Stuxnet Worm

Has anyone heard of this new crazy super virus*?

It is so well-designed that it certainly had to have been designed by a government. It is able to attack previously unknown security flaws simultaneously and is able to lay dormant in a network until the hole presents itself. The idea behind this virus isn't the typical virus(you know fucking up your computer and stealing data.) This virus is about getting itself into the secure networks of industry and take control of industrial equipment. This could cause havoc with things like an electrical grid, nuclear power plant, refineries, etc.

This virus has first presented itself at a nuclear facility in Iran. The majority of this viruses infections have been in Iran. So, let's talk the geopolitics of this virus.

Since this virus was undoubtedly created by a government, there are really 3 candidates. In order they are Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom. These are nations who are not particularly friendly to Iran and staunchly opposed to Iranian Nuclear development. Also, these are 3 nations with intelligence agencies capable of pulling such an attack.

Israel is the obvious candidate. They hate Iran and wouldn't hesitate to strike if they feared Iran was close to getting a nuclear weapon. They do know that an actual military attack would cause an all out war and could potentially lose them some the United State's support, but using cyber warfare is covert and provides plausible deniability. If they can cause chaos in Iran's nuclear program without firing a shot, they won't have to attack Iran.

The United States isn't much of a fan of Iran either, but the United State's is afraid of a potential military strike of Iran by Israel. That would put the United States in a very tough position. There is the general United States policy that supports Israel no matter what, but if they attacked Iran any U.S. support of Israel in that attack would cause virtually every country in the Middle East to turn entirely hostile to the U.S. Again removing Iran's nuclear program without military involvement would be ideal.

Well, the British could do it, but I don't see the motive. The best I can come up with is the British have a traditional role of peace keeper and a computer virus to end Iran's nuclear program could prevent a potential all out war in the Middle East.

Is this a new era of Tech warfare? Instead of bombardment of a country's infrastructure, it could be crippled by a virus. I mean this is so new, it isn't clear whether or not a cyber attack will classify as an attack of warfare. Even if it was, as I stated before there is plausible deniability.

Kind of scary this world we live in**.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*The link is to an article not the virus itself. Not clearly stating that can lead to awkward exchanges on twitter with Tara of Zaxy.
**It is also totally awesome

Random Wednesday

I'll do an actual post tomorrow. I'm so tired, but I refused to take a nap or drink an energy drink or something with caffeine, so hopefully I'll be asleep early enough to get all the sleep I need for my 6:30 rise tomorrow.

-Michael

P.S. I fucking hate spectator delays. I had to be 5 minutes late because every asshole on I-70 had to stop and look at a broken down COTA bus.

Gaming Tuesday

Achievements

Gamerscore Last Week: 21964
Goal: 22000
Gamerscore Now: 22009

Achievements Unlocked

GTA IV

Rolled Over 30G

Geometry Wars Evolved^2

Surf 15G

Goal for Next Week: 22050
$ for HPA: 7.95
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Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Beta

As exclusively PS3 beta? Well that never happens. That's all I've really found out about the beta. It's on PS3 only and it is/starts Oct. 4th*. They put out a trailer for it, but besides that I've found info about it hard to come by. I don't really know how one goes about getting a beta key. It seems that they are handing them out randomly and there is no prerequisite like preordering the game or having AC2.

Honestly, this seems way more about publicity than finding any potential bugs in the new multiplayer.
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That's all I got today everybody. This blog of late has been me complaining about pain like an old man and today a new pain in my neck has arisen. It sucks and I never know when a movement will be excruciating.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

Browns Monday- Sheldon Brown on T.O. Joe Haden on Ochocinco and Eric Wright on the bench Edition

Week 3- Browns @ Ravens

Cleveland 17
Baltimore 24

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter
Cleveland FG: Phil Dawson 38 yards
Baltimore TD: Joe Flacco pass to Anquan Boldin for 8 yards

2nd Quarter
Baltimore TD: Joe Flacco pass to Anquan Boldin for 12 yards
Cleveland TD: Peyton Hillis rushed for 1 yard

4th Quarter
Cleveland TD: Seneca Wallace to Benjamin Watson for 1 yard
Baltimore TD: Joe Flacco Pass to Anquan Boldin for 27 yards
Baltimore FG: Billy Cundiff 49 yards

Important Stats
Seneca Wallace 18-24, 141 yards, 1 TD

Peyton Hillis, 22 rushes, 144 yards, 1 TD

Eric Wright infinity Fails

Decisive Play: 3&2 at Ravens 28 with about 4 minutes to go. Seneca Wallace throws up a deep fade to Josh Cribbs out of bounds forcing a Browns' punt. The Browns do not get the ball back.
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The Browns did play pretty well yesterday. It wasn't a tremendous performance by the offense, but it was effective this week. Peyton Hillis was exceptional this week with Jerome Harrison out. Seneca Wallace did nothing to get the team beat, which is a step in the right direction at that position. The best part about the offensive performance was that they generally avoided 3 and outs. This prevented the Browns from being in the same position that they had been in the previous two weeks in which the Browns were in horrible filed position the entire second half, which eventually forced the defense to break.

The Defense played 10/11ths well against Baltimore. The Ravens' running game was largely ineffective. The defense managed to get stops and get the ball back to the offense in decent field position.

Everyone is piling on Eric Wright for his absolute failures yesterday and you can add one more. His failures yesterday put the Browns into a position where victory became difficult. He was constantly beaten and out of position allowing his man to score with ease. That violates the one most fundamental rule of secondary; "Don't get beat deep." Now in the NFL that is expected to be just, "Don't get beat," but god damn if you're going to fuck up make sure it doesn't lead to three TDs for the other team.

This isn't really a defense of Wright, but more an attack on the Coaching; why in the hell after it became apparent Wright couldn't handle Boldin, did you not try to cover him with Haden? The worst thing that could have happened was Haden getting beat like Wright,but he probably would have better been able to handle Boldin.

The offensive play calling wasn't as terrible as its been, but at a critical point in the game it turned back to shit. The play that I called "decisive" early was a terrible play call. There are so many ways in which Daboll messed this call up. The obvious is that it was 3 & 2 and the Browns had been running the ball with Hillis with great success. Two yards on the ground seemed like a likely outcome had the Browns chosen to run the ball. Another aspect was that the call was basically a jump ball to Josh Cribbs on the sideline. It is the throw the Seneca Wallace is weak at to begin with and Cribbs still isn't a great receiver and throwing a jump ball to him isn't wise. It wasn't a terrible throw by Wallace either. Cribbs was very well covered and the only place he could throw it to ensure no interception was out of bounds.

I don't believe in moral victories. The Browns lost yesterday. period. That's what happened. I don't care that the Browns looked pretty good yesterday. There were some positives against Baltimore, but it doesn't matter because the Browns lost the game.

