Tuesday, January 09, 2007

BCS Playoff System

Due to last night's overwhelming triumph of Florida over Ohio State, I too must add my voice to the desire of a playoff system.

However, whereas most people call for a 4 or 8 team playoff system, I think the best number for this is:

10.

HUH?????

I would base mine off of a similar system, the NFL's playoff system. In mine the top 10 teams get in from the BCS poll thingy. There are no guaranteed spots for conferences. Frankly, if you can't field a team in the Top 10, I fail to see why you should get in, but if you can field several, you should get more. Also, 10 has a nice round number to it. Ask what's more important, a Top 10 finish or a Top 14 finish... hmmm.

Okay so we would have 10 teams. Taking it off the final regular season poll from ESPN.com one gets:

1. Ohio State
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. LSU
5. Wisconsin
6. Louisville
7. USC
8. Oklahoma
9. Boise State
10. Auburn

In it, week one 7 plays 10 and 8 plays 9. Notice teams 1-6 get a week off. A reward of sorts. On top of it, teams 3-6 know who they are going to play and you could even put a couple of these games in for Tuesday and Thursday as in week 2 3 will play 6 and 4 vs. 5. Teams 1 and 2 will play the winners of 7-10 with #1 playing the lower ranked winner and #2 playing the higher. After this, its just like that, the highest ranked team plays the lowest and the middle 2 play each other and the winners face each other in the Title Game.

This year we would've gotten:

Sat 12/16
#10 Auburn at #7 USC (USC Wins)
#9 Boise State at #8 Oklahoma (Boise State Wins)

Sat 12/23
#6 Louisville at #3 Michigan (Louisville wins)
#5 Wisconsin at #4 LSU (LSU Wins)
#9 Boise State at #1 Ohio State (Ohio State Wins)
#7 USC at #2 Florida (Florida Wins)

Mon 1/1
#6 Louisville vs. #1 Ohio State @ Sugar Bowl (Ohio State Wins)
#4 LSU vs. #2 Florida @ Orange Bowl (Florida Wins)

Mon 1/8
#2 Florida v. #1 Ohio State @ Fiesta Bowl (Florida Wins)

4 weeks is pretty much the max you can have and I think that having more than 10 or 12 teams (maybe 14) is too much. And giving a week off to the top couple of teams is worth it.

High ho... high ho... its off to WoW I go... to fish... BLECH!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Signs that you've put together a good Madden Franchise

When the computer tells you this:

Probability of a winning record: 99%
Probability of making the playoffs: 99%
Probability of winning the division: 98%
Probability of a First round bye: 97%
Probability of making it to the NFC Championship game: 96%
Probability of getting into the Super Bowl: 95%
Probability of Winning the Super Bowl: 85%

And this is AFTER I dumped my star Left Guard.

Ouch.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

These are the Voyages...

So as some friends know, I've recently been getting back into the Star Trek CCG. It's different to go back to a game that you abandoned previously. This is the second time I've gone back to it, the first being when they released the Deep Space Nine set.

Of course this time is different. The last time, ST:CCG was undergoing the beginning of a renaissance as the original designers had mostly left and the newer people were coming in with a new perspective on things. This time, ST:CCG 1e is no longer being made and they're producing the second edition. I've looked into that and some things about 2e I like (like not having to create dilemma combos) but other things I don't. There is about 25 versions of Kathryn Janeway. Does there really need to be that many? Basically they eliminated a lot of the "universal" personnel and just keep shoving out main characters. As people who have seen my decks, they know that when I make a deck, I very rarely put in more than one copy of any character.

The other thing that's different this time is perspective. When I first came back, I was only getting used to one new set that I had skipped (First Contact) and was still putting together a lot of decks. This time, the time away is a lot longer (4 years compared to a year and a half) and has given me a lot of perspective. First off, sometimes you're looking at a deck and wonder "why is this card in here?" and sometimes you remember why and sometimes that card hits the pile of "extra cards." Other times you shoot yourself for not having a card. Why don't I have a Rom?

I also have been able to get the last great infiltration card.
(Photo courtesy of Decipher Inc.) And already do I have people shaking in their boots. This card came out after I left. I'm also trying to use it in conjunction with when I decide to
Dial Martok.



Another big problem is that the ST:CCG trading scene seems to have died for the most part. The message boards are practically nonexistent!

The final thing about coming back is that sometimes you look at a card and see several new, creative and treacherous uses for it. Persistence of Memory is a painting by Salvador Dali and a card from the elusive Fajo Collection. The Fajo Collection was sold by sets of 18 cards for $100 which is a lot. Back then, when I was living with my parents, as I was in middle school, I couldn't exactly prove the justification for $100. Nevertheless, I still own one of the Fajo Collection cards in my Federation deck (can you guess what card that is?)

But getting back to my original point, the painting card is interesting in that it reverses the card named. But how do you "reverse the card"? They had to release a specific ruling about it.

