In case anyone hasn't gotten Madden 09 yet for their PS3, you may want to check Target. They're selling the Collector's Edition (With Head Coach 09) for $45 at some stores.

I got my copy today

Well, tomorrow is my official last day working at my current company, and I don't have nearly enough stuff done. I know that once I'm gone, it won't matter to me as much, but I still don't want to leave people in a lurch.

U-Haul screwed us over big-time, by not reserving a truck for us at the local store (La Crosse) and instead telling us our truck is in Winona, Minnesota, which is 35 miles one way from here. So we have to drive a huge truck back from there, pay for the gas and if we go over our mileage amount, then pay extra for that as well, because they screwed up. Ugh.

Saturday's the big day of moving, though we'll probably load up the truck at least somewhat tomorrow night thanks to help from friends of my wife and I. But it'll be lots of fun getting the apartment ready after we get everything moved into the place.

That's all for now, I'm wiped from work this week (I have a full week's hours in + 2, and it's only Thursday) so I'm going to the store.

If this doesn't make much sense, I apologize. My brain's beyond fuzzy.

F#$* YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I'm still waiting, which wouldn't be as bad normally, but they said people usually hear that day or quickly the day afterwards.

EDIT: Apparently they're pretty close to figuring things out, so I should hear today, but thinks are looking pretty good..

So I just got a call asking me to come in for the interview tomorrow, instead of Wednesday. So much for having two days to prepare...

Just had a phone interview for a job. I think it went well, but trying to get a reaction out of these guys was tough. Of course, this is the type of job I really want to do (Java application development against databases) so I ended up being nervous during the interview itself. I'm supposed to hear something today, so here's hoping it's good news.

EDIT: Well, they called me back at 11 this morning and set up an interview for next Wednesday, so it looks like I'm in good shape right now!

http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/story?id=3482166

I was thinking today I wasn't going to bother with the NL All-Stars in continuation of my last blog post since nobody read it. I posted it on here, SportingNews.com and ESPN.com and got a total of one comment between the three.

However, I didn't realize the one comment was from the general ESPN editor's account, and my post was included with their "Hits from the fan bloggers box", which selects some of the best blog posts from the week:

"Among the hundreds of blog posts and thousands of comments posted on ESPN.com each week we observe fan analysis ranging in quality from weak popups and double-play balls to line drives hit so hard a metro columnist would duck.

The [seven] bloggers below impressed us with their offense and earned a spot in this week's starting lineup"

Eat it, everyone whose never won a Nobel Prize! (...or something like that)

Now that the All-Star fan voting is complete, and the full team rosters have been announced, I would like to add my own thoughts to the rosters and the All-Star Game in general.

First off, I want to mention the fan voting again. I have to admit that in years past I've been overly critical of fan voting since some of the selections end up being fitting. However, the same popularity contest issues come up every year. This is due, I believe, to both fan biases and different opinions about what the All-Star Game should really be. The fan bias part is obvious; the teams with the largest markets and TV exposure and hype (If the fans could vote on the pitchers, any doubt Joba Chamberlain is starting for the AL?) will garner the most votes. This always leads to players with mediocre or sub-par seasons receiving way too many votes (Jason Varitek, Kaz Matsui, and Ken Griffey Jr. come to mind). The other issue, while not as significant, is what people think selection to the All-Star rosters really means. Some people think of it as a showcase for players they like, others treat it as a lifetime acheivement award or at least a culmination of the previous few seasons' results. I personally think the All-Star Game should reward players' achievements so far that season until the voting closes. This season, someone like a Nate McLouth or Ryan Ludwick deserves a spot on the team over proven players like Griffey Jr. I do want to clarify that I'm not trying to belittle Griffey's accomplishments throughout his career, including his 600th home run this year. He's one of the greatest players we've seen in the last 25 years, and I firmly believe that he would be considered one of the all-time greats in Major League history if not for the multitude of injuries suffered in Cincinnati (and I don't think many people would argue with me there). However, those feats should not be included in the current All-Star Game. Plus, everyone knows Griffey's accomplishments and talents, we certainly don't need an All-Star selection to tell us that. I do want to include one caveat about my last statement; I will take into consideration past performances in the instance of a personal tie-breaker. For example, if I consider Adrian Gonzalez and Albert Pujols to be equally deserving cantidates for the team, I would take Pujols due to him proving that he's the better overall player. However, that is all the influence I think a player's history should have in their selection to the All-Star team.