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Checking my preseason prediction

Week 1- @Tampa Bay W Actual Result: L
Week 2- Kansas City W Actual Result: L
Week 3- @Baltimore L Actual Result: L
Week 4- Cincinnati L
Week 5- Atlanta L
Week 6- @ Pittsburgh W*
Week 7- @New Orleans L
Week 8- Bye
Week 9- New England L
Week 10- NY Jets L
Week 11- @Jacksonville W
Week 12- Carolina W
Week 13- @Miami W
Week 14- @Buffalo W
Week 15- @Cincinnati L
Week 16- Baltimore L
Week 17- Pittsburgh L

Overall Record: 7-9*(1-5)* Current Record: 0-3

*Under the assumption that Roethlisberger will actually have serve his entire suspension.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael
Song of the Day: Running Away-Lifehouse

Buckeye Sunday- "Eastern Michigan is BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD"-Janus

Ohio State 73
Eastern Michigan 20

Scoring Summary(This is gonna take a minute)

First Quarter
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor rushed for 53 yards
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor pass to Dane Sanzenbacher for 31 yards
Ohio State FG: Devin Barclay 42 yards
Ohio State TD: Daniel Herron rushed for 7 yards

Second Quarter
Eastern Michigan TD: Dwayne Priest rushed for 2 yards
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor pass to Dane Sanzenbacher for 9 yards
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor pass to Dane Sanzenbacher for 7 yards
Eastern Michigan TD: Alex Gillett pass to Kinsman Thomas for 13 yards

Third Quarter
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor pass to Dane Sanzenbacher for 8 yards
Eastern Michigan TD: Alex Gillett pass to Donald Scott for 32 yards
Ohio State TD: Jordan Hall pass to Terrelle Pryor for 20 yards

Fourth Quarter
Ohio State TD: Joe Bauserman pass to Jordan Hall for 17
Ohio State TD: Jamal Berry rushed for 67 yards
Ohio State TD: Kenny Guiton rushed for 15 yards

Important Player Stats

Terrelle Pryor 20-26, 224 yards, 4 TDs, 7 rushes, 104 yards, TD, 1 reception, 20 yards, TD

Dane Sanzenbacher 9 receptions, 108 yards, 4 TDs

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Not much to talk about with this one. It's hard to take much of anything from this game due to how terrible Eastern Michigan* is. The defense did allow 3 TDs, but I'm not really that concerned about that. The three plays that allowed Eastern Michigan to score were very well thrown passes. The coverage on those plays wasn't that bad, but the ball was placed well. The linebackers bit way too hard on play action several times, which exposed the young secondary which was missing Chekwa due to injury and that's what allowed Eastern Michigan to score.

The offense looked... well the offense put up 73 points. That's about it. Pryor threw for, ran for and caught touchdowns. The offense scored 10 touchdowns and only punted once.

I want to talk about running up the score though. I would say Ohio State ran up the score on the hapless opponent. Still passing the ball, and running the no huddle a few possessions into the forth quarter was poor sportsmanship. That was way out of character for Tressel.

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Illinois

Illinois looks like they're not too strong this. They got rid of Ron Zook and are installing a new offense. They are not really effective at all passing the ball. Ohio State shouldn't have a problem stopping their running game, which severely limits Illinois ability to do anything offensively.

The Illini defense is probably the strength of their team, but still isn't that great.

Prediction
Ohio State 48
Illinois 10
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Expect a few new parts to this post next week following week 5.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*I seriously doubt Eastern Michigan would even be competitive in 1-aa**.
**I will call it 1-aa no matter the NCAA says it's called now. The new name implies Division with legitimate champion and division with illegitimate champion.

Woes and Guests

I've come to hate Saturday posts since the college football season has started. I don't really want to spend much time writing blog posts while games are going on that I want to watch. Generally, there are games on from noon to about 1am, if not later. Sometimes there are periods where all the games that are ongoing are blowouts and usually it is pretty light between about 7pm and 7:30pm, but still there isn't much time to devout to a blog post with out distracting myself from games*.

Why don't I just talk about college football on Saturdays? Well, that seems logical, but I'd rather save all of that for tomorrow's post. I'm going to try and work on backlogging some posts to put up on Saturdays, so my Saturday posts aren't such crap.

So, here's an idea that I've had for a while, but would like to formally announce an invitation. I'd like to make Saturdays a day for guest posts on my blog. So, if anyone is interested in being a guest on the blog let me know. You can just leave a comment, email me**, or tweet me @Pastafarian07. I don't want to set any rules for this really. We could do interviews, a guest could just write a blog, or whatever. So, let me know if you like this and hopefully there will be some interest.

Thanks for reading and please comment

-Michael

*Right Now Boise State v. Oregon State, Auburn v. South Carolina, WVU v. LSU, Oklahoma v. Cincy.
**My email is in my Blogger Profile, which you can find on the right side of the page.

Colbert Before Congress

Testifying before congress is pretty awesome, and is kind of unprecedented. I mean Elmo has testified before congress, but I don't know of any person* who went before congress in character. It was pretty funny though. Not only was his testimony funny, but the fact that most of the people were to pretentious to laugh made it even funnier. If you watch, it looks like there are kids in the back laughing and some of the staffers behind the congress people were laughing and that's it.



Colbert is hilarious in character and is an effective parody of the blowhards of the right, but here he is pretty awesome just being Stephen Colbert.

Thanks for looking and please comment.

-Michael
Song of the Day: The Royal We- Silversun Pickups

*Not red furry monster.

School

Classes started yesterday for autumn quarter at my school. I go to a commuter school, so I have to drive and park everyday. Parking has been a total nightmare the past few quarters and this quarter seems to be the worst of all. I knew that in taking an 8am class, I would avoid the bat shit insane nature of the parking at CSCC. The downside is that I have to get up super fucking early 3 days a week. It sucks pretty hard right now. I didn't get even 5 hours of sleep before Wednesday and I only got about 6 hours yesterday night. So, I'm pretty tired right now. At least I don't have a class until 11 tomorrow and parking won't be an issue because it never is on a Friday.

I'll tell you a little bit more about how big of an issue parking is though before I get more into what's going with my classes. As an example today I got out of class today at about a quarter to 11. I went to my car and it took me several minutes just to get out of my parking space and the about 15 minutes just to get out of the lot. People are parking where there isn't a space or blocking other people in. Plus the ridiculous amount of traffic in the lots make it dangerous to be a pedestrian in those lots. Something really needs to be done about this.

So, I'm taking 3 course this quarter. Biology, Classical Mythology and College Algebra. Bio is the class I'm taking at 8am. It is definitely going to be least favorite class this quarter. Not only do I have to get up super fucking early to attend it, but it's going to be super boring two hour lectures twice a week. There is also a three hour lab on Thursdays at 8am. That's only an issue right now, because the book store was already out of the Lab Manuals by Wednesday and going to Lab without the Manual is super awkward as I found out today.

Classical Mythology seems like it will be a pretty awesome class. The professor seems like she's going to be pretty cool. The subject matter is also pretty interesting. The best thing, though, is that there is no text book. Score. I only have to get 4 books, that are just regular books, and should be at Half Price Books for super cheap.

I really like Math and always do well, so I'll like College Algebra. The professor is using all kinds of crazy new technology in the classroom. He's wearing a mic around his neck to record lectures and there's this thing that he writes notes on that records them to the computer so he can post them to blackboard. I personally don't see why on needs to attend class with those things, but I still will.

Well that's all I have to say about that for now.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael.

Random Wednesday- Cribs- Minecraft

What's up MTV? Hey, yo, I'm meeting you by the Respawn point to show ya'll my place. As you can already see it's the most baller place around and I ain't even done wit it yet.



Yo, this is my front door. You see I got the wood door with the stone all round. There's that tight little pyramid above the door with the torch on top. You, that lets the monsters know I ain't messin around yo. I don't play that shit.



This is my crib. This what I see when I come in the front door. Maybe I just got down murking some cows and pigs. Maybe I just got freaky wit a zombie and stole his feather. Or maybe I'm just coming in at nightfall, because I might be totally baller, but wit so many monster at night sometimes even I can get over run.

You, you see those tight ass flame chandeliers. Custom design.



I'll show what it looks like from the backdoor, because you know sometimes when shit gets tight you gotta use the backdoor.



This is one of my side rooms. I craft all sorts of things in here. Like swords to take out my enemies. I also got some pretty baller storage. Two large chest. I can keep anything up in here. There's also a stove for me to cook bacon and smelt minerals. I ain't tryin to brag or nothing, but I make the best bacon around.



Yo, Let me show the rooms that I use to get to my caverns and mine.




