Madden vs Backbreaker

Well, Madden just figured out how to save itself this year. It looks like Backbreaker is going to be the far superior game, and Madden's methods to remain in the game have nothing to do with gameplay. It has to do with their selection of a commentator.

Gus Johnson.

Yes, I am going to buy Madden this year because it will have commentary by Gus Johnson.

Indians Trades...did they work

I haven't done the research...and may not. But here is a list of some recent Indians Trades and whether or not they worked.

2002ish - Bartolo Colon sent to Montreal for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, Tim Laker?? YES...clearly this one worked. And it will go down as the Greatest of Shapiro's lifetime. It will also never happen again because Montreal was contracting and just shipping off players.

2006 - Coco Crisp and David Riske sent to Boston for Andy Marte, Kelly Shoppach, Guillermo Mota. Yes...kind of. Marte could still deliver something. Shoppach was a nice backup and we traded him for Mitch Talbot who looks good. Mota sucked. But Crisp and Riske really never gave Boston anything too great. Although Crisp did get a ring with them.

2006 - Traded Eduardo Perez for Asdrubal Cabrera who was with Seattle. Perez was announcing games later that year and Cabrera looks like an All Star short stop. YES..it worked.

2006 - Ben Broussard sent to Seattle for Shin-Soo Choo and Shawn Nottingham. YES...Choo is a true 5 tool player and will get paid big time this year for how good he is.

2008 - CC Sabathia sent to Milwaukee for Michael Brantly, Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, someone else. Kind off...we're still in a wait and see on this one. CC is still amazing, and we have not seen Brantly and Laporta's best. Those two will make this whole thing work if they become really good.

2008 - Casey Blake sent to the Dodgers for Carlos Santana. Hopefully...Santana is tearing up the AAA pitching...but the Tribe won't move him even though Marcon is hitting sub-200 because they don't want to give Santana an extra year of eligibility so he can get arbitration early. Blake is still the every day third baseman on a really good team. Seems like a win-win, but only if Santana is an every day catcher for the next few years.

2009 - Franklin Gutierrez sent to Seattle and received Valbuena and Joe Smith. Part of a three team deal with the Mets. Gutierrez looks pretty good, Valbuena did, but is now falling. Smith is in the minors. Didn't really work. Could have gotten Texeira in a half year rent in 2007 for the playoff push by trading Gutierrez. We may have a World Series title had we pulled the trigger on that. I believe the same goes for Adam Miller, over hyped pitcher who is probably never going to pitch again because he had 3 surgeries on his middle finger.

2009 - Mark DeRosa sent to Cardinals for Chris Perez and Jess Todd. Perez looks good so this one probably worked. DeRosa was nice to have too though. Kind of an even swap.

2009 - Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco sent to Phillies for Jason Knapp, Jason Donald, Lou Marcon, Carlos Carrasco. Not yet...kind of too soon. But Marcon looks horrible, he has two RBI this year. Jason Donald is too young, but moved through the minors fast. Jason Knapp has Tommy John surgery. Carlos is doing well in AAA, but we'll see if he can transition to the Majors this year. Lee still looks dominant...so another Cy young winner traded and nothing to show for it yet..

2009 - Victor Martinez sent to Boston for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, Bryan Price. NO...Victor is still good and we have no catcher. Masterson sucks.

2009 - Carl Pavano sent to Minnesota for player to be named later (Yohan Pino). No, Don't know who Pino is...and Pavano is still doing well.

2009 - Ryan Garko and Rafael Betancourt are traded for nobodies. Betancourt is still good, Garko is in the minors. Didn't really work.

2009 - (after season) Kelly Shoppach sent to TB for Mitch Talbot (was a player to be named). Yes, Talbot is flourishing in his brief time with the majors. Shoppach proved he's a career back up.

That's enough for now. You can make up your mind on how all these moves helped or hurt the team. If I think of more I'll create another post. Enjoy.

Thanks to baseball-reference.com for much of this information.

Brown Fired....Horrible line in ESPN Article

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5213917

Coach Brown got fired. Great...we all knew it was coming. But what upsets me most in this article is how arrogant the writer is about LeBron leaving Cleveland. Read the quote below.

"Cleveland's next move will be an interesting one. Because of James' uncertain future, it's possible the Cavs would want his input into their next coaching hire, assuming the two-time MVP is still considering re-signing with Cleveland when free agency opens after midnight on July 1. The Cavs will have to search for a new coach not knowing if James will be back and would have to go into the draft and free agency without a coach."