Horga’hn - Artifact allows opponent to take double turns from now on. (Not cumulative.)
Thought Maker - Look at your draw deck for ten seconds and rearrange as desired.
Mona Lisa - If destroyed, the opponent of the player directly causing the destruction (if any) loses points. (Not duplicatable.)
Static Warp Bubble - You must discard one card before ending each turn. (Not cumulative.)
Kivas Fajo - Collector - Opponent chooses any player to immediately draw three new cards from the top of their draw deck. Discard event after use.
The Traveler: Transcendence- That player's opponent must draw one extra card at the end of each turn. Also, while in play, nullifies Static Warp Bubble. (Not cumulative.)
Devidian Door - Allows you to send a card "to the future." Whether or not you currently have a Devidian Door in your hand, at any time say "Devidian Door" and take (from anywhere in play) one of your Personnel or Equipment cards to your hand. However, any time during your next turn, you must show opponent a Devidian Door from your hand and place it out-of-play, or you lose the game. (Note that you play Persistence of Memory on the "Devidian Door" announcement, not when the Doorway card is shown.)
Black Hole - Remains a location with span of 1. Every four full turns, inserts one new Space location from outside the game (regardless of out-of-play restrictions). Alternates, first inserting one on your left, then on your right, and so on. (Not duplicatable.)
Supernova - Remove from mission (discard event). Everything previously destroyed there remains destroyed except Mission card (which is restored and may be attempted unless already solved).
Anti-Time Anomaly - Regenerates literally ALL personnel from discard piles (both players' cards) at the end of your third full turn, unless anti-time anomaly destroyed first. Players take turns placing their personnel anywhere personnel can normally exist in play (regardless of uniqueness and reporting restrictions).

So this card has its uses. Some of those were extremely popular at various times. Black Hole for over a year was by far the most popular card in Star Trek. This was due to the fact that they created the Gamma Quadrant in the DS9 expansion and people would start off in the gamma quadrant and then Black Hole the Alpha Quadrant. It wasn't until Examine Singularity came out that the Black Hole strategy was stopped. This card turns a Black Hole into a "White Hole" that spews out space. And Anti-Time Anomaly becomes a "Time Anomaly" spewing out people. This could be a really fun card. In fact I thought about spending the $5 to buy a Black Hole and this card just to see what happens. I decided against it...for now.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Greener Pastures... And Darker halls of Naxxramas

As some of the readers know, recently the WoW guild I was in fell apart due to an influx of drama. I have my own feelings on that subject and will not continue to deal with that.

However, this forced me to leave my server and find a guild that would take me in. I apped to another guild and for the last 3 weeks have been playing the applicant "game", sitting out of raids while grinding my teeth. Tonight, I was successful and was promoted to full fledged member with all rights.

Wahoo!

Now hopefully I can stop sitting out of so many raids.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

In response to Joe's Bond Post

My take on Casino Royale is really easy to say. It was a good movie, had some nice high points and showed a good transformation of James Bond into 007 that ends with James Bond saying his name the famous way (Bond, James Bond) and in a suit, looking damn good that I can only hope to pull off on my wildest dreams. Daniel Craig does well as a poker player and despite driving a Ford(!) in the beginning of the movie, has excellent taste in cars.

However, my summary of this movie is found in this picture. Put me in there instead of Daniel Craig and I'd be one happy man.

I also have a WoW thing to talk about with me being disgusted by something but that is for another post.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

On Vacation

I am flying out in the morning to visit my parents and some friends in California.

Since I am trying to get back into blogging, I will try to make some sort of insightful post from California but don't hold your breath.

Which is easier to be elected as...?

A Conservative Democrat or a Liberal Republican?

A recent friend suggested to me, that in light of current events, I should consider a career in politics. I laughed it off, but the thought did occur to me, since I consider myself fairly moderate, I would probably be considered a Moderate Democrat or Centrist.

But which would it be easier to be elected as? A liberal Republican, or Conservative Democrat?

Most Liberal Republicans have been either ousted by their own party or been voted out of office. Chafee of Rhode Island comes immediately to mind. However, some more "liberal" Republicans, that would be probably consider a Moderate by the overall spectrum still remain in office. Schwarzenegger is easily more to the left than most Republicans from the Bible Belt. Other "Republicans in Name Only" include 3 senators that are thought to perhaps switch party after the GOP's humiliating defeat, Senators Specter, Collins and Snowe. Other prominent Liberal Republicans can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_in_Name_Only. Scary part about this is most of these Liberal Republicans, I find myself agreeing with on several issues.

Conservative Democrats (or "Blue Dogs") tend to be the modern version of Dixiecrats and follow in the footsteps of conservative Democratic Presidents (the most prominent of which include Truman - West Wing watchers may remember President Walken debating with Lily Tomlin whether or not Truman would be a Republican today.) Most of these peoples' views include pro-life stances and pro-NRA. This alone would tell me that I am not a Conservative Democrat but in the last term, 37 members of the Democratic party considered themselves Blue Dogs (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dog_Democrats)

So which is it? Is it easier to be elected as a Conservative Democrat or Liberal Republican? I think it partly has to do of course with the constituents. Notice, a lot of the blue dog democrats come from the west and South where the Liberal Republicans seem to come more from the Industrial Northeast and Caleefornnniaa (sp intentional). In today's political environment though, nationally, probably a Conservative Democrat running for election last week just due to the negative stereotype associated with the GOP, courtesy of George W. Bush.

Friday, November 17, 2006

What's currently wrong in Baseball

It is completely wrong, in my not so humble opinion, that the Bost Red Sox paid $51.1 million to gain exclusive rights to talk to a pitcher from Japan. The pitcher himself will only make $40 million at most over four years but his team will make more than that from selling his rights to the Boston Red Sox.

On top of this, that amount, $51.1 million, is more money than the payroll of a couple professional baseball teams including the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Florida Marlins, and the Colorado Rockies.

If that's not screwed up, what is?