These rooms give me access to some baller caverns that I control wit my sword and pickaxe. I'll show you around them later before I kick ya'll out.



Let me show some of the most ballinest structures I've built so far. This is a tall tower I built. It took some time, but it's pretty god damn awesome. I can climb to the top of and watch the sunrise and the monsters burst into flames.



Here's the other tower I built. It ain't as tall as the other one, but is just as baller. You can also see a bit of my pyramid. Let's go take a better look.



Alright, MTV, here's my pyramid from the top of my tallest tower. You also get an awesome view of the other tower. If yall are good and we got time I'll show you up inside that pyramid and the secret entrance to it. Oh yea, take a look at all those sky lights. I keeps it real.



Yo, this is down in one of my caverns. I've mined all sorts of baller things out of this place. Let me show around here a bit. This is the bigger of the two caverns I got and there's some monsters around. So, keep a look out yo.




Yo, you see that monster. Don't worry I straight up pwnd it.



Yo, this is my other cavern. It's not as big as the other one, but I use to mine stuff too. You might be looking up at the secret entrance to the pyramid. Follow me and we'll find out homies.



Alright dudes, here's the inside of the pyramids. It's still pretty new, so it's pretty barren, but I'll make it the most baller place around before long. It'll be straight gangsta.



Yo, we're back in the crib. I hope ya'll enjoyed this tour of my place.



Alright, MTV, ya'll need to get the fudge out. Thanks for coming to my crib, but I got a party starting pretty soon with the farm animals. Maybe I'll let ya'll come back sometime when I got this place in better shape. Look out or you might get molested by the monsters. Peace!

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Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

Song of the Day: Sometime Around Midngiht- Airborne Toxic Event.

Gaming Tuesday

Achievements

Gamerscore Last Week: 21949
Goal: 22000
Gamerscore Now: 21964

Achievements Unlocked

Geometry Wars Evolved^2

Wax Off 15G

Goal for Next Week: 22000
$ for HPA: 7.95(+1.80)

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Resident Evil 6

Of the yet to be confirmed, but everyone knows it'll happen eventually variety let's talk about Resident Evil 6. The words 'Resident Evil' and 'Soon' rarely go together. As annoying as it is, RE sequels have taken ages. I mean Resident Evil 5 took five years and it was a total rehash*.The initial Resident Evil 6 reports were that it would take 8 years to develop, which wasn't shocking to me even if it saddened an frustrated me.

The more recent reporting out of Capcom is that they want the game out as soon as possible. I don't know what that means exactly since I sincerely doubt it's even in production yet, but I'm pretty damn sure it means a hell of a lot quicker that eight years.

They also seem to be using the term 'reboot' when refereeing to RE6. I can't figure out exactly what that will mean. I know a lot of the Resident Evil purists weren't thrilled with Resident Evils 4 and 5, but considering their popularity I think a lot of those game's mechanics will stick around. The over the shoulder camera view reduced the suspense and horror, but I think it made the games more playable**. Increased ammunition is another thing complained about, but I think that is also going to stick around, because only having a few rounds of hand gun ammo against a zombie hoard is no fun and even with the increased ammo if the newer editions of the games I still found myself low on ammo at times.

I think 'reboot' may refer to providing better scares and perhaps going back to the initial outbreak in Raccoon City. I'm neither in favor nor opposed to this idea. I'd like to see the story progress farther, but I know a lot of RE fans think the story has been stretched thin.

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More annoying: Madden NFL 11 or Ashley Graham



While initially receiving great review from critics, Madden NFL 11 has proven to have some nearly game breaking issues. The new locomotion system has provided a better feel to the game, but also seems to have introduced some new issues. The ability for virtually any ball carries to break tackles on higher difficulties settings makes the game incredibly frustrating. The new gameflow play calling systems seemed to have been a really cool step for the Madden series, but quickly turned annoying. Offensive playing isn't awful, but sometimes can be totally inappropriate for a situation and force a player to use a timeout. More significantly, the Defensive system is just terrible. It rarely switches to Nickel and Dime packages even when the other team goes spread. Add, that core mode was improved at all and Madden NFL 11 has become an annoying disappointment.

Ashley Graham was the President's daughter in Resident Evil 4. She had to rescued by a hero of the Raccoon City Outbreak Leon Kennedy when she was abducted by a mysterious cult in Spain. Once Leon rescued her he had to keep her by his side and protect her making surviving the adventures of RE4 that much more difficult. Not to mention that she managed to get abducted a few more times for Leon to rescue. She would even call Leon a "pervert," when he tried to look up her skirt.

My Answer: Madden NFL 11. The game is pretty much unplayable at this point. Also I didn't mind Ashley so much. I know a lot of other players hate her, but I would so virtually do her.


Let me know what you think.
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Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*It was a rehash of the best game ever, so it was still fucking awesome.
**Not that they earlier games with fixed cameras weren't awesome. They were totally***
***Seriously, I could still play RE2 and have a lot of fun and that first scene in the gun store where the zombies break the glass and kill the store owner would still probably make me crap my pants.

Browns' Monday- The Read Last Weeks Post Edition

Seriously, if you want to know what happened in the game yesterday read last weeks post. Unfortunately, the game went pretty much exactly as it did against Tampa Bay. I'm pretty disappointed in this team. Tampa Bay and Kansas City are not good teams and the Browns need to win games against teams like that.

I personally don't think Mangini will be fired during the season despite the rampant speculations. Even if that is the way Holmgren decides to, it woun't be Holmgren who takes over. He wouldn't step into the crap feast that this season appears to be turning into. I don't think Holmgren is ever going to coach the Browns He couldn't get rid of Mangini following the end of last season, but I think he wanted hand pick his own coach.

It looks like the Browns are looking at another early draft pick. There are a lot of people who think the Browns need to spend the pick on a 'franchise' quarterback. This is looking like a good year for quarterbacks, but I still want to see other areas addressed first. First round QBs are generally a crap shoot. I think improving the defense and offensive line is a better way to go. A stop-gap QB and a solid defense and running game can win games in the AFC North.

Next week it's the Ravens. Oh, shit. At least it'll be on TV here.

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Seriously, Take the Skirt Off of the Quarterbacks

Can we all acknowledge that the Quarterback is a football player too and is on a football field, so he might get hit every once in a while. As much as I hate the Ravens, they got fucked twice by bogus calls for hits on the quarterback. Suggs, got flagged for just for making a tackle with really good form immediately after Flacco had gotten rid of the ball. The Browns even were a victim of this yesterday when Coleman was flagged.

Roughing the Passer needs to be just for late hits on the quarterback and helmet-to-helmet contact. That's it. Quarterbacks do not deserve any special treatment. Should cut blocks be allowed anymore? Should a lowly corner be allowed to go low on a Running Back?

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

Buckeye Day o' the Sun

Ahoy Mateys! On Satarrrrrrrrday at 12 turns of me hourglass, Me Buckeyes went into battle against the Ohio Univarrrrrrrrrrrrrrsity Bilge Rats. On the open seas, Me Buckeyes dominated the other crew. This other crew couldn't move the booty to their pirate ship and often fumbled it or had it intercepted by Me Buckeyes. They even were defeated once inside Me Buckeye's Pirate Ship. Me hearties sailed their ship on the green sea with ease, running the other crew's defenses aground. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Tarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrelle Pryor was a captian worth of grog and wenches while me hourglass was still half filled. As it got later in the battle, he led me mateys aground and had his booty intercepted before it could get to his pirate ship. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

When the special teams were on the battle went in favor of the Blige Rats. The crew that covers the kickoffs still allowed the other team to move the booty with ease and were saved by the cloth of stripped man. The men who punt the booty failed to protect the peg leg punter and the Bilge Rats got their booty near their pirate ship. ARRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Grog and Booty for all me mateys and wenches.