WHY THE HELL is there even a question that LeBron is 'considering' returning to the city that can pay him MORE than any other city. This is ridiculous. More National Media shoving it down our throat that LeBron MIGHT leave.

Its absolutely outrageous that this writer puts a line like that in the article. I'm not saying I'm confident LeBron will return...but 99% of free agents leave for the city with the most money. The most money for LeBron is CLEVELAND. So to say 'assuming he's still considering staying' is an absolute joke.

Just Give me a Break already.

Backbreaker Football

Ok, I've played the Demo for 15 minutes. I spent about five minutes doing the tutorials, which went by really fast. Great tutorials, showing you how to play the game and how to get the Madden controls out of your system. No absurd loading times in between each tutorial, it all went by fast.

Backbreaker is the new football game by 505 Games, and if the demo is any indication, they NAILED IT on their first time out. Madden and EA Sports had a 5 year head start on the Xbox 360 / PS3, and their game immediately feels old, outdated, ancient, etc. Backbreaker uses the Euphoria physics engine and a company called Natural Motion has been working on this for four years now (or perfecting it for four years now) and it's finally ready. This is the first game I've played that was truly worth the wait. I've been watching this thing go through development for about two years now through YouTube and IGN Interviews and June 1st is when it finally is released. The Demo is available now for XBox Live Gold users, and in another day or two for the rest of the XBox Live users.

No, there are no NFL teams in this game, and this will be this game's only downfall. The actual football gameplay is incredible. Everything is physics based. In Madden, everything is animation based. So if two players get near each other in Madden, they have to lock up. In this game, they act as if they would really act on a football field.

This is tough to explain without videos, but imagine you're running straight ahead with the ball. There's a defender at your 12:00 running straight for you. There's a defender at your 3:00 with no chance at all of tackling you. But he's the guy who your fullback is supposed to block. The fullback will go out of his way to block the guy, leaving you wide open to get crushed by the defender running straight at you. This was one of the first things I tested in Backbreaker. Simple runs up the middle. Not once did the fullback do anything stupid. My Offensive Lineman double teamed the defensive lineman. None of the guards ran around in circles while a blitzing linebacker ran right by them and sacked me. Everything felt like it made sense.

After a couple four and outs from my offense (passing was a little different than what I was used to, and really, who Punts in a game demo?) I felt like I had the hang of the passing game. In this one, you have to select your receiver by moving the right stick, then flick the stick up for a bullet pass, or pull back, then flick the stick for a lob. This took some getting used to, but like I said, after a few tries I had it down.

People are saying "Arcade Football games are doomed to fail." They are. This one is NOT an Arcade Football game. This is NOT NFL Blitz all over again. This is as close to a simulation as you can get. This is what Madden wishes it was. The only thing that can possibly make this game fail is the lack of NFL players and teams (which can easily be created manually, and hopefully downloaded.) because after only a lunchbreak with the game, it plays phenomenally.



Here's another guy praising it. This guy has been criticizing football games, dying for an honest game that's true to the real game of football. 505 Games is definitely onto something here, and hopefully the NFL sees this and ends their exclusive deal with EA Sports. This demo is probably the only thing I'll play on my Xbox now until the full game comes out.

Peralta can go now....please?!?

Ok, have we had enough of Jhonny Peralta already? He shows flashes of good offense, but generally when its too late to matter. He's an average AT BEST defender. And now, he takes out the best player the Indians have!!!

Come on already. Hasn't he caused us enough pain. Now he's inflicting pain on his own teammates. No matter what the press wants to call the play last night, Peralta caused the injury because he's too much of a whale to go diving after a ball Cabrera clearly had.

Annoying, just annoying. UUUGGGGHHHHH.

RAW

Bret Hart won the US Title last night on RAW. It's 2010, and Bret Hart is the US Champion.

I'm going to repeat this.

It's the year 2010. Two thousand and ten. And Bret Hart is a WWE Champion.

That's pretty much it, I have no joke for this, I think I've said enough.

NBA Free Agent Analysis

The NBA Salary Cap and contracts are really complicated, so this information may not be 100% accurate. From my understanding, the salary cap is around $60 million. You can go over the cap to resign someone who has been on your team for at least three uninterrupted years, and he could be offered a max contract. You can sign one free agent for about a $5 million deal or less at some point in the season. So all of these teams below can sign one free agent, but his total deal has to be less than $5 million.

Atlanta Hawks - Joe Johnson becomes free agent. Hawks can resign him at max. It would put them over the cap. They could only get another free agent at that mid level exception.

