I was just browsing the sportsgamer.com site when I stumbled across some interesting articles.
Both of these deal with ideas that I’ve touched on before, so I thought they were relevant and worth a mention on my own blog.
First off is this article about LSU using video game simulators developed by EA Sports to prep their QBs for live game-time situations:
LSU Wins… Thanks to Madden
This was something that Hoopes and I had briefly discussed in SportsBlast 4. In that show we had discussed Madden’s role in introducing players to real life sports.

This next article: The NFL: Scripted , deals with the NFL’s meticulous control of all aspects of their game and their dominance over competing leagues. I thought this was somewhat relevant to my first Boydzone post NFL.gov.

Oh, and while I’m at it, they also have an article on their discussing if Vince Young beat the Madden curse. This is something we discussed in SportsBlast5 “Monotonin”, back when when the Madden 08 cover was announced.

Normally when I look at teal in a sports uniform, I get a little turned off, feeling like there isn’t an easier way to date a teams look to the 90s. For some reason though I find myself actually getting kind of into the Jacksonville Jaguars uniforms today while looking at this picture from an ESPN article: US Presswire
It could be that I’m instantly transported from wintery Pittsburgh to sunny North Eastern Florida as I gaze at Jack Del Rio’s shades, teal zip-up shirt, and blonde locks. I don’t know. It could also be the toughness that the two backs flanking their coach bring to the game while sporting these jerseys.
This idea has been kind of beaten to death lately, especially in light of “Jacksonville out Steelersing the Steelers” in their last two meetings. This couldn’t have been more true in the first Steelers/Jagz game from this winter. The second game was a little bit different as the Jags running game barely showed up. Jones-Drew did break a couple of key tackles and made a few huge plays (40yard TD reception, 96 kickoff return). In a different life, I would be a big Jones-Drew fan; he’s shorter than most NFL players, but still escapes tackles, runs hard, and makes big special teams plays. It often looks like he’s too stocky and quick to tackle. Its also hard not to like Fred Taylor, who has made apparent just how underrated he is (7 out of his 10 seasons have been 1000+yard years).
As a Steelers fan, I have trouble getting into the Jags, as I honestly can’t remember the last time the Steelers beat them (I guess it was 2004?).
The Giants were able to return a kickoff against the Pats. The Ravens were able to run on them. So maybe Jones-Drew and Taylor could have big days. The Eagles were able to pass on them. Garrard has proven he can manage the ball well, which Eli Manning did with some success against the Pats. And even though their team’s colors include teal, they still seem far more timeless than the Patriots American Gladiator uniform design.
Are all of these things enough to topple the Pats? Probably not, but perhaps there is a chance that they’ll be able to rain some of that North Eastern Florida sunshine onto the North Eastern Atlantic’s seemingly inevitable avalanche of athletic accomplishment.

The Steelers 07 season has officially to a close with their lost to Jacksonville, though their previous losses to the Jags and the Ravens really seemed to signal the end. The Steelers were just too injured and too inconsistent to compete convincingly in the Playoffs. They showed with their string of late game come-backs that they were capable of playing hard, but they were steadily falling short of their goals.
Despite the fact that the season has ended without a Super bowl ring (or a first round playoff win), there were several memorable moments. I’m going to list my top ten favorite plays/moments and I’ll soon follow with another post of my 10 least favorite of the 2007-2008 Steelers season.