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Ohio State 43
Ohio 7

Scoring Summary

First Quarter
Ohio State FG: Devin Barclay 32 yards
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor pass to Brandon Saine for 9 yards
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor rushed for 13 yards

Second Quarter
Ohio State FG: Devin Barclay 33 yards
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor pass Jake Stoneburner for 5 yards
Ohio State TD: Daniel Herron rushed for 4 yards

Third Quarter
Ohio State Safety: Vince Davidson rushed for -4 yards tackled by Ross Homan
Ohio State TD: Daniel Herron rushed for for 1 yard

Fourth Quarter
Ohio TD: Boo Jackson pass to Terrance McCrae for 11 yards

Important Player Stats

Terrelle Pryor 22-29, 235 yards, 16 consecutive completions 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 35 rushing yards, 1 TD

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Eastern Michigan University

Where: Ypsilanti, Michigan

Mascot: Eagles

Enrollment: 18,000 approx.

Conference: MAC

Record Last Year: 0-12

Head Coach: Ron English

Last Game: 14-52 L Central Michigan

There's not much too say about Eastern Michigan besides that they are bad.

Prediction

Ohio State 56
Eastern Michigan 0

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Thanks for reading and please comment

-Michael

Minecraft

I did two things today. Watched college football and played Minecraft.

I haven't gamed on a PC in many years, but I downloaded Minecraft this morning and have had a good time playing it. I've heard Seananners rave about this game and now that tuition is paid, I was finally able to get it. It's a game that just doesn't seem like it would be as much fun as it actually is. It is still in Alpha and has some bugs, but overall is very well done

Sorry that's all I got tonight. There are some games coming to close, so I don't want to focus too much on this post.

-Michael

Tornadoes

Here's something about me. I find weather fascinating. I try to find out about what actually causes the weather. If meteorology were offered at any school near me that would probably be what I would major in. I'm particularly interested in the severe weather and Tornadoes. It's something I consider a hobby and I think I'm somewhat knowledgeable in this area.

Yesterday, there was a severe weather outbreak in my home state of Ohio. Two cells that had Tornado Warnings passed on either side of my specific location. It is now clear that those cells did not produce Tornadoes in my area. These cells merged in Southeast Ohio and produced four confirmed Tornadoes; one South of Nelsonville in Athens County, another in Meigs County and another in Perry County. Three of those are judged to be EF2 and one in Perry County is judged to be an EF1. There are also other Tornadoes yet to be confirmed in Athens County.

Significant damage occurred in The Plains, Ohio and the Eastern part of Athens, Ohio. No tornado has been confirmed in this area by NWS Charleston, but it appears that a Tornado likely caused the damage in this area and that will probably be what their damaged survey will find. My sister and possibly my only reader lives in that area and there was some major damage in her backyard.

Tornado Myths

Myth- Tornadoes can't climb hills, Tornadoes can't cross rivers, Tornadoes can't overcome *insert geographical obstacle here*

Myths about Tornadoes and geography have been around for awhile. They were basically all proven wrong by the Tornado outbreak on April 3-4, 1974. This outbreak was by far the biggest in recorded history. 148 tornadoes occurred in a 24 hour period and 6 of those were F5. Considering F5 tornadoes only occur about once a year that is amazing.

*Bonus myth* This outbreak also created a belief that Nuclear tests in the South Pacific provided the energy for this unprecedented outbreak. A Nuclear bomb was set off a few weeks before this outbreak. Following Nuclear weapons tests went off with out causing another super outbreak, so that is largely debunked.

Myth- Hail and Tornadoes always go together

This is actually based on fact. Tornado producing storms often are hail producing storms. The two things do not go together absolutely though.

Myth- The sky changes to weird colors around Tornadoes.

This goes along with the last myth. Often times a green color is reported in the sky around tornadoes. A Tornado doesn't have any magical powers to do this. It is the reflection of Hail, which as stated earlier is frequently associated with Tornadoes.

Myth- Tornadoes don't hit major cities

The idea is that there is a dry heat bubble due to all the concrete and asphalt in big cities. It is true that a major city is hotter than it's outskirts. In reality that only makes thunderstorms stronger. Tornadoes in major metro areas are rare, but that is more because the area of land that major cities occupy is small compared to the area of land of everywhere else. Tornadoes don't discriminate. They come down when conditions within a storm dictate that they can no matter what area they are over. 'Tornado Alley' has major cities, but they are separated by great distances of farmland. If 'Tornado Alley' was in the Northeast Tornadoes hitting big cites would be much more common.

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NWS- The Boy who cried Wolf or just being prudent?

The National Weather Service issues Tornado Warnings for storms that are 'capable' of producing a Tornado according to radar. This has led to many, many false Tornado Warnings. I have been under about 3-4 Tornado Warnings per year for the past several years with no Tornadoes in my area. Does this create an insensitivity to Tornado Warnings in areas that are frequently warned?

Doppler radar technology has improved the ability to detect rotation within a Thunderstorm prior to any Tornadic activity occurring. This has dramatically improved warning times dramatically from the few minutes that there was in 1974 if there was any Warning at all. That is a very good thing and has likely saved many lives.

The problem is that Doppler Radar indicating rotation can mean a Tornado is developing or it can mean nothing. To this point there is no real way to tell the difference. So, solely using radar to indicate possible Tornadoes leads to false Warnings.

It is really a Catch-22 for the National Weather Service. Waiting for a spotter to report a Tornado on the ground likely means a Warning will be too late for people in the path. Issuing Tornado Warnings when nothing comes of it will create a public that will largely ignore the warnings, which is dangerous as well.

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Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

Tea Time

I'm putting on my faux political analyst hat for this post.

Everyone know that the Democrats are in trouble this coming election. Their loses are going to be significant. In my home state of Ohio were looking at basically a clean sweep for the Republicans. The incumbent Governor, Democrat Ted Strickland, is likely to be beat pretty soundly by the Republican challenger*. The senate seat here will also undoubtedly go Republican. The majority of competitive house races will probably go the Republicans way as well. So, giving Ohio as an example, it looks pretty doom and gloom for the Dems right?

The Democrats have a saving grace; counter intuitively to their purpose, it's the Tea Party movement. As unpopular as the Democrats and congress are, the Tea Party is even more hated by the general population and fires up a Liberal base that is otherwise unenthusiastic.

To control the Senate, the Republicans basically have to win every competitive race. Two of those races involve Republican 'tea party' candidates. In Nevada and Delaware**, Tea Party Candidates won the Republican primaries and basically ensured that the Democrats would be able to hold those seats. Holding those two seats will put the Democrats at 51 votes***.

Many more tea party candidates have been nominated for competitive house seats. Again this is basically giving the Democrats victories in districts where the populous is even somewhat moderate.

So, what does this all mean?

I don't think the Democrats will lose either house of Congress. The Democrats will lose a lot of seats, but will be able to hold against more extremist conservative candidates that the Tea Party produces. That will probably be just enough for the Democrats to maintain majorities in both chambers.

To be honest, I don't think the Republicans taking back congress is the best thing for their chances in 2012. If republicans control congress, they also will assume some of the blame. The economy is unlikely to get better anytime soon. If the Republicans control congress, Obama and the Democrats can run against a 'do nothing' congress and that might just be enough for the Democrats to hold.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*Even if that challenger is a total asshole, and is running a horrible campaign.
**I can't believe the Republicans in Delaware were dumb enough to nominate Christine O'Donnell. A Republican is going to have a hard enough time winning there with being a wacko conservative that is totally corrupt.
***Assuming Joe *cough* traitor *cough* Liberman doesn't switch caucuses. I don't think I would mind that much though, because he'll vote with the other side anyway.