Boston Celtics - Nate Robinson and Ray Allen become free agents. Celtics can resign Ray at max. They can't resign Nate, unless its for the mid level exception. Pierce may or may not leave, if he does, they can resign him at max.

Charlotte Bobcats - Tyson Chandler may or may not leave, Charlotte cannot resign him for max, they are over the cap. Unless they move some players, they cannot sign a free agent for big money.

Chicago Bulls - Rose, Noah and Deng are locked up. They are $20 million under the cap. They can sign a big money free agent, then bring back their players they've had for 3 years. (Big possible LeBron or Wade destination)

Cleveland Cavs - We're over the cap, we lose Shaq and would not be able to resign him for anything more than the mid level exception. We lose Z and LeBron, and everyone else is set for another year or so. We can sign LeBron for more than any other team can offer. I think Dan Gilbert can say, what's the highest offer you have from anyone else and the Cavs can add $20 million to it if we want.

Dallas Mavericks - Way, way over the cap. Dirk may or may not go, if he does go they're still WAY over the cap. They can resign Dirk at max. They cannot sign a player other than for the MLE. They lose Brendan Haywood and cannot resign him at max.

Denver Nuggets - Another team way over the cap. They're going to lose Antonio McDyess and cannot resign him other than for the MLE. (which would be stupid) They cannot sign a big money guy.

Detroit Pistons - Detroit has locked up their current crappy team for several years now. They're JUST under the cap and probably can't bring in a big money guy. They're going to lose Ben Wallace and Michael Jordan's Kwame Brown. Neither guy can resign for other than the MLE.

Golden State Warriors - Under the cap, not going to lose any of their bigger players. Unless they make some moves, they cannot sign a big money guy.

Houston Rockets - Over the cap, Yao Ming may or may not stay. If he doesn't, they're under the cap and have the space to replace him. Or they can resign him for max.

Indiana Pacers - They're over the cap, and TJ Ford may or may not stay. It doesn't look like he can be resigned at max, since he's only been there two years.

LA Clippers - The Clippers have five players coming back and PLENTY of space to sign a big money guy. Then they may be able to resign their 3 year players at max. They're about $30 million under the cap. They could bring in two big money guys.

LA Lakers - WAY WAY WAY over the cap, but they have all of their important players locked up for the next five years. Look for more finals appearances and more titles to come for these assh*les. They cannot bring in any big money players, and the only guy they're losing is Derek Fisher, who can be resigned at max.

Memphis Grizzles - Under the cap, could bring in one big money guy. Rudy Gay may or may not leave, he can be resigned at max.

Miami Heat - They have five guys coming back, one of them is Dwyane Wade who can be resigned at max, then they have plenty of room left over to bring in another big money guy. They lose Jermaine O'Neal and cannot resign him unless its the MLE.

Milwaukee Bucks - Just under the cap, they may or may not lose Michael Redd. They can resign him at max.

Minnesota Timberwolves - Way under the cap, they could bring in two big money guys. They have all of their important guys coming back, and DARKO MILICIC'S CONTRACT IS FINALLY EXPIRED.

New Jersey Nets - WAY under the cap, two big money guys possible. They lose Bobby Simmons, Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, but thank god they keep the chairman of the NBA, Yi Jianlian. This team should get a big makeover.

New Orleans Hornets - Way over the cap, but they dont lose anybody. Cannot sign a big money player.

New York Knicks - Most cap space available of any team. I think they could actually bring in three big money guys. This could be LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. Jesus Christ. They're at $17 million. The cap is around $60 million. They're going to lose T-Mac and can't resign him. They can resign David Lee and Eddy Curry at max, after signing their big money free agents.

OKC Thunder - They are under the cap and are not losing anyone important. They have room to bring in about one big money guy.

Orlando Magic - Orlando is another team that has their guys locked up for the next few years. They wont lose anybody important and are way over the cap. No big money free agents joining the Magic any time soon.

Philadelphia 76ers - Over the cap, not losing anybody but Allen Iverson. They cannot resign him, and I think he retired for good anyways. They cannot bring in anyone expensive.

Phoenix Suns - Over the cap, and they may or may not lose Amare Stoudemire, Grant Hill and Channing Frye. They can resign Stoudemire and Hill for max, not Frye. They have no room for anyone else expensive.

Portland Trailblazers - They will lose Brandon Roye and can resign him for max. They're just under the cap, but resigning him would put them over.

Sacramento Kings - Under the cap, they could bring in a big money guy. They are not losing anyone important. Nor do they currently have anyone important on their team.

