Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Today I picked up a used copy of MLB 2K6, hoping to take a look at the ONE game (in the 6 year history of the event) to represent the World Baseball Classic. I had hoped to detail the specifics of the mode, see if it could work within a modern franchise mode, and perhaps simulate the tournament for fun.
But something happened on the way to the field--actually, more like something didn't happen. I couldn't get to the actual game part of the mode without a hard freeze of my 360. I remember this being an issue when the game was new, but had figured it had been resolved. A quick look of our original review (http://www.operationsports.com/revie...-baseball-2k6/) shows that it was corrected, at least at one time.
It seems that the passing of time, or at least hardware and/or software changes, have resurrected the problem at some point in the past six years; which got me thinking: are modern "obsolete" games becoming disposable?
See, in a room next to my gaming set up is a box of old consoles. Once in a while, I hook up the old Sega Genesis for some World Series Baseball or fire up the Dreamcast for some Crazy Taxi. I recently played GoldenEye 64 with some buddies to rekindle some college memories. Sure, I know that occasionally a cartridge needs to be blown out or a lens needs to be cleaned. But primarily, these consoles (and their games) work just as they originally did.
But today we read about servers being shut down, updates being scrapped, digital games being pulled from sales, or, in my case, a game that simply no longer functions due to its age. Granted, this MLB 2K6 bug seems to be an isolated incident, but I'm sure there are other games that aren't fully functional, or at least as functional, as they once were.
What games have you experienced from this generation that no longer work? Do you think our reliance on online services, software updates, and digital media mean our current games have a truly finite lifespan? Will people still be playing--or even be able to play--games from this generation?
04:51 PM - January 22, 2013. Written by VisceralBishop
UPDATE #2: Well, we have more good news: The '90s Arcade Racer now has a publisher, Nicalis. With that comes even better news, the game is now set to release on iOS, Android, PC, Mac, Linux, and wait...Wii U. So even after it reached its Kickstarter goal, Pelikan13 has even more to celebrate. If you still want to support it, you have five days left to become a backer.
UPDATE: It has crossed the finish line. The '90s Arcade Racer has officially raised the £10,000 it was originally asking for. The Kickstarter still has 11 days left, so you can still back the project if you have yet to do so.
"Hey, look, another Kickstarter for a video game." I bet that is something you are tired of hearing; but before you decide to not read ahead, if you are a fan of racing games like Daytona USA and Indy 500, then The '90s Arcade Racer Kickstarter is definitely for you.
Scheduled to be released for PC, Mac, and Linux in late November, the developer Pelikan13, has stated that he would also like to see it on the PlayStation Vita. When a mention of a Vita version came up on YouTube, he said "It's funny because Vita is the console I would like to see it on and the ideal target platform. So I developed the visuals to be as light as possible in order to get a high frame rate on it if it ever came to be."
Pelikan13 is looking for a total of £10,000 (approx. $15,860) by February 17, with £5,422 (approx. $8,599.29) already raised, and 209 total backers as of this writing. With the help of the OS community, I am sure this game can get fully backed as it looks like a ton of fun to play. Here is a trailer and little more information about the game.
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For more details on The '90s Arcade Racer, you can check out its Kickstarter and YouTube page.
01:29 PM - January 22, 2013. Written by jmik58
Do some NCAA bylaws go beyond protecting collegiate sports by contradicting the mission of the NCAA?
The Iowa basketball team isn't protesting or crying foul. They found other ways to remember the 20th anniversary of the death of Hawkeyes basketball player Chris Street.
But a request to do a little more to honor the former star was shot down by the NCAA. Head coach, Fran McCaffery, had sought out the possibility that the squad could have a nameplate that read "STREET" sewn onto the back of their uniforms where the current players' last names are. The NCAA promptly shot down that request.
Undeterred, the Hawkeyes decided to place a Chris Street jersey over the chair on the end of the bench to honor the former star's memory. Call it divine intervention, solid play, or an emotional boost -- but Iowa pulled off the minor upset, taking down the Wisconsin Badgers 70-66.
