Tag Archives: Jim Nantz

OUCH! I HURT!

Greetings, readers. Yesterday at 7:15 my friend Smith and I went for morning coffee as per usual. We were on the way home from coffee and errands when the unlikely happened. I passed out, fell right into her, knocking her over, and the ambulance was called, setting in motion the seven and a half hours away from home. Both of us were treated at the ER for our minor bumps and bruises. That I expected. What I didn’t expect, since we came in together, was that it took almost all day for either one of us to find out any info on the other. I guess you can chalk that up to the HIPAA law. Needless to say, she was just as worried about me as I was about her.

Around 2:00 or so we got discharged and by some miracle the first bus we needed was arriving just as we walked out the front door. It was one of the first things that went right all day. Then we transferred to a bus called the White Loop, which dropped us off near our front door. I came home, turned on some TV, sat down, and slept through three people knocking on my door. I was exhausted. I felt bad about that, but as many people have told me, I must have needed the rest.

I ate a light supper, took my first dose of antibiotic for a slight sinus infection, which is the only thing that they found wrong in my blood work, and was in bed by 8:30. Sitting down was not fun, even on the mattress … and still isn’t. Once I laid down on either side, no problem, I slept fine. The two big injuries for me are my hurt backside, and my pride. My friend walked away with a few bruises. She has already had one concussion in her life, and I was so afraid that number two would have been caused by me. I feeling a little bit sore today, but I am sitting on a comfy pillow given to me by Smith.

With that out of the way, I shall talk briefly about the not so super Super Bowl. It was the lowest scoring Super Bowl ever, with the final score 13-3 Patriots. The third year Rams starting quarterback, Jared Goff, looked quite frankly scared to death on the sidelines. Don’t get me wrong, he is a great young quarterback, but when it came to the big game, his knees were a-shakin’. The Rams defense was stellar, holding New England to a mere 13 points. If it had been any other game, people might have called it a classic. I’d be willing to bet you though, that most people want to see high scoring Super Bowls.

Even though I watched this game, I found myself dozing off a couple of times. Not even the broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo, whom I like a lot, could save this snoozer. I would love to see what the TV ratings were. I doubt that they were very high.

Reflecting on the Super Bowl and sports in general, I ask myself this question: Are all of the final games of a sports season that boring? Absolutely not. Back in the Chicago Bulls heyday, they had wonderfully exciting championship playoff series’. The same can be said in the NBA years ago when the Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers duked it out many times. Football is too punishing of a sport to do this, but I wish that instead of having a Super Bowl game, they would play for the best two out of three. Just in case that a team has an off day, they would have at least one more chance to equalize.

To the Patriots’ fans, congratulation. To the Ram’s fans, I know you will be a powerhouse for a number of years yet. Don’t give up on quarterback Goff.

Until Sunday when I will put up another dictated blog entry via the voice recognition program, take care, have a great few days, and happy reading.

Report on Madden25

Greetings, readers. It’s official. I am addicted to this game. After scrimping and saving for months, I was able to save up just enough to purchase Madden25 (the 25th anniversary of Madden) online via the Playstation store. Here is my report on this game and my rating.

Having not played the last two Madden versions, I did not know that they had switched their announcing team from Cris Collinsworth and Gus Johnson to Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. Sorry Cris and Gus, but Jim and Phil edge you out. That’s not to say that the old team didn’t bring style and class all their own. Now on to game play.

Madden25 has something called connected owner mode. It is simply fascinating. After one season of play, you can move a team, there are seventeen cities to choose from, and change the team name or keep it the same. There are usually three or four team names to choose from. For instance, the Rams could go back to Los Angeles or become the LA Aftershocks. Other cool team names are the Toronto Thunderbirds and the London Black Knights.

As always, you can adjust how many minutes per period you play and the skill levels. Even though I am using what they call custom sliders, I’m still winning rather easily. My made-up team the Portland Lumberjacks (I moved the Rams to Portland) are 8-3. Next season I will probably increase the difficulty level. As you know I am a glutton for punishment. My next season test will be to move a team to Barcelona and choose one of their two or three name choices. I’ve had the game two weeks now and I’m still learning. Such fun.

Now to the very slight negatives of this game. Sorry Mr. Simms but I gotta tell you that even though your commentary is excellent, I have two criticisms. And I don’t know whose fault they are. Number one I suppose is the developer’s fault for making a lot of your commentary way too repetitive. Second, I’m not sure if you do this in real life, but they have made you a very negative and picky broadcaster. When I say out loud to the TV screen, “Oh, shut up, Phil,” I know I’ve heard one of your picky comments, such as, “That’s just a bad play call by the offense,” too many times.

Other than the commentary being a bit too repetitive, this is probably one of the best video games I’ve ever gotten my hands on. As some of you know, I am a MLB TheShow baseball nut and Madden25 made me shelve the baseball game mid-season. As with all addictive personalities, the newness from this game will wear off, and I’m sure I won’t play it quite as much in the weeks and months to come.

Now for the four final grades.

Gameplay: A+

Commentary: B-  (The sideline reporter, Danielle Bellini is a definite highlight.)

Ease of Game Play: B+ (The verdict is still out on this one, for I am still experimenting.)

Other intangibles, such as ambiance and team movement: A+

Final rating: A- (A good solid 9.75)

Ok folks, let the debate begin and please do chime in with comments if you wish. I will respond.

Until next week, have a good weekend, take care, and happy reading.