nick.pazoles.com

The trailer for NBA 2K11 looks really amazing. That is how you make a trailer for a sports game. I am intrigued for sure.

So we actually have three plays this week, that’s how good it was.

Take your pick, the punt return for a TD, the kickoff for a TD or the 79 yard TD run.

So our NCAA Football 11 Online Dynasty is under way. I won my first game of the week. Here is the play of the game for my first week, a 70 yard option keeper by my QB.

• Replay camera angle sucks – For some reason I feel like the default angle for instant replays is weird and EVERY TIME I look at a replay I have to adjust the camera

• Too many injuries – In one game I lost two QBs and a HB. And it seems like there are 10+ injuries per game, most for a few plays, others for the whole season
• Injury notification isn’t there – In years past you would know a guy got hurt right after the play, now if you click anything after the play (and it finally makes sense to because of the built-in accelerated clock) you run the risk of not knowing someone is hurt. So many times I find much later that a player was hurt.
• WRs are definitely better – They make circus catches, get better separation and just overall seem more realistic
• No huddle by CPU is for real – The CPU definitely uses no huddle with teams that really use it. I have seen them use it for the entire game and not at all
• Still don’t like clock slow down at playcall screen – For whatever reason when you are at the playcall screen the clocks run slower (like a second is not actually a second) and this annoys me. I know it’s so that people have more time to pick a play, but this should be able to be turned off.
• No huddle too easy? – Sometimes I feel like if you run no huddle all the time you will have too much success. I have seen times where I call it and the CPU (no matter how long I take) doesn’t line up right and there is a cheap, wide-open player.
• Gameplay overall – Overall the game seems good. I think I can buy that this is the best version of NCAA Football on XBOX 360, but the changes are more evolutionary than revolutionary. Of course the difference between this and a game like Red Dead Redemption is that you gauge RDR more by the first 5 hours and you gauge NCAA Football more by how it is still playing after 50 hours.

Heather and I finally got around to seeing the epicly hyped movie, The Hangover. My personal feeling is that the movie lived up to the hype and then some.

• Zack Galifianakis deserved all the hype he got for his performance. He was by far the funniest.
• I thought the baby had a much bigger role, the fact that it’s on the movie poster implies that it was around a lot more.
• The ultimate location of the groom seemed a little disappointing.
• There were TONS of funny moments but I thought there was a lot more they could have revealed about the evening. I feel like the movie would have been funnier watching all the stuff play out as it happened.
• Ken Jeong is funny, but does he have to play the same stereotyped guy every time?
• Worth seeing if you haven’t. Lots of funny moments. Ultimately could have been better in my opinion.

Nice to see the tight ship Brian Kelly has going over there. Savior indeed.

So what will the White Sox do to improve their chances in the second half? Kenny Williams is notorious for making moves when the team has a chance. Let me refresh your memory:

2009 – Acquired Tony Pena, Mark Kotsay and Jake Peavy in July.
2008 – Acquired Ken Griffey Jr. in July
2006 – Acquired Dave Riske, Sandy Alomar and Mike McDougal in July
2005 – Acquired Geoff Blum in July

None of these moves meant major contributors down the stretch, but all virtually guarantee the White Sox will do something.

The resurgence of Carlos Quentin the last 3 weeks or so likely means that they don’t need a middle of the order hitter, Konerko/Rios/Quentin appear to be appear to carry the load. If Dayan Viciedo explodes like he might, they are set 3-6. Alexei Ramirez and Juan Pierre have been great in the field (the latter very suprisingly).

From a position player standpoint the only thing that makes sense to me is someone who can play better defense at 1B or RF, both major holes right now. With Quentin’s penchant for getting banged up, putting him at DH makes a lot of sense. If the guy they get could hit 2nd that would be swell. There is a guy that fits this mold, KC OF David DeJesus. I don’t see the Sox meeting their price or KC trading them to a rival. Trying to find a way to pry Michael Bourn from Houston would be nice. If they decided to move Konerko to DH, Casey Kotchman could cheaply be acquired from Seattle, but he is a negative value offensive player.

Pitching is trickier. Floyd and Danks have been the stars, Floyd especially the last 2 months. Mark Buehrle hasn’t been pitching very well, but there is room for improvement. The loss of Peavy was devastating. Meanwhile Matt Thorton and JJ Putz have been amazing. Bobby Jenks has been unlucky and could actually pitcher better in the 2nd half. All this means the Sox are set from the 7th inning on. Sergio Santos has been good, not great but as long as what we have seen is for real, he adds another option. If Threets can be the LOOGY (Lefty One-Out GuY) the Sox might be OK in the pen.

With the trade deadline just two weeks away, my guess is that we will only see two more Daniel Hudson starts before the Sox have to make a move. That means that the most likely move might be getting some insurance in the rotation. Roy Oswalt is available but doesn’t want to pitch for the White Sox and would cost a lot in terms of players and money. Dan Haren would cost even more in terms of players and he gets expensive next year. There likely isn’t much else that would be an improvement over Freddy Garcia.

The most likely scenario of all would be deepening the bench. Brent Lillibridge has been hitting out of his mind but he isn’t a great defender and can’t hit this well forever. Andruw Jones has cooled off and despite what anyone tells you he has been terrible in the field. Mark Kotsay as been one of the least valuable players on the team and can’t play the OF. And “utility” player Omar Vizquel has only added value with his SS defense, but Ramirez has been so good there that doesn’t help.

Kenny Williams will make a move this month. History has shown us there. The question as to what still has to be answered.

I loved the Carlos Boozer signing. I thought it was a vastly underrated moved that would make the Bulls better. This article doesn’t fully support my theory though. I knew the story about him leaving Cleveland, but I didn’t know all of the other issues he had in Utah.

I have already heard one person point out that brackets will have to be in on Tuesday or Wednesday. That will be impactful to the casual fan who doesn’t even know about filling a bracket out until Monday.