Welcome back to Starting 5 – a weekly column by Operation Sports!
Each week, Managing Editor Shawn Drotar will tackle the world of sports and sports gaming in a rapid-fire discussion with a member of the Operation Sports staff.
This week’s guest: Mark Fossen!

Is there a question on your mind? Find out below how to submit your question for next week’s column!

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Starting 5 – Five hot-button topics in the world of Sports and Sports Gaming

1) The Cubs and Red Sox are still in the playoffs. Will we see finally see history happen, or is this just a new way to disappoint two long-suffering groups of fans at the same time?

Mark: With the Cubbies moving on, and the Red Sox completing their comeback against the A's, I think we may be heading for a World Series that will lower the temperature of Hell no matter who wins. We'll see the Cubs and the Sox battle it out to see who, in fact, is the most cursed team. Game 7, in the bottom of the 11th, Bud Selig will declare a tie - and two teams whose fan base is defined by losing will go to sleep secure in the knowledge that they are still the most cursed fans in all of sport.

Shawn: It’s not as farfetched as it sounds. I think the Cubs have to be favored (if only slightly) over the upstart Marlins, and the Red Sox – Yankees series is winnable for Beantown if they play like they did in the last three games against Oakland. Like I said last week, the end is near – for either the Cubs, Red Sox, or the Earth as we know it…

2) Five weeks does not an NFL season make. Name one team that has come stumbling out of the gate that you think can still turn it around, and another team that has started off strong who won't be playing in January.

Mark: Though I might be viewing the situation with green-tinted glasses, I really feel that the reports of the Eagles' demise have been greatly exaggerated. This is a team that has been to back-to-back NFC Championships, and started off the season against two excellent defensive schemers. If every quarterback that Monte Kiffin and Bill Belichick have embarrassed was actually a failure, there'd be a lot more NFL QBs on the unemployment line. Though losses though free agency and injury almost ensure the Eagles are not going to dominate the NFC East again, they haven't fallen into the cellar just yet.

Shawn: I agree with what you’re saying about Philadelphia. There’s another team to keep an eye on, too… the Raiders. Yes, they’re on the verge of collapse, and nearly out of the AFC West race already; but Oakland is as capable of winning five or six straight games as any team in the league. There are too many battle-tested veterans wearing the silver and black to let that team roll over just yet…

Mark: The team that will soon endure a crushing return to reality is the Cowboys. Though their record and offense look impressive, the caliber of their opponents isn't. They lost to an Atlanta team that has gone winless since, and then beat up on the Jets and the Cardinals - possibly two of the worst teams in the NFL. Their only win against a quality team was the Monday Night win against the Giants, and that was hardly a statement game. The Cowboys have climbed out of the gutter, and will achieve a mediocre record - so they are beating the teams that they should. However, I won't believe they are a playoff contender until I see them beat some better teams.

That said; this weekend's match-up between the Eagles and the Cowboys could very well define both teams’ seasons.

Shawn: The Cowboys deserve credit for their fast start, but you’re right, Mark – reality’s going to set in very quickly, and it won’t be pretty for Dallas. I’ve also got my eye on the Patriots. They’re getting by with smoke and mirrors right now, and I’m not sure they can sustain themselves in the competitive AFC East.

I can’t believe I just praised the Raiders and the Cowboys in the same… well, lifetime! I feel so dirty…

3) Sliders. Every game has them, and everyone wants to tweak them. Are they a "cheat", or a way to provide a gamer with a customized game? Do they allow developers to skip the difficult decisions, or do they empower the consumer?

Mark: I suppose that my dislike of sliders comes from my background in more traditional console gaming. Spending my gaming youth with Mario, Sonic, and Link accustomed me to meeting gaming challenges. If I couldn't complete a level, the problem was mine, and could only be fixed through practice. So when I get a game now and have trouble with a certain aspect, I assume it's up to me to try to learn to play better. By the same token, when a game is not enjoyable for me, I don't think that the solution is to spend hours of "research" figuring out how to adapt it to my tastes. When I pay my $50, I expect to get a finished game in return. Not a "Build Your Own Sim" toolkit.

Listening to the Beatles, I don't adjust the Lennon/McCartney slider. When I watched Episode 1, I didn't adjust the Jar-Jar slider. And when battling through the final levels of Halo, I didn't turn up the "Human Shooting" slider. I consider games to be a work of art, and I will enjoy them or not on their own terms. I'm not going to spend my time tweaking it to my tastes when there are so many other games available to play. I'd rather spend my hours gaming, not sliding.

Shawn: There was a Jar-Jar slider? Why wasn’t I informed? That would’ve helped me get the low-rent “Huggy Bear” imitation out of my head much sooner… oh, crud – now it’s back in there again! Thanks a lot, Mark…

Meesa have-a mixed feelings about sliders.