Random Wednesday- Pass or Play

Pass.

Gaming Tuesday

Achievements

Gamerscore Last Week: 21919
Goal: 21950
Gamerscore Now: 21949

Achievements Unlocked

Modern Warfare 2

Professional 30G

Goal for Next Week: 22000
$ for HPA: 6.15(+0.05 this week)

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Reality

So, something that's been annoying me of late is people using 'In real life' when referring to video games. Particularly Call of Duty. I'm mean come on. It's not real life, so you can't find fault with things in a game being unrealistic.

Let''s talk about what Call of Duty would be like 'in real life.' First off there wouldn't be any respawning. So, you'd have to wait 18 years for another soldier to come of age to play again. There would be injuries too. Getting shot in the leg isn't -20 health points, it's you can't walk anymore and hurts like hell. I could keep going, but I'll stop. No need to patronize.

So, if you find something annoying with a shooter please refrain from calling it unrealistic.

Thanks for reading an please comment.

-Michael

Browns' Monday- The I Heard Edition

Week 1- Browns @ Buccaneers

Cleveland 14
Tampa Bay 17

Scoring Summary

First Quarter
Cleveland TD: Jake Delhomme pass to Mohamed Massaquoi for 41 yards
Tampa Bay FG: Connor Barth 49 yards

Second Quarter
Cleveland TD: Peyton Hillis rushed for 10 yards
Tampa Bay TD: Josh Freeman pass to Mike Williams for 3 yards

Forth Quarter
Tampa Bay TD: Josh Freeman pass to Michael Spurlock for 33 yards.

Important Stats
Jake Delhomme 20-37, 227 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT

Evan Moore 3 receptions, 87 yards

T.J. Ward 8 Tackles, 1 Forced Fumble

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I didn't get to see yesterday's game, because it wasn't on TV in the Columbus market. So, basically all observations I have about the game start with 'I heard.' I had to listen to the game on the radio and as much as I like Jim Donovan's play by play, it sucked. Unfortunately, it is pretty commonplace around here. I mean Columbus is pretty much equal distance from Cleveland and Cincinnati, but the Bengals generally get the preference from the local affiliates in Columbus. I'm actually very curious as to whether or not there are rules in the Columbus Market when it comes to the NFL. So, if anyone has any insider information please let me know.

So, the turning point in the game was late in the 1st half. Jake Delhomme did what got him booted out of Carolina. He threw an interception deep in Tampa Bay territory that was returned by Ronde Barber to set up a late touchdown by Tampa Bay. It was a very bad pass and it cost the Browns dearly. It was at the very least a ten point swing. So, instead of going into the half up 17-3 or 21-3, it was 14-10.

The first half of the second half for the Browns ended in the Red Zone with another turnover. Peyton Hillis fumbled and the Buccaneers recovered and that was it for the Browns' offense. The Browns' offense. After that drive, the Browns gained 45 yards*. The defense played well, but were on the field for the majority of the second half and eventually gave up a score in the 4th quarter.

Three times the Browns had a chance to drive for the tie or to take the lead with TD all of which were very unsuccessful.

The simple fact is that Tampa Bay is a very bad team. If the Browns' cannot beat Tampa Bay, this will be another very long season. Next week brings another bad team. This time they are coming to Cleveland. It's the Kansas City Chiefs. I'd really like to think the Browns can win this one. It is yet another game that won't be on TV here. Maybe I'll be able to go out somewhere to see it. If not, it'll be another 'I heard' edition next week.

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Checking my preseason prediction

Week 1- @Tampa Bay W Actual Result: L
Week 2- Kansas City W
Week 3- @Baltimore L
Week 4- Cincinnati L
Week 5- Atlanta L
Week 6- @ Pittsburgh W*
Week 7- @New Orleans L
Week 8- Bye
Week 9- New England L
Week 10- NY Jets L
Week 11- @Jacksonville W
Week 12- Carolina W
Week 13- @Miami W
Week 14- @Buffalo W
Week 15- @Cincinnati L
Week 16- Baltimore L
Week 17- Pittsburgh L

Overall Record: 7-9*(1-5)* Current Record: 0-1

*Under the assumption that Roethlisberger will actually have serve his entire suspension.

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Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*31 of those yards were on the final desperation drive on plays were the Browns were kept inbounds.

Buckeye Sunday- Miami Recap and Ohio

Ohio State 36
Miami 24

Scoring Summary

First Quarter
Ohio State FG: Devin Barclay 24 yards
Miami TD: Lamar Miller returned kickoff for 88 yards

Second Quarter
Miami FG: Matt Bosher 51 yards
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor Pass to Brandon Saine for 18 yards
Ohio State FG: Devin Barclay 41 yards
Ohio State TD: Daniel Herron rushed for 4 yards
Miami TD: Travis Benjamin returned punt for 79 yards
Ohio State FG: Devin Barclay 21 yards
Ohio State FG: Devin Barclay 24 yards

Third Quarter
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor rushed for 13 yards
Ohio State FG: Devin Barclay 24 yards

Fourth Quarter
Miami TD: Jacory Harris pass to Chase Ford for 9 yards.

Important Player Stats

Terrelle Pryor 12-27, 233 yards, 1TD, 20 rush, 113 yards, 1 TD

Daniel Herron 14 rush, 66 yards, 1 TD

DeVier Posey: 4 receptions, 105 yards

Devin Barclay 5-6 FG

Chimdi Chekwa 2 INTs

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After this game, I was surprised by how disappointed I felt in Ohio State's performance. I mean they did beat the team that was ranked 12th* in the Nation. A win is a win and I'll certainly take it, but this game proved that things that had been questions marks may be this team's undoing. So, I'm going to apologize for bitching so much after a victory.

I'm going to start off with the Special teams. Yesterday's performance on covering kickoffs and punts was pathetic. Whether or not Miami has good return men, they shouldn't have been allowed to return anything for a touchdown. Kickoff and punt coverage is all about discipline and fundamentals and allowing long returns is almost always due to a mistake or lack of discipline by the coverage team. Ohio State was even lining up in a spread out Punt formation to make lanes easier to keep and still blew it.

It wasn't all bad with the special teams though. The kickoff return team looked very good with two long returns that were nearly touchdowns. Also, the field goal team seemed to be much improved over last week. The line held well and Barclay went 5-6 on Field Goals. Also a Miami filed goal was blocked, which is a nice performance for that unit.

The defense performed very well in the first half. They only allowed 3 points and totally shut down the Miami offense; particularly against their running game. In the second half, they didn't really stop Miami at all. They did do a nice job of creating turnovers.

I think I was most disappointed in the offense's performance in the redzone. Five times Ohio State got into the redzone and had to attempt Field Goals. That's very poor. Scoring a touchdowns inside the redzone is important and failing to do so will lose games. Ohio State left so many points and there and it's fortunate it didn't matter in the end.

Finally, Terrelle Pryor didn't look great yesterday. His stats were pretty damn impressive, but his performance was not. He didn't complete 50 percent of his passes. He reverted back to bad Terrelle Pryor frequently. He didn't throw any interceptions, but that wasn't for lack of trying. Miami had numerous chances at picking off his passes. He did look good while running the football though.

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Ohio University

Where: Athens, Ohio

Mascot: Bobcat

Enrollment: 22,000 approx.

Conference: MAC

Record Last Year: 9-5

Head Coach: Frank Solich

Last Game: 13-20 L Toledo

Ohio won the MAC East last season. They did give Ohio State a scare in the 2008 season. In that game Theo Scott was Ohio's starting quarterback, but had to be replaced by Boo Jackson due to injury. Now, Boo Jackson is sharing the starting role with Phil Bates at Ohio. Bates was injured in Ohio's opening game against Wofford and it is unclear whether he will play this weekend. Either way the Ohio passing game is not a strong suit for Ohio this season. Well, neither is their rushing game. Ohio's offense isn't very good is what I'm trying to say.

