gratuitous punctuation sir) Stoudamire. STAT surprisingly rewarded Phoenix by playing out of his mind since the deadline. Throw in the multiple past MVP Steve Nash, and that duo alone is enough to strike fear in the hearts of teams. Phoenix is a good team, and would still likely take this series against a healthy Portland team, but with no Roy, this is a walk.

(4) Denver Nuggets (53-29) vs (5) Utah Jazz (53-29)
Regular Season Series: 3-1 Nuggets
Prediction: Denver in 6
I don't get the Jazz. Honestly, I don't think they are that good. Deron Williams is one of the best PGs in the league, and Carlos Boozer is always a threat...but looking at their roster, it blows my mind that they are the 4th best offensive team in the league (104.2 PPG according to Basketball Reference) They have the 8th best offensive rating at 110.7 points per 100 possessions. Denver meanwhile is ranked 3rd in both Points per game and points per 100 possessions this year. Carmelo Anthony has been an absolute beast this year. Throw in Chauncey Billups playoff experience, and I think the Nuggets are the better team. One of the main reasons I give this to the Nuggets is home court advantage. Both are fantastic Home teams, Denver only losing 7 in Denver while Utah has only lost 9 in their friendly Mormon confines. This ought to be a fantastic series, but I see Melo leading the Nuggets to victory here.

Eastern Conference
(1) Cleveland Cavaliers (61-21) vs (8) Chicago Bulls (41-41)
Regular Season Series: 2-2 tie
Prediction: Cavs in 5
I'm sure pretty much all of you are with me in hoping we'd get a rematch of that epic Celtics-Bulls series from last year. Sadly, it was not meant to be. The Bulls are not long for these playoffs. Derrick Rose will give us some fun moments, but the Bulls can't shut down LeBron, that's really all there is to it. The only hope the Bulls have is that LeBron is "rusty" since he's been sitting out the last few games. However, I think that'll take about 6 minutes of game time to work off. This is gonna be a beatdown, plain and simple.

(2) Orlando Magic (59-23) vs (7) Charlotte Bobcats (44-38)
Regular Season Series: 3-1 Orlando
Prediction: Magic in 5
First off, congrats to the Bobcats on their first ever playoff appearance. That's a big step for the young franchise that has been essentially a joke since it's inception. The Bobcats are here thanks to having the best defense in the NBA and great home record of 31-10. Sadly for them, by the time they get back to home sweet home, Dwight Howard will already have the Magic out to a comfortable 2-0 lead. Even if Charlotte held serve at home, they'd still go down in 7. However, I see the Magic taking care of business in Orlando and stealing one in Carolina to take this in 5. I mean, Theo Ratliff and Boris Davis are gonna shut down Dwight? No chance.

(3)Atlanta Hawks (53-29) v (5) Milwaukee Bucks (46-36)
Regular Season Series: 2-1 Hawks
Prediction: Hawks sweep
Here's the thing, this could've been a great series with a healthy Andrew Bogut. I still would've had Atlanta in 6, but the Bucks would've had a much better shot at making some noise. With just Brandon Jennings though, I don't think they will have enough firepower to deal with Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and company. Expect the mascot to be happy motorcycling through the street very soon.

(4) Boston Celtics (50-32) vs (5) Miami Heat (47-35)
Regular Season Series: 3-0 Celtics
Prediction: Heat in 7
You may be wondering why I am waiting to pick my one "upset" with a team that got swept by their opponent in the regular season. There are a couple of reasons. First off, I'm a moron. More importantly however, the Celtics have shown their age as of late, coming into the playoffs as one of the coldest teams in the league. Boston is 3-7 in their last 10 games. Miami over that same period? 9-1. I'm a big proponent of coming into the playoffs on a roll, and Miami is as hot as anybody in the NBA right now. D-Wade is healthy this year, a rarity for him, and started to mesh well with Jermaine O'Neal and Michael Beasley. The Celtics on the other hand are showing their age. Paul Pierce and KG will be able to take over in a game or 2, and you know that Jesus Shuttlesworth will go throwback and drop 35+ in one of these games, but it won't be enough to slow down Flash and his crew.

So there it is kids. Agree? Disagree? As always you are more than welcome to praise/mock me and make your own picks in the comments. Get excited 40 GAMES IN 40 NIGHTS 40 GAMES IN 40 NIGHTS 40 GAMES IN 40 NIGHTS!