In a recent speech, NCAA president Mark Emmert stated, "...let’s make sure our bylaws are designed to foster competition, promote values and advance the collegiate model."
While Emmert likely wasn't referring to the little things -- think bigger issues in Happy Valley and in the world of recruiting -- but it's hard to believe a more streamlined approach isn't available for exceptions to situations similar to that of Iowa trying to honor a fallen player. I find it hard to believe that a one-game name change would hinder competition, dissuade positive values, and stop the advancement of the collegiate model. The attempted gesture by Iowa was as pure and amateur as it gets.
Sound Off: Do you agree with the NCAA's decision?
Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Give him hell in the comments or on Twitter: @long_snapper
Monday, January 21, 2013
Did New England and Bill Belichick get beat at their own game?
It was only a matter of time before the hoodie behind Spygate finally got a taste of his own medicine.
Call it karma, the law of averages, or good ol' fashioned irony; but it sounds like the Baltimore Ravens may have out-smarted New England and head coach Bill Belichick in their AFC Championship game victory this past Sunday. During pregame commentary of the CBS broadcast, Baltimore defensive personnel was paraphrased as having knowledge of all of Tom Brady's offensive audible calls and hand-signals.
But surely the Patriots would adjust. Bill Belichick, the son of the man who literally wrote the book on football scouting, couldn't possibly lose his edge by failing to stay one step ahead mentally. Or maybe he did?
How else do you describe a thirteen-point performance by the league's highest scoring offense? The Patriots -- who averaged nearly thirty-five points per game (per game!) during the 2012 regular season -- underperformed the law of averages on their home turf by over twenty points. Meanwhile, Baltimore touted the 12th ranked scoring defense in the league (21.5 ppg) in 2012. Granted, anything can happen in the NFL and especially the playoffs, and perhaps Bill Belichick getting out-foxed is one of those things.
Bill Belichick is the supposed master of situations and has found ways to win games with less-than-stellar players. Patriots offenses have always been elite thanks to Tom Brady's skills -- mental as much as physical -- and the defensive side has done just enough to stay one step ahead of opponents.
But have the Patriots -- and Bill Belichick -- suffered yet another season-ending blow thanks to their own arrogance and subsequent complacency? Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs things so. Or maybe their edge was Spygate-type tactics. After all, the Patriots haven't won a Super Bowl since the scandal occurred.
But even worse for Belichick's standards, perhaps the Patriots failed to evolve; losing their edge. It looks like the brains under the hoodie got beat at their own game.
Sound Off: What is Bill Belichick's legacy at this point in his career? Is karma at play in the recent failures of New England to win a championship?
Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Give him hell in the comments or on Twitter: @long_snapper
Friday, January 18, 2013
06:07 PM - January 18, 2013. Written by Wiggy
Hey, hey --Just checking in with some Friday links for you folks, covering some news for NHL 13 as well as the the full spread of the fighting world. Check 'em out below.
NHL 13
* ESPN and EA finished their season simulation (while the lockout was underway), and there were some surprising results. I thought the Stanley Cup winner was interesting, considering what I had mentioned about this last week. Check out the full breakdown here.
* EA is also running a new tournament for HUT called "The Liberty Cup," and it requires a certain amount of Rangers players on your HUT team, as well as a few other prerequisites. The winners for the off-line and on-line tournaments win some EA pucks.
* There is also a new trailer out from EA to commemorate the "new" season.
EA UFC
* A couple of videos have gone up on youtube purporting to be leaks from the new EA UFC game, and they feature some stills and face models from the game. Check it out here and here.
* EA also posted a some behind-the-scenes photos from the development of the new game.
WWE '13
* According to VGChartz, WWE '13 is selling very well. This is good news, as the game deserves some love, especially if they keep going in that direction for future games.
Boxing
* A cool news story about an art exhibit honoring Muhammad Ali. I particularly like that the artists who helped create this were from across the USA.