1. Roethlisberger to C.Wilson 55yard pass, Preseason week 1-
this play was on the initial drive of the Mike Tomlin era. The Steelers opened up on their second play with this long bomb. It sparked some hope and excitement for the coming season under the new coaching staff, and signaled more of what was to come from Big Ben in 07.
2. Dismantling of the Browns Reg. Season Week 1-There was some hope of the Brownies before the season actually started; prettyboy QB, reinforced O-line, beefed up running game…but the Steelers wreaked havoc on the Browns to kick off the regular season, causing some confusion and desperation in Cleveland. This desperation ultimately led to some critical changes being made in Cleveland, namely the exportation of QB C.Frye, and the installation of D. Anderson, who ended up having a monster year.
3. Pittsburgh 26 Bills 3 Week 2- A near shut-out for Tomlin’s first regular season home game.
4. Alan Rossum 98 yard Kickoff Return for TD- The Steelers had some difficulty fielding kickoffs and punts in 06, so we picked up Rossum in the preseason to help us out with this area of the game. I was at this game, and though having guys like D. Hester, J. Cribbs, and Jones-Drew in the league, bringing the number of kickoff return TDs to an all time high, it was fun for to see the Steelers get some of their own at home.
5. Steelers 21- Seatle 0- I was interested to see the Super Bowl XL rematch, so considering all of the questionmarks surrounding the Super Bowl (not that they matter much) it was nice shut them out completely.
6. James Harrison’s monster few weeks- Harrison forced a fumble out of a Kenny Watson as the Bengals were driving in an attempt to close the gap against the Steelers in our first match up this year. He then followed it up with 10 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 1 interception against the Ravens on MNF.
7. Big Ben’s 30 yard run vs the Browns- The Steelers were losing going into the fourth quarter. Big Ben took off up the middle for this 30 yard scramble. Everyone in the room that I was watching with figured that he would go down on his own, but he just kept running and put the Steelers on top for the first time all game.
8. Big Ben/Ward against Miami- Roethlisberger went 18/21, completing something like 17 passes in a row in this swampy MNF game. Ward showed up to do what he does best. He worked the slot position, catching the ball in the middle of the field, getting pin-balled around, and being the possession receiver that he is.
9. Sweeping the Browns and Bengals- Considering the fact that the Browns did so well this year, it was important to have the tie-breaker against them, and it always feels good to beat the Bengals.
10. Vs JAX- Week 13: This was a loss, which wasn’t so great, but it was a great snowy, hard-fought, late-season football game. Every season has to have one of those, and this was it. Wildcard Playoff game: Two memorable plays in playoff loss to JAX- a. Big Ben threw incomplete to TE Heath Miller along the hashmarks,. The ball grazed his finger tips has he and the defender reached to grab it. The ball got deflected up into the air falling into Hines Ward’s hands mid-stride who carried it out of bounds passed the first down, but not before giving the safety a healthy stiff arm. b. James Farrior brickwalled Jones-Drew on a an off tackle run. Farrior shot threw the gap and nailed Jones-Drew, who fell straight back, taking a seat on the turf as they attempted to drive late in the 4th. Neither of these plays went anywhere (the Ward play was followed by an INT and the Farrior play was followed by a game winning FG for JaX), but they were two great plays made by two great Steelers playing tough football.

So, what exactly will it take for the Pats to lose, if there is anything that can stop them? I pretty much figured they would go undefeated once I saw them destroy the opening few games of the season. And like everyone else, was lured into a false hope that the Eagles, Colts, and Ravens would actually pull off the upset.
Playing the Pats is like having a staring contest. If you blink they will beat you, and Saturday night, the Giants, who were perched on the brink of victory, blinked and their victory slipped right away.
They were able to hold the victory for the first 30 minutes as they managed the clock well, held the Pats to a few field goals, and made a great special teams play.
The second half saw some of that great ball management/movement, but also the type of minor inconsistancies that the Pats will feast on: a muffed snap, a dropped pass (jacobs), an interception, and totally chaotic clock management within the last few minutes of gameplay.
That game should not have come down to an onside kick, had these factors been a little better controlled, but the Giants found themselves like all the other teams that had led the Pats before them, scrambling to stop a Pats comeback towards invetiable victory.
Before this game, I was wondering what would be a bigger motivator for the Pats;
the taste of a loss to remind them how bitter that feeling is and just how much they want to avoid it, or that feeling of invincibiliy and momentum.
Hopefully they will plan to coast on this momentum while someone (jags, colts, bolts, and ideally Steelers, but I don’t see it in them this year, bless em’) will be able to act just that bit more inhuman than the Giants, in the Pat’s image, and beat them at their game.