San Antonio Spurs - They're over the cap and have their important guys locked up. Can't bring in any more big names.

Toronto Raptors - They're over the cap, but if they lose Bosh that will give them some room. They can resign Bosh for max, but if he goes, they may or may not be able to replace him with a big money guy. They might not have quite enough cap room.

Utah Jazz - They're just under the cap. They're losing Carlos Boozer, but everyone else is locked up. They can resign Boozer at max, or maybe Boozer will tell them he's resigning with them, and then they'll find out later that day he's in Miami, actually signing a piece of paper.

Washington Wizards - Way under the cap. They have room to bring in two big money guys. They keep Gilbert Arenas and his guns, the Wizards have the option to keep Josh Howard. They're about $30 million under the cap.

So the teams that can bring in some big money free agents are:

Chicago, LA Clippers, Memphis, Miami, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, OKC, Sacramento, and Washington.

Any other team can't really do anything except resign the big money guy that's already been on their team for three years, or they would have to make some trades for draft picks to teams with cap space.

Chicago looks like they could be a beast next year. Rose, Deng, and Noah are on board, and they have room to add a superstar. But they also need a coach. Miami could be a serious contender again if Wade stays and they get him some help. And New York could be completely different. They can bring in several new players. Should be interesting to see what happens.

Another LeBron Article..

http://kotorimagazine.com/index.php?news=4264

..which may or may not have any truth to it. Time will tell.

Good article about Lebron

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-lebroncavs051210

Sums up a lot of how many people feel right now. Lebron needs to focus on being good at basketball before worrying about how he'll be perceived in the 'financial minds' of America.

Shape up Lebron, or you won't win in ANY city you play in.

Cavs vs Celtics V

They had no plan. They all looked tired, they couldn't figure out what to do once the Celtics applied a bit of pressure. They look done. They look like LeBron played his last game at the Q as a Cavalier and just wants out. They look like the Celtics looked for the 2nd half of the season. Now the Celtics look like the best team in the history of the NBA.

Ray Allen has to be shooting around 80-90%. KG has to be shooting about that also. LeBron seemed like maybe he was the answer for Rondo, but with the other guys making every shot they take, who cares who guards Rondo?

I dont even know where the blame is. Is it Mike Brown who continues to pick bizarre rotations? (JJ Hickson coming in to foul, playing Delonte for about 3 minutes total, playing Leon Powe at all). Is it LeBron who missed all of his shots? Is it a lack of caring? Who knows, but I think the blame is on those two. When LeBron plays like crap, there's no one to help him. When he's in his rhythm, the rest of the team is unstoppable.

Then, the really depressing part is, even if through some miracle we beat the Celtics two in a row, then we've got Orlando.... and then if through some really big miracle we beat Orlando, then we've got The Lakers or Suns. F*ck. Actually - the sad part is going to be watching Boston get crushed by Orlando, then watching Orlando get crushed by The Lakers or Suns.. showing that we really had no chance at all.

It's win or go home, Cavs..

Cavs vs Celtics IV

Rondo is too good. We need to put LeBron on him. Shaq needs to deliver some hard fouls to him, sending him crashing to the floor. No one else can seem to guard Rondo. Let LeBron try it.

Other than that, it was a competitive game, we just missed a couple too many shots. The series is now a best of three.. We can't seem to win two games in a row, but we also don't seem to lose two games in a row... They should have a plan to bounce back on Tuesday night. Hopefully.

UFC 113 Thoughts

Overall a good show. Patrick Cote made a return after a long injury recovery process, and got choked out by Alan Belcher. This choke out came after the first piledriver/pedegree move I've seen in a long time. Belcher calls out Anderson Silva afterwords and says he's the man who can beat him. I dont think anyone can beat Anderson Silva right now, but I'd love to see his first competitive fight so.. Silva fights Chael Sonnen next, which could be it.

Matt Mitrione, former NFL player, absolutely dominated Kimbo Slice (released from the UFC after the fight) and won by stoppage in the 2nd. Kimbo may have a broken leg and a broken arm after the fight, which was stopped, he never submitted. Mitrione just kept throwing punches and Kimbo didn't know what to do after his two bodyslams didn't work at the beginning.

Jeremy Stephens and Sam Stout had a crazy shootout, each just throwing punch after punch. It went all the way to the judges, they called it for Stephens in a split decision.