* There are a few previews up for the HBO tripleheader on Saturday. Check 'em out here, here and here.
If the NFL is a quarterback-driven league, how important are those responsible for protecting the driver?
Offensive linemen have one job: Get in the way without getting in the way. It sounds simple enough yet complicated at the same time. It's football's catch-22 position. Damned if you do, damned if you don't
They don't touch the ball -- at least not on purpose -- making it hard to quantify the value of offensive linemen to the casual eye. Football isn't a game where points are tallied based on pancakes. Run the ball, throw the ball, catch the ball, score -- if that's not in your job description then how important can you be?
After all, quarterbacks are judged in part for their ability to get the ball off quickly. This, of course, because offensive linemen are just no match for those elite pass rushing athletes -- or at least that's what the defeatist among us have come to accept.
But so what if linemen find it hard to connect with the traditional boxscore in a meaningful way. Perhaps the teams with the best collection of road graders see a boost in a different category; the most important stat column -- wins.
We aren't given a lot of raw data to help find the importance of an o-line but I think four specific categories help paint a picture of just how important (if they are at all) the men in the trenches are to the success of a team's win total considering the focus on passing -- and how nearly every down is ripe for throwing the ball. In other words, no disrespect to the running teams of the league, but unit experience, percentage of negative yards allowed, sacks allowed, and the number of hits a quarterback takes are the areas we'll look at today.
According to the data from 2012, we can make one clear assessment regarding the value of offensive lineman straight from the start: Experience means very little in regard to the win-total rank based on the number of starts (both tackles, both guards, and center) a team's front-five have in their careers.
In fact, the top-eight teams in the experience column from 2012 raked in the least number of wins in comparison to less experienced groups. While Atlanta and Denver (13 wins each) had the No. 3 and 12 most experienced offensive line groups in the NFL for the year, the five lowest win totals correlated with the 10th, 8th, 13th, 7th, and No. 1 ranked units for o-line experience. The top-eight teams based on experience averaged 6.88 wins on the year while teams ranked 17 through 24 averaged 9.6 wins -- perhaps youth is more crucial.
The next area to look at is percentage of plays netting negative yardage. If a team struggles to maintain the line of scrimmage or has communication issues, perhaps this would show in this statistic -- but does it make a difference on wins?
The short and long answer here: Not as much as you might think.
In breaking down the league's 32 teams into four groups based on their ranking for percentage of negative plays, there is an almost identical figure for wins across all quadrants. The one slight area of significance appeared to be within the teams that ranked in between 9th and 16th -- averaging nine wins on the year among them. All other groups were slightly below the eight-win barrier, leading to the conclusion that a lower percentage of negative plays allowed is good but not a great measuring stick.
But enough beating around the bush; if this is a passer's league and the quarterback is in charge, surely teams who give up the least number of sacks and fewest hits to the QB have the most wins -- right?
If the 2012 NFL season is any indicator, there are no surprises here. As much as the old timers want to say it's not the case, passing is the offensive identity of professional football, and if you're an offensive linemen and you want to win, don't let the defense touch your quarterback.
The top eight teams in sacks allowed this year averaged a convincing 9.63 wins. When we examine teams ranking at nine or below, that win total plummeted to only 7.5 and eventually 6.88 for the eight worst sacks-allowed offenders in the NFL -- pretty convincing for a personnel group that is hard to qualify based on statistics.
And when it comes to total hits on the quarterback the numbers looked much the same. The league's best at keeping their QB's backside clean averaged closer to nine wins while the bottom of the list hovered just above six wins.
Taking a look at our final four remaining teams in the playoffs (Baltimore, New England, San Francisco, and Atlanta) we could make some loose projections when looking at those figures and who may be left to face-off in the Super Bowl. The Ravens were 3rd in the league for lowest percentage of negative plays, but were 20th in sacks allowed and 15th in quarterback hits allowed. Conversely, their opponent from New England, has an inexperienced group (22nd) but was 6th in sacks allowed and No. 11 for shots on the quarterback.