Now, onto the rosters. I'll list the actual rosters first (Starters then reserves), then include my own version. For each position, I'll include 10 possible players (20 for the outfield) comprised of the actual players on the roster, the top five vote-getters, and other players who are leading in various stat categories (RBIs, runs, average, OPS). I will also put the rank out of the 10 or 20 players I selected as possibilities.

Note that this is only the position players and not the entire 31 man roster.


AMERICAN LEAGUE

ACTUAL STARTERS:
C - Joe Mauer (MIN) - #1 on my list
1B - Kevin Youkilis (BOS) - #1 on my list
2B - Dustin Pedroia (BOS) - #2 on my list
SS - Derek Jeter (NYY) - #2 on my list
3B - Alex Rodriguez (NYY) - #1 on my list
OF - Josh Hamilton (TEX) - #1 on my list
OF - Manny Ramirez (BOS) - #7 on my list
OF - Ichiro Suzuki (SEA) - #16 on my list
DH - David Ortiz (BOS - Injured) - #7 on my list

MY STARTERS:
C - Joe Mauer (MIN)
1B - Kevin Youkilis (BOS)
2B - Ian Kinsler (TEX)
SS - Michael Young (TEX)
3B - Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
OF - Josh Hamilton (TEX)
OF - J.D. Drew (BOS)
OF - Carlos Quentin (CWS)
DH - Milton Bradley (TEX)

ACTUAL RESERVES:
C - Dioner Navarro (TB) - #3 on my list
C - Jason Varitek (BOS) - #9 on my list
1B - Justin Morneau (MIN) - #2 on my list
2B - Ian Kinsler (TEX) - #1 on my list
SS - Michael Young (TEX) - #1 on my list
3B - Joe Crede (CWS) - #5 on my list
3B - Carlos Guillen (DET) - #4 on my list
OF - J.D. Drew (BOS) - #2 on my list
OF - Carlos Quentin (CWS) - #3 on my list
OF - Grady Sizemore (CLE) - #6 on my list
DH - Milton Bradley (TEX) - #1 on my list

MY RESERVES:
C - A.J. Pierzynski (CWS)
C - Dioner Navarro (TB)
1B - Justin Morneau (MIN)
2B - Dustin Pedroia (BOS)
SS - Derek Jeter (NYY)
3B - Evan Longoria (TB)
3B - Mike Lowell (BOS)
OF - Nick Markakis (BAL)
OF - Jermaine Dye (CWS)
OF - Grady Sizemore (CLE)
DH - Aubrey Huff (BAL)

COMMENTS:
My issues with the All-Star team have mostly come up right away with the American League catcher spot. However, it's a bit different than normal as the fans got the voting right with Mauer. However, Varitek should not have been the second place vote-getter. This wouldn't bother me as much, except for some inexplicible reason, Varitek was put on the All-Star roster as a reserve. I can understand that most of the players wouldn't be clamoring for A.J. Pierzynski to be on the roster, but Varitek over Ivan Rodriguez? (Who has been way better than I thought) When you've got a player who is only in the top five in two categories (#2 in HR, #5 in doubles) among AL catchers, he's not an All-Star.

As for first base, the top three vote getters were actually my top three as well. While Paul Konerko doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the All-Star Game (10th on my list) getting the top three players right is nice to see.

Second base was good for the top two spots, though Kinsler has easily been the better player so far this year. With the next two vote getters, Robinson Cano was my #10 second baseman and Placido Polanco was #7, but Brian Roberts was #3 on my list, so the voting overall wasn't horrible. I do think Cano will end up the season with much better relative numbers than now, but he's not even close to an All-Star at this point.

Shortstop was a bit of a tough choice, mainly looking at the backup spot. Michael Young has been the best shortstop in the AL this year, but the second place person was a tough choice. Derek Jeter, Jhonny Peralta, and Orlando Cabrera would all have been decent choices here (Only Peralta was not in the top five for voting, too) but in the end, I couldn't get past Peralta's .299 OBP.