Josh Koscheck dominated Paul Daley for all three rounds, and after the third round was over, Paul Daley threw a sucker punch when 99% of the fighters handshake or hug afterwords. The referee immediate threw Daley off and had him pinned up against the cage and was yelling. Daley was released from the UFC almost immediately after. Dana White said something along the lines of "I dont care how good he is anywhere, he's never fighting in the UFC again."

And in about a minute and a half, Shogun knocked Machida out cold and F'd up his eye to become the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. These two had a five round fight last year and everyone thought Shogun would take the decision, but then Machida won the decision. Everyone immediately said Instant Rematch, and the two fighters promised it wouldn't go to the judges this time. They were absolutely right. Shogun just exploded and got him on the ground and started throwing fists.

Final Tallys:

Good Fights - 4
Bad Fights - 0
Mediocre Fights - 2
Accidental Nut Shots - 2
Piledrivers - 1
UFC Firings - 2

Cavs vs Celtics III

Well, now that's more like it. So if they just play like that every night, no team in the league can stop them. Boston never even stood a chance in this game. I don't even have anything to write about - they just kicked ass in every possible way.

Hamilton jinxing the Indians

Tom Hamilton is one of the best radio announcers in sports. But, sometimes he decides that we need to talk about game too much. Baseball is a very superstitious sport, and when someone is red hot, you don't talk about it.

Chris Perez was mowing down the Blue Jays starting in the 8th inning. Then, Tom Hamilton used every cliche in the book to describe how the game was just about over, and Perez was one out away from his 5th save. The next 3 batters: double, error on shortstop (run scored), 2R Home run for the Jays to take the lead. COME ON!!!!

SHUT UP ALREADY. Maybe next time you'll talk about the no-hitter someone is throwing with two outs in the 9th inning.

::head hits desk::

Cavs vs Celtics II

Well, wtf happened there? Quite the step back.. However - it really was just a lot of missed shots. Shaq has to figure out how to hit the 3 footer. I don't understand how some nights he can hit it every time and how some nights he's not even close? Antawn stopped taking his crazy shots and LeBron was looking for the pass too many times when the teammate was expecting him to take the shot himself. If LeBron's elbow is killing him, he's gotta give some of his minutes to Hickson or someone. Mo, Delonte, Hickson, Jamison, and Shaq should be able to get them through some minutes if his elbow has him limited to the point where all he can do is dribble and pass to the nearest guy. Then if the rest of the team is playing lazy and not stepping up, we're screwed. We've got the best player in the league and his elbow is killing him at the worst possible time. Cavs - step up, help him out.

Another thing to note - the referees were NOT calling reach in fouls all game. Celtics realized this early and caused countless turnovers. If you smack the guy's forearm and the ball comes loose, that's a reach in foul. Not in game 2, and it took the Cavs into the fourth quarter to realize this. Maybe Dick Bavetta is just OLD AS F*CK and can't see what's going on anymore. I got excited when LeBron smacked Pierce's arm and knocked the ball loose in the fourth quarter and got a fast break... but it was too late since Boston had been doing that all game.

Also - even funnier...

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/11341/tim-donaghys-tale-of-dick-bavetta

Tim Donaghy, Referee/Gambler, tells the story of how Dick Bavetta changes how he calls a game as to not allow many blowouts...... Oh, so that's what happened last night. Got it. How is this not painfully obvious to anyone in the NBA? You've got Donaghy blowing the whistle on the shitty officiating, and the shitty officiating CONTINUES, EVEN AFTER HE POINTS IT OUT???? Anyways, whatever. Game 3. Hopefully LeBron can keep resting the elbow and the rest of the team can step up. We need everybody. If Shaq's missing his shots stop giving him the ball, let him just clear a lane.. If Mo can't handle the ball, let Delonte do it.. If LeBron can't play, give Hickson more minutes.. Let Antawn take more shots.. Something.. Anything.

Cavs vs Celtics

Now those are the Celtics I know... In a crunch moment, NOT fouling Shaq.. allowing Mo Williams to DUNK.. Not fouling while down by about 7 with 40 some seconds to go.. The Celtics quit on this game, or Doc Rivers is the worst coach in the NBA.

How do you not foul?!? How do you not send the worst free throw shooting team to the foul line in the last few seconds? Even if we make the free throws, Ray Allen can still hit the 3s to counter? Boston could've easily won that game, but instead they quit.

Those are the Celtics I know from this past season.

Hopefully Shaq keeps providing a brick wall for Rondo to crash and burn into and LeBron's elbow stays fixed... It's the Celtics, so I dont even have a prediction on this series because stupid things always happen with Boston involved...but if this game is any indication, Celtics will quit for good around game three.