Olympic Basketball

I just watched the U.S. vs. Australia women's gold medal game. It was fantastic. The Ausies hung around and made a game of it for three quarters. Full measure to the U.S. women though. They turned it up a notch in the fourth quarter and the Ausies just didn't have an answer.

I guess I was half right yesterday regarding the men's side. I was wrong about the U.S. team's talent coming together and playing well. But I was right about a team that plays perfectly can beat a more talented group of individuals. The U.S didn't play well and Duncan was at the wrong end of some soft calls. But you would think that by now he would have adjusted. The U.S. team is deep enough that they shouldn't drop off as much as they do when Duncan is out. The Argentines played very well and got big contributions from a lot of different players.

It will be interesting to see if the U.S. team folds in the bronze medal game. I hope they don't. How they play in this last game will go a long way to dispel some of the foolishness about them not trying. I think they have tried throughout these games but just lacked some of the chemistry necessary to really do good things on the basketball court. The gold medal game should be exciting as two hungry teams go after the gold.

Looking around

This story reminds us of why we really need to be friendlier with our neighbours. Of course if you live in a house the neighbours would probably be more upset at the weeds and overgrown lawn. I guess neighbours checking to see if you're dead could be another plus for home ownership but I doubt if it will ever make any marketing plan.

It's really tough to accept sports that have judges. Especially when the judges admit to problems of coercion or where it is obvious to everyone watching that the score wasn't right. First we had skating problems and now we have the problems with gymnastics. If you watched this event you saw one athlete get ripped off when another scored what turned out to be an impossible score considering he actually fell on the vault. And of course there is the Paul Hamm thing. In all these cases the athletes are the victims. It's a shame. My take on this? Shewfelt should be given a bronze medal and Marian Dragulescu should also keep his bronze. Hamm should keep his gold and Yang should only be awarded a gold if the video showed no other glaring errors in the scoring. Why the difference? Because in Hamm's case the video replay exposed the scoring error while with Shewfelt the scoring rules were not followed. You don't need a video replay to see that Dragulescu fell on the vault and the scoring rules clearly define the mandatory deduction for that. The scoring rules also clearly define the procedure to follow when the scores don't add up. In both cases the athlete who was originally awarded the medal is not penalized for the judges not doing their jobs.

Speaking of the Olympics...this story bears a remarkable resemblance to the Canadian hockey experience at the last winter Olympics. Personally, I think the American talent will prevail but I like seeing teams beat individual talent. But usually teams without enough talent have to be perfect to overcome the talent they lack. Now with the Americans starting to play better as a team and being able to rally under the "us-against-the-world" banner, I expect their talent to mesh as a team. And that's bad news for the rest of the field.

Olympic Coverage

Marathon? Boring. I can't get excited about the marathon. Just tell me who wins and who passed out on the course. I don't need to see over 2 hours worth of running. Weightlifting. Again boring. Besides being so horribly tainted by drugs, it isn't exciting. Unless someone pops a limb of course. But that's more gross than exciting.

I haven't seen any coverage of handball. That looks like it might be something spectators/viewers could get into. It has elements of basketball and lacrosse. It sounds a whole lot better than two hours of very skinny people running until they can't run any more. Hmm. I think my grass is growing. Need to go watch some of that action!

Doom 3 - Part II

Well I finished the single player version of Doom 3. It was very good but even though I played it on the "Veteran" setting I thought it was a tad easy. There was only one section that stumped me for any length of time. Even the final boss was not terribly challenging.

You as Space Marine

Posted by Hello

As I mentioned in my previous post, the game failed to "wow" me as much as I thought it would. The game was designed to be played in single player mode (unlike the Quake-series which were much more multiplayer-centric). The game was dark and spooky. I had plenty of "o-crap" moments and moments where I literally jumped back in my seat. So from that perspective the game delivered.

The story was good but pretty predictable. There was only one twist I didn't really see coming. In fact this twist didn't make a lot of sense and seemed to be put in more to end that particular branch of the story rather than to make the story better.

The gameplay, as I mentioned previously was just OK. Perhaps I did expect too much. The pace of the game did pick up some in the middle part of the game but for the most part there was a lot of moving around in the dark and flipping between flashlight and weapon was a skill you needed to develop. The AI was never a factor and the main challenges were simply using cover and superior fire power to vanquish your foes.

I still need to give the multiplayer a run and by completing the game I now have the option to go through the game in Nightmare mode. Apparently this means ammo will be scarce and medpacks will not exist. You will also spend most of the game at 25% health as you drop 5% every 3-seconds or so until you reach the 25% level.

Do I recommend this game? That's a tough one. As an avid gamer, I think if you appreciate the history of the genre this game is a must have. But if I had no idea about the Doom history or who John Carmac and id software is, then I would say give this game a miss until its price hits rock bottom.

Hopefully some mods for this game will make the game seem far more worth the money. Right now I don't feel I got my money's worth. Although I do appreciate the historic value behind owning this title. Of course, the list-keeper does not share the sentiment.

You know you're getting old when....

...you come home from an amusement park and you are too sore to be amused.

We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Six Flags Darien Lake. We had a really good time but, man, is my body sore! My feet hurt from all the walking and my body hurts from the rides. My favorite ride was the Boomerang. A roller coaster where you go through a loop and corkscrew turn and then get launched through the thing backwards.

R.I.P.

Thanks to Joey at the Accordion Guy for pointing out the Tombstone Generator.

Here's mine:

I better be good so I can go to Heaven.

Posted by Hello

Doom 3 - Part I

I just started playing this much anticipated game from id Software. It is one of the most hyped games in recent memory. As I mentioned in another post the Doom franchise has a place in gaming history. And as such an icon, my expectations are pretty high for this game.

The original Doom games were all about smash-mouth first person shooting. Hordes of demons and hell's minions attacked you and you had to use your quickness and firepower to overcome the odds. This new game is totally different (so far). The game is dark, very dark. Things jump out of the dark at you. You tend to survey a room for possible problem spots before entering whereas in the original doom games you pretty much just plowed on full steam ahead. The atmosphere is far scarier than the originals. So far I haven't been told much of the plot yet. I am still a space marine trying to get back with my unit.

I'm not really sure if I like this game yet. Don't get me wrong, it is a stunningly beautiful game from a graphics point of view. But the pace is so different from what I imagined. The gameplay doesn't break any new ground and the AI is pretty predictable. Hopefully, as the story line unfolds, I'll start to feel better about this game. Maybe my expectations were too high. I hope not.

Huzzah!

Jousting Tournament 


We attended the Ontario Rennaisance Festival and had a grande olde tyme. The knight in full armour shown above was just one of the many things to see there as you step back in time to taste a little of what life might have been like at a festival in 1563 in the realm of Queen Elizabeth I.

The grounds are open for 7 weekends and if you are into things like this you will have a good time. Check out their site and then check them out.

This is going to leave a mark!