Football is an obviously violent sport. The more I watch, the more I marvel at how limber players must be to endure the hits that they endure. I’m just a baby relative to the number of years the sport has existed in its professional state. Perhaps I’m a baby in other ways as well as I can’t believe some of the hits that players survive.
One of the most terrifying and totally legal hits is the low tackle/cut block. Players often forfeit size and momentum in match ups on the field. Everyone saw Trent Green suffer a severe concussion trying to take out defensive tackle Travis Johnson while blocking on an end around play. Green had to compete with 100 pound weight difference while Jackson came barreling to make his play, so he went low in an attempt to trip him up. Jackson’s knee slammed into Green’s head knocking him unconscious. Lots of folks got up in arms over Jackson’s reaction, standing over Green, yelling at his still body. Jackson’s argument was that he has a family to feed and as unfortunate as Green’s injury was, Jackson’s career could have just as easily been ended had his knee been exploded on the play.
Its a tough argument. Both players body’s were put at risk trying to make a play. Its the nature of the game, it’s a dangerous game. That’s why the average retirement age is around 30 years old, if that. I’m surprised that more players aren’t taken out with knee injuries considering the frequency of such blocks/tackles.
In the Raven’s vs. Steelers Monday night game, Willis Magahee cut block Clark Haggins defending the Steelers pass rush several times. On one occasion, Haggins was sent flying end over end in the air, only to land and reach for his knee in pain.
Later in the game, on a nearly identical play, Magahee went low straight into Haggins’ knee only to suffer the bad end of the deal this time, leaving the game with a concussion.
This past weekend as everyone one was tuning into Adrian Peterson’s seemingly realistic quest for 1,800 rushing yards and the Offensive Rookie of the Year award in his 2007 season, Packers’ cornerback Al Harris made a low diving tackle, sending Peterson out of the game for at least another week with a torn ligament in his knee. There was nothing illegal about the tackle, it was a good play, Harris was doing his job and Peterson was cutting in an attempt to make his way further down field.
I’m sure everyone knows what its like to run into the coffee table with their knee or something similar to that. I can only imagine what it feels like to be running full speed into a body diving right at my knees. The joint is only meant to bend one direction.
Players like Peterson are pros and have been tackled/blocked like that hundreds of times I’m sure. Its only surprising to me that more players don’t have their games/seasons/careers ended by such hits.
Its a tight-rope walk trying to let the players play the game, while also looking out for their future health and best interest.
The game has come a long way since players would club each other in the throat and slam their heads into frozen fields.
People were questioning Peterson’s durability coming into this season, and for whatever reason I wasn’t immediately drawn to the guy, so his career wasn’t important to me. After watching his game against the Bears from a few weeks back, that all started to change. Both he and Hester had monster days, and as I watched the highlight reels, I got roped into the excitement around the guy. Hopefully he’ll be able to bounce back from this injury so that we can all see what he can do. People are already comparing him to Payton, Sayers, and Dickerson. Of course, Sayers career was much more short lived than most, due to … a knee injury. Still, 10 weeks in, 2 200 + yard games, including the single game rushing record. I hope to see more highlights from him down the road.

I just took a pretty big step up, and with guns (debit card) blazing, I went into EB Games and unloaded several rounds of bullets (money) until I had secured myself an XBOX 360. Until then I had been getting my Madden 2008 fix on a regular old XBOX that I had bought used from a friend for $50.
Though I knew it would have its shortcomings, I was satisfied with some of the features it offered. My favorite is the Create-A-Team that allows you to design your own team, uniforms and stadium included, then fantasy draft your favorite players.
I was talking to a few friends about the possibilities and since we’re all big football fans, and are active in both Madden and Fantasy, we thought it might be fun to combine the two. Since some of us still were on the old dinosaur XBOX and some were on the new 360, we decided to break the teams out into two conferences. So with six players, we came up with
The Old Fashion Conference (xbox) and The Fancy Conference (360)
3 teams in each conference. Each team plays teams in their own conference twice, and the teams from the other conference once. So the regular season is 7 weeks long.
We then set up a date and held a fantasy draft to fill all of the positions required by Madden to build a full team. We based offensive line players off of the running backs that we picked for our teams in the draft. So, for instance I drafted S.Alexander, D. McAllister, R.Bush, and W.Dunn. That means I could pick between the Seahawks, Saints, or Falcons for my O-linemen.
We also picked team defenses, from which we hand picked the best players for our Ds. I have the Pats D and the Steelers D (a fantasy league with 6 teams can make for some deep teams), so I have Asaunte Samuel and Troy Polomalu.
Then, we set up a fantasy league based on points. The purpose of the fantasy points is to determine home field advantage for each of the weekly schedule matchups. Homefield advantage in this case is really ‘home console’ advantage. If I normally play on a regular XBOX, I would want to have more fantasy points the week that I play someone with a 360 console, because I’d be more comfortable with the controls and would have an edge.
At the end of regular season, the team with the best head to head record from each conference goes to the championship game.
If there happens to be a tie for record in the standings of either conference, there will be a ‘playoff’ game between the two highest scoring teams. The winner of which advances to play the championship game on the home console of the highest fantasy scorer in that game.
So far we’ve had our opening day kickoff game and it was pretty sloppy. Its been hard, like most things these days, to arrange a time that is good for everyone to meet up. Ideally, we’ll play all the games in the same room together, so everyone can watch all 3 hours of play. But this is often tiring and unrealistic, so we’re just going to have to play when we can. Now that I have a 360, I’m hoping to step up my Fancy game a little bit. The only problem is that I seem to spread myself to thin at times and I’m hoping I can find a balance where I gain some 360 skills, but don’t lose my roots. I still have a conference to be loyal to.