Ohio's defense forced a lot of turnovers last season. They have started off fast with five forced turnovers in their first two games. The defense did lose several starters particularly in the secondary. The Ohio defensive line is still largely intact from a year ago. If they are able to pressure Pryor, the ball-hawking secondary of OU may be able to pick off some of Pryor's ill-advised passes.

Prediction

Ohio State 41
Ohio 0

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Thanks for reading and please comment. Let me know what you think will happen on Saturday.

-Michael

*I personally thought they were overrated.

9/11 and Patriotism

I'll start this off with a 'Where were you when?'

I was 12 years old and in the seventh grade when the attacks occurred on September 11, 2001. The school year was still very new; I think it was the 3rd week. It was a very nice late summer day in Columbus, Ohio and in New York City as we would all find out. It was a normal school day. It was art class, when the principal announced that there had been attacks on the World Trade Center and Washington D.C. Nobody really knew what the hell was going and we were a bunch of twelve year olds, so there was a lot of chatter. The following period was Science class with Mr. Tucker. He was the only teacher that day who didn't try to pretend nothing had happened. He wanted to show us what was on TV, but found out that wasn't allowed. He showed us the picture on the front page of MSNBC.com. It was two burning sky scrappers. I mean it was fucking crazy. These people crashed planes into buildings!?!?!

As I said the rest of the day was teachers trying to go on with their lesson plans as if this really fucking big event hadn't just happened. At lunch, by best friend at the time, Tyler, and I speculated about the attacks even though as students we were kept pretty ignorant of the facts on that day.

I got home and watched the TV. It didn't matter what station. You couldn't avoid it. I didn't really want to; at least initially. I wanted to know what happened and who had done it. I was home in time to see WTC 7 fall. The TV was filled with images of planes crashing into the south tower and the buildings collapsing. Then they finally got video of the plane crashing into the North Tower.

There were a lot of rumors that day. There were rumors of fires on Capitol Hill. Rumors of other hijacked planes. There was a rumor that Air Force One had crashed in Dayton. There were rumors of Air Strikes in Afghanistan that night. There were rumors of gas becoming super expensive.

I stayed home from school the next day. It wasn't because I was scared. I wanted to keep watching the news. I wanted to learn more about what had happened or if something else was going to happen. Looking back, that was a kind of morbid thing to do.

The estimates of the dead were astronomical in the days following the attacks. They started at upwards of twenty thousand, but slowly started dwindling down. Eventually, it was figured out that lots of people had managed to escape the World Trade Center and the death toll would be much less than feared.

There was a tremendous sense of National unity in the aftermath of the attacks. People lined up to give blood for the potential survivors of the attacks. Unfortunately, virtually no survivors were pulled out the rubble. It was still a wonderful sentiment and there was a feeling that all citizens in the United States were in this together.

Disappointingly, this sentiment did go overboard. Dissent quickly become 'unpatriotic' and the President briefly was allowed to be a de facto king. Questioning the President became like joining the Islamic Extremists who attacked us. Very soon after the attacks, the PATRIOT Act had been passed with very little debate and even less dissent. The act was a tremendous expansion of Executive power and cut deeply into our civil liberties. Trading Safety for liberty can quickly lead to tyranny.

Also, with the nation still reeling from the attacks, the President led the country into a foolish war with Iraq with virtually no questions asked. The media was afraid to ask any question, even if they knew there were giant holes in the administration's case for war, because at the time any questioning of the President was 'unpatriotic.' So, a blindly patriotic nation was led into an offensive war without any real reason other than that's what the President wants.

It took major loss of blood and treasure in Iraq to break the Patriotic fervor following the attacks of September 11, 2001. The President was still able to win reelection though. Even after clearly lying the country into a war, he was reelected in 2004 to the tune of 9/11.

Patriotism is a dangerous idea, because while it can be harmless pride, it can also lead to horrible outcomes. Belief that the state is right and is always right no matter what is what patriotic fervor can produce. Basically, I feel Patriotism to it's extreme extent is Fascism.

I also feel the need to make a distinction. I'm not a Patriot, but to a certain extent I am a Nationalist. It may sound like splitting hairs, but I think the distinction between Patriotism and Nationalism is very significant.

I think Nationalism is a love or pride in one's country. Not in the government, but the people and places. I love the ideals of the United States. I love the culture in the United States*. I don't think the United States is superior to any other country, I just really appreciate the way the United States is*.

That is not to say Nationalism isn't a dangerous idea as well. To it's extreme extent, it is as dangerous as Patriotism. It can lead to feelings of superiority or one's land or one's culture or one's blood.

In the Aftermath of 9/11, both Nationalism and Patriotism were evident in the national feeling. An example of Nationalism was the giving of blood in the immediate aftermath of the attack. An example of Patriotism was the passage of the PATRIOT Act with virtually no dissent.

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I think I kind of got on my soap box there for a bit. Sorry if it was like that and I hope I made some sense.

Anyway this post was inspired by Liane's tweet this afternoon.

My elbow seriously hurts now.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*For the most part

You Never Know

Do you ever wonder how much the other people in your life know about you? Not like facts and statistics. It's great if someone know my birthday is May 1st or that I'm 21 years old or my favorite band is Okkervil River. It amazes me that people even bother to remember these things about other people, but that's not what this is about.

I've been thinking about what other people know about you. Even if you keep somethings secret, do those who are close to eventually figure it out? If this is the case, is it just polite to ignore it?

It's just something I've been thinking about lately.*

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You never how much you use your elbow. Like using your arm to push yourself up or to close doors. I don't mean to keep bitching about it, but it is kind of the most important thing in my life right now and it's making doing this blog kind of hard.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*I know the first bit of this post sounds like I'm talking about coming out of the closet. It's not that.

More Bitching About My Elbow.

The pain in my right elbow is much worse today. More importantly it hurts really bad when I put it into position to type. So, this will be another short post.

I took two finals yesterday. They were easy and more importantly I didn't even need to do that well on them to get an A in those classes. I'm surprised that I actually convinced myself to study for them at all. But I felt like, "why should I go for the homerun when all I need is a single." I knew going into my Political Science final that all I needed was to get a D. I needed to get 2/3rds of the points! That is so easy. Yet I still spent time studying. It wasn't really in-depth quality studying , but still. The other final was in Economics and it was basically the same situation, but in this case the professor grades so easy an A is basically guaranteed. That final only took me 15 minutes.

Ok, I'm done now. No more typing. It hurts too much.

Thanks for reading and please comment

-Michael

Random Wednesday- My Elbow Hurts

My right Elbow has been hurting the past few days. It annoying and I can't figure out why it is doing it. I ran the symptoms on WebMD and one of the possibilities they gave me was Gout. lol.

It's probably just a repetitive motion injury. What is that repetitive motion*? My guess is that it is the way I hold my elbow when I'm holding the controller while playing XBox. Or maybe how I move it while playing guitar. I don't know.

That's all. I'm pulling out the finals excuse again.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*Yea, I know what some of you are thinking and I can assure that it is not that.

Gaming Tuesday

Achievements

Gamerscore Last Week: 21704
Goal: 21800
Gamerscore Now: 21919

Achievements Unlocked

NCAA Football 11

Set Up Shop In the Big 3 20G

Madden NFL 11

Nano 10G
Old Spice Swagger Return 45G
Did I Break It? 40G
Fantasy Freak 25G
The Elusive Man 25G
Sack Master 25G
Man Dozer 25G

Goal for Next Week: 21950
$ for HPA: 6.10

I achievement whored it up last night on Madden 11 before the game.