Go Spurs Go!

Guess who's back?

Hey kids, It's been so long. There hasn't been a post on this site since last November. Seriously...it's been about 5 months. This is pretty unacceptable. There are a few excuses I could give you. Sure, I have a second site that allows for much shorter posts that I've used pretty exclusively in the interim for everything from quick thoughts on sports to my daily NBA book it picks. There's the fact that I spend an inordinate amount of time on Twitter (@NDEddieMac if interested) that also lets me get most of my thoughts out. But really, Notre Dame football killed this blog last year. In fact, when I signed back onto this blog, there were still 2 drafts waiting for me that I could never get around to finishing. The coaching search was insanely tumultuous but eventually landed with the best available candidate. To be perfectly honest, at the time I was too angry to write coherently. I tried a few times, I don't think any of them came out particularly well.

My weekly College picks also fell by the wayside because trying to pick games meant thinking about games, which only made me angrier as the season went on. I do apologize to those who had participated all year. I doubt anybody was too broken up about their disappearance, but I used Notre Dame's losing and the end of the semester as an excuse to shut the thing down. So if you were one of those, I'm sorry. That was pretty hack, and there really is no excuse for it.

So why start back up now? Well, for starters, there is a whole lot of stuff that is relevant to my interests coming up. The Braves had their opening day this week. The Spurs are closing out the regular season and have clinched a spot in the playoffs (even though I don't see them lasting very long, which I'll talk about soon enough). Notre Dame has their Blue&Gold game in the next coming weeks. Even the NFL Draft is right around the corner. Of course, much like last semester's demise, Law finals are also right around the corner. Following that will be graduation and the Bar Exam. However, I think there should still be ample time to try and get back in the game. I'm not saying there is gonna be any actual schedule to these posts, because let's be serious, I'd just break it. But I wanted to bring this thing back to life because as of right now I want to write a post on: 1) Where the Spurs stand going into the playoffs, 2) The beginning of the Atlanta Braves season and super rookie Jason Heyward, 3) keeping an even keel while looking at info on Notre Dame's spring practices, how Coach Kelly is changing things, and how the team is looking next for year. This is one of the most exciting times in sports, so I will probably throw in some broad bullet point posts too, just because those are always fun. Hell, I may even get into my newfound following of soccer (I'm as surprised as you). So yeah, the site isn't dead, it's just out of it's protective custody holding for now. Have a good one kids, see you soon.

Week 11 College Football Picks

So as you already know, there was no pick recap post from this week. If you read my rant from Sunday, you should already know why it didn't happen. I've been too angry to go back and write about the Navy game, it was absolutely horrendous. On top of that, I put up a brutal 1-4. The scoreboard has been updated on the right if you are wondering where you stand. So let's get to the picks from this week's at best, decent slate. First a reminder/request: if you are going to pick, please pick them all. Also, these are the lines (from here), so pick those, no making up lines.

#16 Utah @ #4 TCU (-19.5)
Pick: Utah +19.5
TCU has played good ball this year, but a 3 score favorite against another top 25 team? I don't think so. I think this game will be a little closer, and who knows, maybe this week will be the week TCU gets their dreams crushed.

Stanford @ #9 USC (-10.5)
Pick: Stanford +10.5
I'm making this pick pretty much solely based on the good old transitive property of football. Oregon beat USC by 27. Stanford beat Oregon by 9. Clearly Stanford will beat USC by 36. MATH!

#10 Iowa @ #11 Ohio St (-17)
Pick: Iowa +17
Now Iowa lost their QB Stanzi last week EARLY in their loss to Northwestern. Stanzi is slated to sit this weekend too. While that should mean an easy win for the Buckeyes, I don't think there is a Big TenLeven team I could ever pick to cover a 17 point spread. Wayyyyy too many.

Texas Tech @ #19 Oklahoma St (-4)
Pick: Texas Tech (+4)
What can I say, we are just flat out due for a Mike Leach pirate game. Still no Dez Bryant, let's get crazy.

Notre Dame @ #12 Pittsburgh (-7)
Pick: ND +7
It's simple, if Charlie wants to stick around, this game is pretty much a must win. Beyond that, Pitt is up to 8-1 sure, but who have they beat? Youngstown St, Buffalo, Navy (too soon? too soon), Louisville, UConn, Rutgers, Cuse, S. Florida. Not a great lineup right there. ND is going to come out angry, and last I checked, Pit doesn't run the triple option. Plus, surely Weis can beat the Wannestache right?