Third Base = Alex Rodriguez. It never seems to change; A-Rod always puts together great seasons. Well, great regular seasons at that. The reserve for this spot is a bit tougher. While Miguel Cabrera was the #4 vote-getter at third base, he has actually only played 14 games at third and 73 at first, so I'm considering him more of a first baseman here. If he was at third, he may have been one of the reserves, but instead Evan Longoria and Mike Lowell get the nod.

Wow, the outfield had a ton of good choices. Obviously, Josh Hamilton was an easy selection and it's nice to see the fans realize that as well. In all honesty, Manny and even Ichiro were not poor choices as well, but there were players that were more deserving. It's amazing how different J.D. Drew is this year as opposed to last season, and Carlos Quentin is putting up much better numbers than most people would realize. Jermaine Dye missed out on the final vote, but at least Evan Longoria was a deserving candidate as well. Nick Markakis is in Baltimore, so he had no chance of people realizing how good he's been this year, and I don't mind the choice of Grady Sizemore over him for the actual roster by the players and coaches.

If it wasn't for all the (deserved) attention to Josh Hamilton this year, people would realize that Milton Bradley's numbers are unbelievably good. Who leads the American League in slugging? Bradley. Who leads the AL in OBP? Bradley. Yet the most press he's gotten so far this year is from "wanting to introduce himself" to Royals TV announcer Ryan Lefebvre. Rightfully so, after David Ortiz's injury forced him out of the All-Star Game, Bradley became the starting designated hitter. As for the the reserve DH, I don't know if the ballot didn't include him or what, but Aubrey Huff wasn't in the top 5 voting-wise, yet Huff had better numbers than guys like Ortiz, Hideki Matsui (Who has been injured for a bit), and Jim Thome. In fact, Huff has more doubles, home runs, and RBIs than Bradley, which is saying quite a lot this year.

With the American League this year, the fans did a nice job overall with their voting. They got the obvious guys starting (Rodriguez, Hamilton) and when missing the best choice (Kinsler, Young) their choices were understandable. Even the picks of Manny Ramirez and Ichiro Suzuki were defensible, since both are having good if not great seasons (Though not by either players' standards).

First off, the Brewers have traded for C.C. Sabathia for four prospects. This really should send the Brewers to the playoffs, and I could see them winning the division. If the Wild Card isn't out of the NL Central, I'll be completely stunned. Now here's hoping they can shore up their bullpen a bit more.

The MLB All-Star rosters were released yesterday and as usual, the fan voting was shaky. However, the players voted Jason Varitek to the team, which I still can't understand. I'm working on my full roster selection article, so I'll get that up soon, hopefully.

I went and saw Wall-E this weekend and I'm really sad to say that I didn't enjoy it. I've always loved Pixar movies, but I left this one just feeling depressed and rather confused (My wife was pretty much the same way). I'm going to watch it again when it comes out on video, but I didn't enjoy it this time and I'm hoping that can change because I want to like it.

Back to baseball, why don't baseball video games have a mode where you can pick up from that day in real baseball and play from there? I'd love to take over the Brewers on my game in the same situation as real life and see what happens for the rest of the season. Considering MLB 08 updates every week, this wouldn't be a huge jump. How about adding this weekly, even?

Woke up at 4 AM because of failures at work. It takes me 45 minutes to get the thing running again (because the program I need to run won't start) and now it's 6 AM, so I'm going to work.

Ugh.

I just watched Italy/Spain until the 114th minute... and my recording ran out. In a 0-0 game.

*sigh*

That just tops off my awful night.

Well, I've been trying for the past few months to find a job around Madison, but that plan has been changed.

My wife just got a job teaching in New Berlin, which is near Milwaukee, so now my job search heads in that direction. I'm hoping to find something by August 1st, but it's going to be tough, as my professional experience doing more in-depth programming is limited.

I blame my lack of participation on here at least partially on this (and partially me being lazy), as my motivation levels have been dragging under the stress of finding a new job (and starting from scratch in my serach).

I'll keep people up to date on what happens.

Oh, and Brandon, looks like I'll be living quite close to you coming up here. Once I'm moved, and if you're not back at school yet, I'll have to buy you a beer sometime.

so it's not quite on King's level or anything, but I got to the 5,000 post mark. I'd love to see a breakdown of where most of my posts have occurred; I would guess the MBU and GBPU has to be a decent amount, with FIFA 08 being another biggie.