Boyd’s Baked Goods has been the main name of my Fantasy Football team since I started playing last year. Occasionally, I’ll switch the name up for fun, but primarily, that’s the one I stick with.
I had high hopes for my fantasy football performance this year: it was my second year playing it, so I had some experience under my belt, and I had also paid more attention to football in general, with access to the NFL Network and a full time job that requires a bit of selfish zone out time, which I normally spend on sports websites…
But half way through my draft, I realized that I was a little more clueless than I thought. I drafted a few injured players (Chester Taylor, Michael Turner) and a bit of an unproven QB (Jay Cutler). Turner had freshly injured his ankle the night before our draft, and Taylor was injured by the arrival of Adrian Peterson and more recently by a hip injury. There were also rumors that he wasn’t a favorite in the locker room.
I ended up grabbing James Jones, the rookie WR in Green Bay that looks pretty good and DJ Hackett who had a decent preseason, but since topped the Yahoo waiver drops due to a high ankle sprain.
Cutler I like because he throws for a good amount of yards and had 9 TDs to 5 Ints in his 5 games last year. Going by those numbers, it would work out to roughly 27TDs to 15 Ints over a full season. Thats almost exactly Peyton Manning’s second year stats.
A ‘friend’ coerced me into joining another fantasy league I willingly did hoping to correct some of my mistakes. I also wanted to draft a couple of guys for fun that I didn’t to take in my first draft. I wanted to grab Marshawn Lynch to see what he can do, Jacoby Jones, who had a great preseaon, and Brandon Jackson, because I thought he looked good in the preseason (though Jackson recently looks to be usurped by rookie D. Wynn)
This draft was an online draft and happened while I was working. It was my first time ever drafting online and though my confidence was high (this being my second draft of the year) I once again crumbled into panic half way through.
I didn’t pay enough attention to the starting roster spots, so I didn’t try to draft 2 QBs and 2 DEF teams since I hadn’t noticed that was how this particular league rolled. I also loaded up on RBs (a weakness in my first draft) only to realize that we were starting 3WRs with an extra in the WR/TE flex spot. Woops.
Now I have two teams sitting at 1-1 in week two.
Fantasy football will throw you for a loop sometimes.
Ronald Curry had 135 yards and a TD in week 1. Cotchery, one of my other 3 string WRs had 52 yards 0 TD. In the second week, against the ’scary’ Ravens D, Cotchery racked up 165, while Curry caught for 12 yards.
All the while Duece McAllister, an acquisition that I was happy about, has 87 rushing yards so far this season running for his 0-2 Saints.
At least thats more than LT, though LT has some more receiving yards and a touchdown pass.
Is its wrong to start to scramble for answers when its only week 3? The Browns took early action by trading their starting QB, allowing for their 2nd stringer to lead them to victory over the division rival Bengals.
Everybody’s not sure if they should get worked up over Philly Eagles’ Mcnabb’s comments about race in the NFL. He seemed to be on the defense, working quickly to get back on the field after his last injury and as the Eagles drafted a QB in the first round. The blue and gold dropped to 0-2 as well. Though Mcnabb hasn’t looked 100%, and because he’s been injured so much, its easy to forget how good he is when he’s on. Though he is getting older and has been out of commission, I wasn’t crazy shocked when the Eagles grabbed Kolb, as eventually the Eagles may be forced to fill a QB void, if Mcnabb doesn’t return to or maintain his form.
I think that every team is going to have to scramble to solve the Patriots riddle this year. They look unbreakable.
I hope they lose a couple games, and I hope I’m tuned it when it happens because it will probably be unbelievable.
Another thing that is unbelievable is how simple it is to make good chocolate chips cookies.
In fact, I named my fantasy team after my love to make these cookies. Basically I use the recipe that comes on the back of the 365 Brand Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips wrapper.
Here it is exactly as its written:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup softened butter (or margarine)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/3 cups unsifted flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1-12oz package Chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Cream together softened butter (or margarine), sugars, eggs, and vanilla till fluffy. Combine unsifted flour, salt, and baking soda and stir into creamed mixture. Stir in one 12 oz package of Chocolate Chips (note the capital “C”s). Add 1 cup of chopped walnuts and 1 cup of shredded coconut if desired. Drop from a teaspoon 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Makes 6 dozen.