On one hand, I like having the opportunity to tweak a game to my liking - but when it becomes more work than play; the original intent is lost – as the point of having them in first place is to allow you to have more fun with the game. I don’t think it’s a shortcut for developers in any way, however – sliders are part of the code in a fashion – and now they’re just another part of the user interface. If changing sliders enhances your enjoyment of a game, then go for it. To that end, though – nobody has found “perfect” sliders - ever. Frankly, that’s impossible for more reasons than I have to time to list here. Moreover, slider settings are never “yours” – no more than a halfback screen pass is “yours”. You may run it with a five-yard drop instead of a four-yard drop, but that doesn’t mean you can claim the five-yard drop screen right as your own creation. Move on, please – yousa givin’ meesa ouch-er headache…

Sorry. Had to vent there. Coming next week on “Starting 5” – “More Stuff That Pisses Shawn Off…Part One of Fifty”…

4) Unlockables. Though they've been trickling in, this fall has really seen the floodgates open. From "The Crib" in ESPN NFL Football to the thousands of items in the Tiger Woods Pro Shop, what once was restricted to fighting games and platformers has now invaded sports gaming. Is this a cheap alternative to good gameplay, or is this the next step in sports gaming?

Shawn: Whatever floats your boat. I feel the same way about “unlockables” as I do about sliders. If people enjoy them, then more power to you. I’m just aware that a comparatively small group of people make these games, and I just can’t shake the feeling that their time might be better spent improving the games themselves; instead of taking the time to render a wide assortment of “EA Sports T-Shirts” to put on your virtual golfer…

Mark: While many professional athletes play "for the love of the game", they also play for the love of the bling-bling. I don't think there's anything wrong with rewarding people with little trinkets outside of their win-loss record. I think that unlocking helps to keep the single-player experience more rewarding, as you can look back as see what you've collected during your gaming time. With the advent of online console gaming, playing against the CPU definitely needs some sprucing up; and I think that the collectible nature of unlockables does just that.

Shawn: I do know this about “unlockables”– judging from our Forums, the first company to license a virtual Foot Locker will be sitting on a gold mine. A gold mine, I tell you!

5) Amid a week of controversy, Rush Limbaugh resigned from Sunday Morning Countdown. Was this the right move?

Mark: Rush has made a lucrative career from creating controversy, and to expect that giving him a position as the "Voice Of The Fan" would change that was a huge mistake on the part of ESPN. Rush was simply doing what he's always done: he made an outlandish statement designed to increase viewership. And while that works well in talk radio, it's not what I'm looking for in my NFL pregame show. He had become a distraction, and it was a good thing that he realized that the experiment had failed.

Shawn: Let me reprint my comments regarding Rush’s hiring by ESPN from the July 28th “Starting 5”:

“Whatever anyone’s feelings about Limbaugh may be, there’s no question that he has alienated a lot of people – a lot of people who might watch that show – that is, until they see Rush sitting next to Chris Berman and Tom Jackson. Chasing away a large percentage of your audience is what typically gets people fired. Once the novelty wears off, ESPN will drop Rush, and scramble to regain the viewers they’ve lost to Fox and CBS. I have no idea what Disney and ESPN are thinking here – but I do know that it’s not going to work.”

I know – not exactly Nostradamus – but there you have it. Limbaugh took the sensible way out – and further enhanced his stature with his true believers in the process. He’s nothing if not clever – which makes his statement even more asinine. I remember watching Doug Williams dismantle my beloved Broncos in the Super Bowl nearly twenty years ago. Warren Moon’s one of the finest players to ever take a snap from center. Naturally, the “media” (which Limbaugh apparently doesn’t consider himself a part of, despite being one of it’s very highest paid members – and he was even on a sports news program at the time of his comments!) is rooting for McNabb because they want a “black quarterback” to succeed. Some of the media (myself included) watched those aforementioned players, Rush – a long time ago. They succeeded, more followed, and even more are succeeding right now. How did you miss it? You’d think a football analyst would know better – but then again, Rush wasn’t a football analyst – he just played one on TV. And not very well at that.

6th Man – A little help off the bench

6) Miami barely pulled out a win against West Virginia, yet they retained their #2 ranking in the polls. Should they have dropped?

Mark: I was pleasantly surprised to see Miami stay in second in the polls. I had assumed that the close win would cost them at least a few spots, but was glad to see the voters reward winning. Although I know that the talent disparity in NCAA football means that margin of victory is important, I still think that simply continuing to win is often undervalued. Miami keeps winning games, and I'm not sure what else you can ask for.

Shawn: Yeah, okay. I can’t argue with that logic…but I’m going to, because I’ll be damned if I praise the Raiders, Cowboys and Hurricanes in the same article! Miami should have lost that game to the Mountaineers. They were outplayed in their home stadium, and were very lucky to win. I do think they should have dropped a spot or two to reflect their poor performance. If we’re going to say that the polls are ranking the best teams in order – then how they play should factor in, too.

24 Second Clock – Get one more off in 24 words or less

Mark: Dante Hall may be the most amazing player in the NFL right now. He's completely redefining a position that is usually an afterthought, and is a huge reason why the Chiefs are undefeated.