There they are, go get em folks.

I'm fucking terrified. Thoughts on ND's Future

I honestly don’t know where Notre Dame is going. Clearly Weis isn’t cutting it. The fact that he wasn’t fired after 3-9 should’ve used up all of his pity. I wrote a lonnnnnng post after last year’s loss to USC about whether or not Charlie should have a job anymore. At this point, I honestly don’t know what to do. On one hand, Weis clearly isn’t getting the job done. 3-9 was fucking pathetic and inexcusable. The next year, only 7-6…I mean, this shit is not ok at Notre Dame. Then you walk into this year, a talent laden team, a creampuff schedule…and you’ve already lost to a 5-5 Michigan team and a Navy team that just lost to Temple last week. I repeat TEMPLE BEAT THE TEAM THAT JUST BEAT NOTRE DAME FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!

Pitt and Stanford both scared me before this game, now Stanford just beat down a good Oregon team, Pitt continued to kill, and we lose to Navy…Holy F. As of now I figure losing one of those is a given, both is a very decent possibility. I feel like Weis can not be trusted with this team anymore. He just isn’t producing. I wish he had succeeded, he’s a Notre Dame guy, good pedigree, but holy shit win a damn game son. I always defend based on his recruiting, and his classes have been great, but they don’t produce, so what do you do??? If the results aren’t there, a change must be made.

But then there is the flip side. First, if they weren’t already gonna leave due to fear of a Bradford-esque injury, or the upcoming labor issues and likely rookie salary cap, you’ve gotta figure if Weis is fired that both Clausen and Tate will leave early. 2nd, you have to wonder how many recruits will leave. Chris Martin, one of if not the top Defensive players in the country, has already said he’s still taking visits even w/ his commit to us, just to keep his options open in case there is a coaching change. Add to that other players who may leave. Then think about having to implement the new system of a new coach on both sides of the ball, and essentially having to hit the reset button on the program.

Plus, who do you go get? There are 3 names you will hear out of Irish fans wanting a change: Brian Kelly (head coach at Cincinatti), Jon Gruden (ESPN Commentator for MNF, former Raiders and Bucs head coach) and Skip Holtz (Head Coach at ECU, son of Lou). there are problems with all 3 options here though:

Brian Kelly: Kelly has done a hell of a job at Cinci the last 2 years. Right now, the Bearcats are undefeated, have the inside track on the Big East and a BCS spot, and a shot at the National Title game, even if it is unlikely. Kelly’s gone 30-6 at Cinci since taking over for the bowl game at the end of the 06 season. This season has been by far the best for Kelly at Cinci, rebounding well from a loss in the Orange bowl to VT 20-7. My question right now, is if I’m Brian Kelly, why leave for a high pressure situation, where you need results quickly or you will be axed, when right now you have built a program and will be treated as the man, the myth, the legend? He has no prior connection to ND, and is currently wrecking shop in arguably the weakest BCS conference…why leave?

Jon Gruden: There are some coaches that thrive in the pros, and some that thrive in college. We’ve seen what happens when that line is crossed by the likes of Spurrier and Carroll. Gruden’s ties to Notre Dame run deep: His dad was an Asst. coach for the Irish while Jon attended Clay HS in South Bend. Gruden thought about going to ND, but knew he wouldn’t get playing time, so he ended up at Dayton after a stop at Muskingum College. While Gruden has a few years of Asst. Coaching in college under his belt, he’s been a coach in the pros since 1992. Gruden had great success as the head coach of the Bucs and Raiders, but is now sitting in the MNF booth. There are 2 things that make me think Gruden won’t work. 1st is the idea that some guys are built for college ball, some are built for the pros. How many coaches can you think of that have had success in both? 2nd, there are quite a few HC jobs in the NFL that look to be vacant at years end. While Gruden has ties to the Irish, coming to Notre Dame is a step down from the NFL, that’s all there is to it. Would it really be worth it for him?