For the weekend, my friend Nick is on his way here, and hopefully he makes it. The storms we've gotten the past week have been nightmarish for everything, including travel into and out of South-Central Wisconsin. Here's hoping I can see him in about two hours. Then, it'll be a wonderful, Euro-filled weekend

Have a good weekend, and take care everyone!

I do plan on getting back to the question from my last blog sometime, but not right now. However, there is a bit of a connection between that and my post here.

I decided yesterday to get a DVR from Charter. I've got a marginally working VCR hooked up to my main TV, but I don't know where I have any VHS tapes, and watching standard cable is bad enough, but VHS? Eww.

One of the main factors with getting the DVR was actually upcoming soccer matches. I first thought to get it because of today's USA/England "friendly" which starts at 1:45 PM, which is way too early for me to get home. However, I can watch the game tonight after softball, and even skip halftime. Plus, for those of you that haven't watched soccer games before, it's very nice to have a pause feature if you need to use the restroom or get something to eat, because the game doesn't stop for more than 10 seconds at a time.

Also, starting June 7th all the way until June 29th, ESPN and ABC will be showing every game of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament. This is similar to the World Cup, except that it only includes UEFA (Read: European) teams. There are sixteen teams in the finals (Go Italy!) and a total of 32 games. The cool part is that they play every day in that stretch except for June 23rd (My anniversary!) and 24th.

On a related note, if you have a few friends who have any interest in soccer (or just like playing soccer games), grab Euro 2008 for whatever system you can get it for. They've got a mode called "Captain Your Country" where you go through qualifying with a squad and hopefully the tournament in a co-op/competitive mode where you and three friends all compete to be the captain of the team. I've played it on my own so far and it's fun, but it's going to be amazing once I get a few guys to play along with me.

I'll make this part short and sweet: If you could watch any sporting event, but only ONE of them, which would you choose? This is assuming your team(s) are not in the final.

Examples:
- The Super Bowl

- Game 7 of the World Series

- Game 7 of the NBA Finals

- Game 7 of the NHL Finals

- Indy 500 or Daytona 500

- Champions' League Final

- World Cup Final

"We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all we've got..."

- David Bowie's Five Years

Whoa, I missed it over the weekend (My wife had her college graduation) but I just passed my five year anniversary on GameSpot. I'm pretty sure I started my account mainly to put my game collection on the site with a friend of mine, and that was about it.

I won't go into too much detail about my time here, but I've seen a lot of changes to the site, including the big merger with GameFAQs. I've also managed to be an officer in three Unions: The Milwaukee Brewers Union, The Green Bay Packers Union (Twice), and actually The Everything Baseball Union a while back as well. With the Unions, I have to mention bgres, king, and ngamer, since you three are the ones I've talked with the most on here by a long shot (and the former two might be the only people who bother to read my stuff anyways )

Besides my unions, my favorite place on the board actually has been the FIFA Soccer 08 boards. There were a lot of really nice people on there (Surprising on the Internet) and I usually had a good time with the tournaments. Even though most people from there won't see this, I did enjoy talking with them and playing (Unless I was getting pounded, then I got mad)

Alright, that's enough from me, but thank you again to everyone who's made GS fun for me, and I'll see you around

Since I haven't put anything sports-related in my blog for a while, I at least wanted to add my picks for the MLB All-Star Teams (Field positions only right now). Once we get a bit closer to the game, I'll add some thoughts to each player. For now, I'm listing the starter for each position plus the next two backups (Each outfield spot has one backup).

American League
C - Joe Mauer (MIN), A.J. Pierzynski (JERK), Kurt Suzuki (OAK)
1B - Kevin Youkilis (BOS), Casey Kotchman (LAA), Justin Morneau (MIN)
2B - B.J. Upton (TB), Dustin Pedroia (BOS), Ian Kinsler (TEX)
3B - Carlos Guillen (DET), Alex Gordon (KC), Chone Figgins (LAA)
SS - Michael Young (TEX), Derek Jeter (NYY), Edgar Renteria (DET)
DH - David Ortiz (BOS), Aubrey Huff (BAL), Milton Bradley (TEX)
OF - Manny Ramirez (BOS), Carlos Quentin (CWS), Magglio Ordoņez (DET), Hideki Matsui (NYY), Josh Hamilton (TEX), Carl Crawford (TB)