That's all I'm giving you this week. I've got finals tomorrow, so I'm not wanting to spend to much time on this blog. I did an entire post about COD: Black Ops multiplayer here.

Thanks for reading

-Michael.

Browns' Monday-The Turn In Your Playbook and Get the Fudge Out Edition

Game Recap- Bears @ Browns

Cleveland 13
Chicago 10

Scoring Summary

First Quarter
Chicago TD: Todd Collins 15-yard pass to Greg Olsen.
Cleveland TD: Montario Hardesty 1-yard rush

Second Quarter
Cleveland FG: Phil Dawson 24 yards
Chicago FG: Robbie Gould 46-yards

Forth Quarter
Cleveland FG: Phil Dawson 36 yards

Ok, I really didn't watch much of this game. I mean Ohio State was playing at the same time in a game that actually mattered. This game didn't matter at all. It was largely a bunch of guys who are about to get cut playing a bunch of guys who are about to get cut. I was able to watch the drive at the end of the first half in which Colt McCoy ran the 2-minute drill. It wasn't an incredibly awful performance nor was really that good. I'll call it mediocre. I mean setting up Dawson for another 58-yard field goal try isn't anywhere near ideal, but I guess it's better than nothing or a turnover.

I also was able to watch a lot of the forth quarter once the Buckeye game was over. I can't really say much about it though. A bunch of forth stringers were playing and they pretty much looked like that's what they were. Brett Ratliff managed to lead a late drive to get Phil Dawson into position to kick the game winning field goal as time expired.

I actually wanted to watch the entirety of this game. I recorded it with DVR and even made sure to record it on the regular definition channel, because HD CBS has some issues on my cable provider. It think it's a bandwidth issue and it's really fucking annoying. Anyway,I recorded it and found that the recording had the same issues the HD would have had. So, yea I wasn't going to deal with it for the forth preseason game.

Hardesty Out for Season

He finally saw some action in the game Thursday. He scored a touchdown and then managed to blow out his knee. It's a different knee the one that had kept him out of the first three preseason games. So, another running back who showed promise, but will probably amount to nothing for the Browns.

Cuts

Here are the final cuts made by the Browns to get their roster down to 53.

No real surprises there. I thought Chris Jennings might have made the team with the injury to Hardesty. It looks like Hillis will be used primarily as a Running back and he fills Jennings' niche better than Jennings. I don't really agree with the cut of Brandon McDonald. He has shown flashes of being a good corner in his short career. He has also shown flashes of being a bad corner. I think having him come in as a forth corner for the Dime package and letting him learn from Sheldon Brown would might have allowed him to develop into a really solid Cornerback.

That's all for now. One week until the season begins!

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael.

Buckeye Sunday- Miami

Sorry this one isn't going to be very long at all. Not really feeling it tonight. Plus, this game will previewed and analyzed to death this week. So, here are some thoughts on the game against the Hurricanes.

Miami was impressive in their opener as was Ohio State. They won 45-0 against Florida A&M. They played and inferior opponent to Marshall, but their dominating performance against them means about the same thing as Ohio State's defeat of Marshall. That is they mean very little. Everyone knew Miami and Ohio State were way better than their opponents going in the opener, so all that happened was confirmation of what was already known.

Against Marshall Ohio State played a Nickel defense for nearly the entire game against their spread sets. Against Miami, it will be a lot more base defense. This will add to the strain on the inexperienced Safeties. Also, Miami has much better athletes, so the back line will face a test. Will they handle it well or will inexperience show?

Will Pryor's offseason improvements withstand the test of Miami or will he revert to earlier form? Following the Purdue game last year, Pryor's play has been much improved. Though a lot of that was the ball being taken out of his hands at the end of the regular season. He had a great performance in the Rose Bowl passing the ball. Against Marshall he looked like he continued his progression, but will it look the same against a good opponent. Even against Marshall there were some glimpses of Bad Terrelle Pryor. Well a better defense bring out bad Pryor or make him play better? We'll see against Miami.

Prediction
Ohio State 24
Miami 17

Thanks for reading and let me know your predictions.

-Michael

College Football Overload

Today is opening day for Most of college football's programs. It is a great day mainly because it is the first time in 9 months there is football that actually counts. It is a day filled largely with powerhouse programs beating the shit out of crap teams. For their trouble, the crap teams get large checks. It is usually a day where teams look rusty and make little mistakes.

I am a rusty college football fan. It's been more than 9 months since there have been multiple games on TV at once that were worth watching. So, I'm lacking the timing that is necessary to flip between multiple games. I'm not just feeling when commercial breaks will be over yet, so I'm either flipping back too soon and seeing something like this or missing a play or two.

The key is to have this all worked out by the time conference play starts. It might be ok to miss some of Michigan/Connecticut while checking on KSU/UCLA, but you definitely don't want to miss any of Penn State/Wisconsin while checking in on Indiana/Northwestern.

Ending this now. I would try to be more brilliant, but football is calling me, so you'll get this smart-ass nonsense.

Thanks for reading

-Michael.

Marshall @ Ohio State Game Recap

Ohio State 45
Marshall 7

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pyror pass to DeVier Posey for 6 yards
Ohio State TD: Brandon Saine rushed for 4 yards
Marshall TD: Blocked 52-yard FG returned by Ahmed Shakoor for 61 yards
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor pass to Dane Sanzenbacher for 65 yards.

2nd Quarter
Ohio State TD: Brandon Saine rushed for 45 yards
Ohio State TD: Brian Rolle returned interception for 30 yards

3rd Quarter
Ohio State TD: Terrelle Pryor pass to DeVier Posey for 11 yards

4th Quarter
Ohio State FG: Devin Barclay 34 yards

Total Yards
Ohio State 529
Marshall 199

Turnovers
Ohio State 0
Marshall 3

Important Player Stats

Terrelle Pryor 17-25, 247 yards, 3 TDs

Brandon Saine 9 rushes, 103 yards, 11.4 yards per carry, 2 TDs

Jaamal Berry 7 rushes, 80 yards, 11.4 yards per carry

Dane Sanzenbacher 3 receptions, 113 yards, TD

DeVier Posey 4 receptions, 41 yards, 2 TDs

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Ok, to start this off. *Balloons falling and confetti flying* Gloat time. I nailed it. In this Buckeye Sunday post, I predicted the final score would 45-7 in favor of Ohio State. That's right. Nailed it. Some people were like, "Michael, It won't be that bad." or, "Hey Michael, Tressel won't run it up like that." Did I listen? Did I cave in? No. You should all leave comments telling me how great I am while you can, because I'm sure I'll be way off with my prediction for next week.

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So, now that I have that out of the way. I'm going to start off with a look at Terrelle Pryor's performance last night. Taking a page out of Stewiie Griffin's book, I'm going to use the compliment sandwich.

You're play last night showed continued improvement and increased confidence that will be necessary for the team's success this season.

Bad Terrelle Pryor showed up a few times. Just throwing the ball up off your back foot is what Terrelle Pryor did in the Purdue game last year.

I noticed you pointing out the defense on some plays. Pointing out the Mic Linebacker or a blitz you see coming is important to running a more balanced and effective offense.

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The defense looked excellent last night. Marshall didn't have much luck doing much of anything offensively. With the exception of Marshall's first drive of the second half, Ohio State's defense dominated play and even in the drive where Marshall got into the red zone the defense forced a turnover.

I will say this about Marshall's offense. The play calling was that of an offense that is scared of a defense. It seemed like almost every play was a screen pass. I'm not saying that the screen pass doesn't have its place in football, but when a team is calling it as often as Marshall was it shows fear.

Miami won't be afraid to push the ball down field next week, so that should be the first real test for the back line.