As for Skip…here’s the thing, you will not find someone that loves Lou Holtz more than me. But what the hell has Skip Holtz ever done to make ND fans think he is the answer?? Skip did some good work under his pops as OC between 92-94. But as a head coach: 38-23 at UConn, 29-21 currently at ECU thru last year. ECU made headlines last year, upsetting #17 VT and #8 West Virginia in the 1st two weeks of the year. But the team ended up at 9-5, losing to a decent at best Kentucky team in the Liberty Bowl. Let’s put it this way, if his last name wasn’t Holtz, nobody at ND would know who he is. Is that really the guy you want leading the way?

So the way I see it, our current head coach has proven he can’t win, and while he’s able to get great recruiting classes, hasn’t been able to produce on the field. But at the same time, can this program really afford to start over AGAIN, and would the immediate roster losses be worth any perceived coaching benefits?

What the hell do we do?

Week 10 College Football picks

So last week the lowest score anybody had was 2-3, I'm gonna call this a sign of improvement kids. Let's see if we can't all go over .500 this week shall we? Not a fantastic slate, but a couple that could be very intriguing. Game on

Vanderbilt @ #1 Florida (-35)
Pick: UF -35
Haven't had a big line game in awhile, so why not. This game has been talked about quite a bit thanks to Brandon Spikes' eye gouging and subsequent self-punishment for the full game. While Spikes is very clearly the best player on the Florida D, the unit as a whole is still very good. The O finally found some legs last week against Georgia. Finally, let's be serious, Vandy is miserable, they're gonna get stomped.

#24 Oklahoma (-6) @ Nebraska
Pick: Nebraska +6
OU is in the death spiral already, and their O has been horrible. Nebraska's O is also abhorrent, but they've still got something to play for in the Big XII North (aka Big II aa). This is gonna be a defensive battle without much scoring, meaning you take the points. Plus, now that Ndamukong Suh has been "punished" but will be playing, the Huskers are in good shape. If there is one thing you can say for the Big XII, they certainly have the funniest driving mishaps in the country. Sergio Kindle runs into an apartment complex while "texting at around 2 AM on a Saturday" Suh goes pinball on a bunch of cars "avoiding a cat at 2:30AM on a Sunday" hilarious. Here's hoping we get a story on Zac Robinson "rear ending a guy while adjusting his radio" or something soon, cause these are great.

#16 Ohio St @ #11 Penn St (-4)
Pick: PSU -4
What can I say, I just really don't trust Pryor yet. The dude is a turnover time bomb, and Penn St has a fantastic D, giving up just over 9 points a game. Expect Evan Royster to get a lot of carries for PSU in this one, coming off of 3 straight 100 yd games (it would be 5, but he just missed with a mere 94 against E. Illinois...on 8 carries). Plus, sweatervests dont repel Zombies, if the highest paid mascot in the NCAA can make it across the field, Tressel could be in trouble.

#9 LSU @ #3 Alabama (-7.5)
Pick: LSU +7.5
That damn half point. At 7 I take Bama, most likely expecting a push. As always the oddsmakers are in my soul. I think this is gonna be a close ballgame. LSU has won 5 of the last 6 against Bama, but I don't know if Jordan Jefferson has enough firepower to get by Bama's ridiculous D. On the other side, LSU also has a fantastic D. Between the guy that should win the Heisman right now, Mark Ingram, and the ever dangerous Julio Jones, Bama's got more weapons on O than LSU and I think will end up taking a close, hard fought battle here in a game that will push them up to #2 in the country.

Navy @ #22 Notre Dame (-12)
Pick: ND -12
While ND couldn't pull off the cover last weekend, 12 is a much more manageable spread. Don't expect this to be too much of a beatdown tho. Navy will stay on the ground, burning clock, and the last thing Weis is gonna do is run the score up on a service academy. That being said, the Irish O is absurdly good, and, answering my prayers, the Cannon, Michael Floyd, will be back for limited action. Now he isn't gonna be on the field for every play, but just having #3 back out there is freaking fantastic. Sadly, Armando Allen is still banged up, and may be limited, while Trevor Robinson is definitely out. Still, ND shouldn't have trouble putting up points. On the flip side, while ND isn't gonna be mentioned w/ the Bama's of the world in terms of defense, they actually are very effective at stopping the run. While Navy's option attack can scare teams a bit since you will only see it once a year, I'd much rather know a team is gonna run it 40 times a game then have to worry about if our secondary came out after a pregame gasoline shower ready to get torched by WRs.

So there they are kids, ABC. A= Always, B= Be, C= Closing, ALWAYS be closing! Let's make some money and pick some winners this week. Go get em.