National League
C - Geovany Soto (CHC), Brian McCann (ATL), Ryan Doumit (PIT)
1B - Lance Berkman (HOU), Albert Pujols (STL), Conor Jackson (ARI)
2B - Chase Utley (PHI), Dan Uggla (FLA), Ryan Theriot (CHC)
3B - Chipper Jones (ATL), Garrett Atkins (COL), David Wright (NYM)
SS - Rafael Furcal (LAD), Miguel Tejada (HOU), Hanley Ramirez (FLA)
OF - Xavier Nady (PIT), Nate McLouth (PIT), Pat Burrell (PHI), Justin Upton (ARI), Matt Holliday (TEX), Ryan Church (NYM)

I realize everyone and their brother (or cousin) has been giving their thoughts on GTA, but oh well. I can do whatever I want in my blog. It's not like my other posts are any more interesting

I didn't do a whole lot last night with the game since I wasn't back home until after 9 and I wanted to get to bed before too late, but I did manage to wander around town a bit after the opening cut scene and had a few fun things. I mentioned in my last post about having a few fights and following the cop car, so I won't rehash those here. After I did that, I went into a clothing store and after spending 30 seconds trying to figure out how to purchase clothes, I just beat down the woman behind the counter. I proceeded to get scolded by the game: "You cannot purchase clothes if the worker is dead. Control yourself".

After wandering around a bit more and getting a burger from the cafe near Roman's apartment, I decided to try out multiplayer for a bit. I went through the tutorial (A nice little addition) and played free mode for a few minutes with one other random person (We just killed each other back and forth). Then I decided to play one game of deathmatch before I went to bed. I got a nice 10 minute game in with 10 people, and actually managed to place fourth, which I was happy and rather surprised about.

Obviously the gameplay is great fun so far, and I'm intentionally not starting with the main storyline yet because it makes it a bit easier to sit at work today and tomorrow. I do have a few complaints so far, though.

First off, I can understand Niko not moving too quickly especially when walking, but it seems like a challenge to turn to the side. Again, I realize this is a realism thing, but it's a bit tough to get used to after playing other third-person action games and even the other GTAs.

Second, I'm annoyed by the amount of swearing on the radio stations. I don't know if it's supposed to be different with New York or what, but when I listen to the radio for 10 minutes and hear six F-bombs from the DJs (Not even callers into the talk shows) it kills a bit of the realism for me. Plus, you don't need obscenities every five seconds to make a game edgy.

Overall, I'm liking the feel of the game, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting into the story. I'm also pumped to try out some of the other multiplayer modes, like Cops and Crooks. Oh, and whoever invited me to the multiplayer game last night, I'm sorry I didn't respond, I was following the police car

Yes, GTA is mine. Except I've only been able to play for 30 minutes so far and I have to go to bed within an hour and a half. Oh well, I'll be rocking it this weekend a lot.

Quick story: I start out walking around the city a bit, I beat two guys down (One picked the fight with me), ate a hot dog, knocked a cigarette out of a guy's hand (Smoking's bad) then stole a taxi. As I'm driving the taxi, I tried pulling over and honking at people to get in and pay me fares. I ended up watching across the road as a car came driving up and smacked into a guy.

The guy proceeded to get up, go the door and pull the other guy out of the car, and they started fighting. This promped the cop next to my car (About 30 feet away) to run over and arrest one of the guys (Not sure which one, probably the guy that was hit originally. They always catch the retaliation). The cop holds the guy up until a squad car shows up, they put the guy in the car, the foot officer gets into the car as well, and they drive off.

Me being curious, I decide to follow them. I've currently been driving around for about five minutes behind this squad car carrying three cops and a guy who was arrested for fighting. I'm hoping we get to the police station soon so my following pays off.

EDIT: Well, the cop car went in circles more or less for about 15 minutes until I accidentally rear-ended them and had to get rid of a wanted star.

I want GTA. My friend Nick got it, and I asked him how it was. This is the reponse I got:

"GTA4 is like if there was a guitar made entirely out of solid-gold ninjas and it was played by Jesus."