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Something that was an area for concern last night was the special teams. That's being a little bit broad. Specifically, the Field Goal unit and the kick-off team. The only points that Ohio State allowed was on a blocked 53-yard field goal The blockers to the left of the snapper allowed for penetration and the attempt was blocked. That's not good, but that isn't entirely why I'm not to happy with this unit. 53-yard field goals get blocked pretty commonly, because of their low trajectory. The penetration shouldn't been allowed and the kick was actually on a pretty good trajectory, but one should remember back to the first PAT try. That was partially blocked too and from the same area of the line. That is absolutely unacceptable.

The kick off team also showed some weakness. First Drew Basil couldn't kick the ball into the endzone or even much past the ten yard line. Maybe Ohio State is spoiled, but I want touchbacks pretty frequently. Also they allowed for a long return that put the defense in a difficult spot since Marshall was already in Field Goal range. To be fair, that may have been because that was the third time Ohio State had to cover a kick-off in the first 5 minutes of the game. Just keep the discipline and stay in your lane.

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So, What did we learn?

Well, I would like to say we learned a lot about this Buckeye team, but I don't think we did. It was a pretty mediocre opponent. Ohio State beat them soundly.

The offense looked like a more aggressive and balanced version of the offense Ohio State ran at the end of the year last season. Pryor's maturity and growth is allowing for a more balanced attack. I also sincerely doubt that was the full reveal of the offense though.

Tyler Moeller looks like he will be playing the Nickel-Back position this year. My guess is he will be used aggressively and frequently be a blitzer.

That's all I got

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

Call of Duty: Black Ops Reveal

I feel like I'm sitting at a fucking western union, waiting on a telegram watching this twitter feed. So, Here I'm just going to list the things I learn as they come out. It will be pretty scattered, but hopefully I'll get as much info as possible on Black Ops.

Things I've learned:
Ridiculous amounts of gun customization. You can choose colors for your dot sight and designs such as a smiley face. Clan tags and emblems also can appear on you gun. Variable zoom snipers.

Tier one perk will change the appearance of your character.

Crazy new game modes that It was hard to get a total grasp on from Twitter. They seem to be very specific. Like knife only, etc. This video just dropped



That looks like so much fun. So excited.

New ranking up system based on CoD Money. Apparently it is more focused on playing the objective(fucking awesome) and there are wager matches where if one performs well they can win some gambling money.

New, more interactive killstreaks. Apparently some sort of fucking beast machine gun, a semi-auto rocket launcher, the RC-car, a gun ship with a view from inside the cock pit and Napalm strikes. Also a SAM turret to shot down air support. High Killstreak is 11. Dogs are a killstreak. Killstreaks do not count towards other killstreaks.

The theater mode is apparently badass. That's all anyone has really said. Update. 1st person, 3rd person and free camera recording. Can record from other peoples perspective. Other effects like slomo are also in there.

You can create your own emblems

Flamethrower attachment on guns

A Multiplayer training mode where one can play against CPU players

Marathon and Lightweight are back. Akimbo(boo) is also back.

Guns are purchased with the CoD points and no longer unlocked through higher ranks. Perks and attachments also go buy this method.

Confirmed guns: Famas, M16, M14, AK47u, MP5K, Enfield, Uzi, M1 Garand, Pistols: ASP, M1911, Makarov, Python, Launchers - M72, RPG, Strela, China Lake. Draganov

Confirmed Perks: Scavenger, Marathon, Lightweight, Ghost(apparently some sort of invisibility in UAV), Flack Jacket, Hardline, Hardened, Scout, Steady Aim, Sleight of Hand, Warlord(bling), Ninja, Second Chance, Hacker, Tactical Mask

No Stopping Power. Pro perks are still part of the game. No Juggernaut.

Player can rank up to 50. There is prestige mode.

Secondary weapons are Pistol, crossbow, Ballistic Knife and launchers.

Game winning kill cams return.

Equipment: Camera, Jammer, C4, Claymore(fuck,) motion sensor

Tactical Grenades - Willy Pete(smoke), Nova Gas, Flash Bang, Concussion, Decoy.

Lethal Grenades - Tomahawk, Frag, Semtex.

While in a lobby you can vote on which of two maps you'd like to play or make it a random selection.

Ok, it's after midnight. Info keeps trickling in and I'll update when more is found out. So, stick with me here. Hopefully I'll have some more for you guys tonight.

*Update* 12:30 AM

Customizable Face paints

Map Specific challenges

Probably going to bed pretty soon. If anything big breaks I'll let you know. If not good night to you all.

*Update* 12:33 AM

A Beta for Black Ops is looking unlikely.

That's it for tonight. Should be more out tomorrow and hopefully all the vids will be made public soon and the gamers who were able to capture will have uploaded their gameplays.

Goodnight

-Michael

*Update* 10:18 AM

Shotguns are primary weapons again(YAY!)

Tactical Insertion is back in the game. That may be the worst thing I've heard unless they fixed it so boosters can't exploit.

Random Wednesday - MySpace Survey

Hooray for having a random Wednesday topic fall into my lap. There will be something else(a change to a previous post) if you can tough this out.

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1. First thing you wash in the shower?: My Arms

2. What color is your favorite hoodie?: Black

3.Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?: Probably not

4. Do you plan outfits?: No

5. How are you feeling right now?: Annoyed and helpless

6. What's the closest thing to you that's red?: There's an Ohio State shirt on the floor

7. Do you say aim or A-I-M?: A-I-M

8. Last dream you remember having?: I was eavesdropping on people saying nasty things about me

9. Did you meet anybody new today?: No

10. What are you craving right now?: Escape

11. Do you floss?: No

12. What comes to mind when I say "cabbage?": I'm afraid I don't have an association in my mind with cabbage

13. When was the last time you talked on AIM?: It's been a while. A little less than a year.

14. Are you emotional?: Not really

15. Would you dance to the taco song?: What the hell is the taco song?

16. Have you ever counted to 1000?: No

17. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?: This is a good place to stop as Hayley and Kayley determined.

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Ok, the college football season hasn't started, so this isn't cheating. ok?

In this post, I made a prediction that Mark Ingram would win the Heisman Trophy. I'm backing way off of that. Ingram got hurt on Monday and they had to scope out his knee. He's going to miss game one and will be week by week after that. It seems to me that whenever someone gets their knee scooped it takes way longer to heal than is expected.

Ok, new prediction.

Heisman Winner

Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State

*Edit*

Two things. I totally forgot to do a signature. Hopefully I'll remember to do it at the end of this little tangent.

Ok, so the other day I was playing some free-for-all in MW2. Yes, I've started playing MW2 again. There's still a lot of annoying shit going down and were still waiting on a bloody patch, but I'm still playing it. I didn't want to tell you all about that. I want to share with what I heard over the mic that is by far the most fucked up shit I've ever heard on XBL*.

There is a ton of racism, sexism, gay-bashing, noob-blasting, and general douchbagery over XBL. That happens all the time. I'm pretty used to it. Just mute the person or people(it usually turns to people, because on gamer calling another a fag usually causes a shit storm.)

So, I'm playing on Terminal. Not doing to bad. Then I hear this guy talking about his brother** to his friend. He says that his brother had a psychological profile done and the results were that his brother has the profile of a serial killer. He was talking about how much of a sadistic sexual deviant his brother was.

Like, really. Why are you talking about this over a public free-for-all match? I mean XBL does have a private chat function. I think that is a good circumstance to use it. I don't want to hear it and you probably shouldn't share it with a bunch of strangers.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*Ok, my mic wasn't actually plugged in, but I did have my Turtle Beach head set on, which plays the chat channel clearly.
**I'm using brother, because that wasn't made explicitly clear that it was his brother. It's my best guess given the context of what he was saying.