I don’t think I’ve ever had 72 cookies at the end of the night (or 78 if its a baker’s dozen). I end up with more like 30 lumpy cookies, but they’re tasty. I use real salted butter. I grease my cookie sheets with olive oil and butter. I also replace the chopped walnuts and shredded coconut part (though that sounds good too) with a cup or so of a shredded oat, cinnamon, raisin, and chocolate mixture. The cinnamon might be the secret weapon that sort of slips in like the tooth fairy leaving a silver coin on your tongue.
Cookies are always a good comfort food as the autumn nears and the air starts to bite, or when you need to seek solace from watching your fantasy investments rot like a cavity.

#1: I will not be going on strike any time soon.

#2: Patriots 38 Chargers 14

I don’t know why my previous blog post didn’t show up until today, since it was written back a week ago.. but anyway I guess it just means more updates for all three of you reading this to enjoy.

I don’t have much to offer except a few more food photos.. this week was brutal on several levels and I felt completely exhausted up until about two hours ago.. and now that I’m rested I have to go to bed. c’est la vie. what’s been on my mind?

1.) the teachers union at my school came to a tentative agreement last week and our ratification meeting is this week. while I’m happy that we seem so close to a conclusion on the matter after working the beginning of the year on our expired contract and coming precariously close to a strike, I’m also not exactly looking forward to a several-hour-long meeting after a long day of school in cramped auditorium seats listening to union representatives tell me why I should be happy to approve a contract requiring me to do more work for less pay and shittier health care. blah.

2.) my team has aparently been up to some shady business. if you’ve been even minimally aware of the sports media over the past several days, you don’t need an update from me; suffice it to say that I’m disappointed they were up to no good and completely agree with the punishment and general consensus that ol’ Bill wasn’t just “misinterpreting” the rules. but if I hear one more student, or so-called “friend” for that matter, ask me about the gigantic asterisk that apparently goes down next to every Patriots victory of the Belichick era, I’m going to puke. want to know what I think? not only are they going to go to the superbowl as many predict, and win the superbowl as a few are calling, they are going to finish the season undefeated.. yep. I said it. now they have something to prove. they haven’t had that in a while. and you know how that works.

3.) but I still made some food.

earlier this week I tried a new recipe from Voluptuous Vegan, whose recipes have never been less than amazing every time I’ve tried them, but tend to fall on the fancier and generally more time consuming side of things. most recipes aren’t great for weeknights unless you want to modify them or do some prep work in advance. we chose the former, and replaced the absurd variety of peppers required for this chili cornbread casserole with a boatload of garden variety jalapeno.. don’t know why I’d never heard of baking cornbread with chili in the middle before but it’s a damn good idea:

sometime this weekend I threw together a desperation meal, (don’t act like you don’t know what I mean).. I was hungry and writing a paper and probably would have happily scarfed down cardboard but somehow ended up with my head in the freezer thinking that edamame sounded good.. so I threw it together with some TVP and every herb and spice in the pantry, and roasted up what vegetables were getting old in the fridge.. then I was surprised at how appealing it looked so I took a picture:

then tonight it dawned on me that I needed a decent, non messy, and microwaveable leftover dinner to take for the hour or so I am stuck at school before our ratification meeting, so behold a quinoa/black bean/mushroom stuffed pepper:

and finally, I realized this afternoon that our household contained no dessert.. which is simply unacceptable. (especially with a football game that needs to be watched). with limited ingredients and time, here be the thickest peanut butter cookies ever produced:

yep. I’d comment on the Pats and Chargers but, well, it’s only halftime and I don’t want to jinx anything.

My “month long leave from blogging” goal is complete. I’m back. A few things before the weekend starts:

I have a new goal. Talk to one stranger a day. Not the simple “Hello, weird weather, huh?”. I want to spend at least a minute or two meeting someone new every single day. I think I’m a friendly enough person that this shouldn’t be difficult, but it will be cool to say that I at least met 365 people over a years period of time. Isn’t leap year coming up though?

I went to Cleveland last Sunday for the Steelers vs. Browns game. This was the third year in a row, and now I have a full answer about the fans there. They are the worst people I’ve been around at a sporting event, even worse than Steelers’ fans.

In Baltimore, the Hunger Strike that I wrote about was avoided and workers will be receiving a living wage. The only problem now is that there will be more competition for these jobs.

There will be an Anti-War Rally and March at 2:00 in Oakland on Saturday. Check out the info!

A few friends and I have been working on covering some Dillinger Four songs. We’re playing a show tomorrow as part of Cover Show benefit for Roboto.