On the NFC side we have the league's third-most experienced o-line group, Atlanta, taking on the 49ers (18th). While cohesion and experience hasn't proven to be a reliable tool through the 2012 season, another figure may point to an upset on the part of the Falcons if the whole picture of their season says anything about their chances in this one game. Atlanta was No. 8 in sacks allowed to San Francisco's mark of 24th, a potentially ominous sign for the favorites. However, Atlanta was near the bottom in percentage of negative yards (30th) and allowed Matt Ryan to get hit 83 times on the year (25th in the NFL).
Running games and defenses will obviously have a say in the outcome of the game, but from an offensive lineman's perspective it appears the Patriots may be well on their way to another Super Bowl appearance while the NFC matchup could provide the best contest of the weekend.
Regardless of who wins there will likely be little said of the linemen who keep the work area clear for the quarterback to do his work. For all four teams the linemen know their job is simple: Get in the way -- just not in the way.
Sound Off: If you had to build an NFL franchise, where do you rank the importance of the offensive line?
Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Give him hell in the comments or on Twitter: @long_snapper
Thursday, January 17, 2013
05:24 PM - January 17, 2013. Written by Wiggy
As hockey fans gear up for the strange 48-game season that's about to take place, GMs and coaches are scrambling to piece together line-ups from the slew of injuries, buyouts, reassignments, waiver claims and trades. When EA updates their rosters at the start of this new "season," several teams are going to look a lot different than they did just a few months ago.
Honestly, every team has had to do some pretty serious reshuffling and triage, but the five listed below are pegged to look the most different when they take to the real (and virtual) rinks.
1) Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver looks to be a changed team this year, with several key pieces of their line-up having been lost to injury and other players being not likely to suit up for the first game of the new season.
Ryan Kesler is still injured from off-season surgery, so that leaves a big void on the Canucks' second line. Just the same, David Booth, a reasonable 20-goal scorer, is injured for another four to six weeks, leaving yet another hole to be filled. On defence, the Canucks have added depth in Jim Vandermeer and Cam Barker, as well as stability with Jason Garrison in a likely top-four spot. Keith Ballard may be bought out or traded before the season as well.
Of course, the biggest mystery is Roberto Luongo and the fact that his days could be numbered. If he were to go, a new back-up goalie would be needed, and the Canucks would have several new assets coming on board.
2) Toronto Maple Leafs
With Brian Burke recently getting axed as GM, Toronto looks to have change happening in the board room and on the ice. The changes begin in goal, where the rumblings of Roberto Luongo could mean big changes for the Leafs. If that happens, they'll be losing key assets off their team, requiring offense from elsewhere. They'll have to rely on James Reimer and Ben Scrivens in goal otherwise, and they'll be getting a fresh start this year.
The Leafs have also gained James van Riemsdyk at the expense of Luke Schenn, and they also lost Matthew Lobardi and Colby Armstrong, two big pieces of the Burke era. As well as a few other depth moves, the Leafs are likely still looking to add something to their team, and that could be a forward (ie. Mayson Raymond) as part of a Luongo deal. Finally, top prospect Jake Gardiner will have to battle through his concussion to help the Leafs this year.
3) Carolina Hurricanes
The 'Canes have been looking for change, and they have made some fairly significant moves in the off-season. In the absence of the injured Tuomo Ruutu (the more talented but less entertaining of the Ruutu brothers), the Hurricanes have picked up Jordan Staal and Alexander Semin. Adding another Staal brother to the mix instantly makes Carolina a more potent team, and Semin's offensive ability (if he shows up) also makes that first line -- and by trickle-down, the second line -- a lot different and more explosive.
The 'Canes have also bolstered the back-end, with key signings in Marc-Andre Gragnani (a solid depth guy) and top-four candidate Joe Corvo, a guy who just can't stay away from Carolina, as this is his third stint with the team.
Carolina only lost a few pieces in the off-season, including a bit of depth on defense, most notably with the departure of Bryan Allen.
4) Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars have certainly made lots of changes, but it's hard to say if it's for the better. On the one hand, getting rid of Sheldon Souray (who is 36 years old and still makes bank) is probably a good thing, as is the removal of the two Adams, Pardy and Burish, who are totally replaceable players.
The main move at centre is that they've added Derek Roy, who is younger than the departing Mike Ribeiro, but it's debatable if he's actually a better player. The loss of Steve Ott via trade will probably hurt them as well, especially if Cody Eakin can't live up to his WHL promise.
Most amusingly, the Stars also gained 80 years of NHL experience by acquiring Ray Whitney and Jaromir Jagr, two ageless wonders who just seem to keep piling up the points. If those guys can go out there and get 50 points each without breaking a hip, I'd say Dallas made a good choice.
5) Tampa Bay Lightning
Anders Lindback will be the starting goalie for Tampa Bay, and the 24-year-old netminder will get a chance to outshine the paltry selection of young and old that TB had in the crease last season. He'll probably be able to to change their fortunes somewhat, but he certainly can't do it all on his own.
To help with this, Tampa Bay got dramatically better on defense by shedding Bruno Gervais and replacing him with Sami Salo and Matt Carle. The addition of Carle instantly makes the bolts a much different team -- and much better -- and Salo's experience, barring injuries, can help the team as well.
Tampa Bay also added some depth to their third and fourth lines with the acquisition of Benoit Pouliout and B.J. Crombeen.
Luis Suarez admits he dived
A few angles to this:
Suarez: Hell of a footballer, not so bright a person. Don't get me wrong, I like him. Not just because of his ability on the pitch but also his talent at trolling just about anybody who's not a Liverpool fan. And it's refreshing, in many ways, to see somebody put his hand up and actually admit he'll do pretty much anything to win.
However, from a more practical standpoint you also have to wonder if he'll ever get another call in the box--there are a lot of players who've dived to win penalties, but nobody comes out and admits it. These things stick with refs, and it's my perception that the Premier League ones especially, when they see a tumble in the box, are looking for a reason to say no rather than a reason to say yes. And in that split second when they have to make their decisions, guess what they'll remember if it's Suarez who is going to ground?
Liverpool: As a ripple effect, Brendan Rodgers is now forced to publicly reprimand his star-- what else was he going to do? He sure can't let him get away with it. Most likely though, it's probably going to be nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
"Manchester United Control the Media": Not true, of course. They control the referees.
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Guardiola to Bayern
So Guardiola said he wants manage in England. It's only natural that the day after he is announced as Bayern's manager for next season.
Bayern's a relatively safe pick for Guardiola, and in a lot of ways it's quite similar to Barcelona. It's a "legacy" club, there's plenty of resources, and perhaps most importantly, it prides itself on its youth development. Now the most pressing question is: can Pep teach Arjen Robben to pass?
Few more questions: Is this, with a three year deal, Pep's way of waiting for the job to open up at Old Trafford? Who does Roman go after for Chelsea if he doesn't make Benitez's job permanent? Will Wenger stay at Arsenal beyond this season, and is it because he's the guy they trust, or is it just because of a lack of better alternatives?
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Oh yeah, some games were played too.
FA Cup Replays:
Man Utd 1 - 0 West Ham
Arsenal 1 - 0 Swansea
Premier League
Chelsea 2 - 2 Southampton
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Meanwhile, SuperExpectedly, Andrew Farrell went first in the MLS SuperDraft to the New England Revolution. Follow the SuperAction here.
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Wayne Rooney should stop taking penalties.
Photo via The Mirror
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
All this said, a simulation in UFC Undisputed 3 seemed in order, so I set up a five-round CPU fight. I conducted the fight with expert difficulty (to reduce the number of reversals found on “Ultimate”), and I used simulation settings for a much better representation of stamina. Mario Yamasaki got the tap to be the ref for this fight.
Round 1
Both fighters come out to the centre of the Octagon, and they tap gloves. Bisping connects with a left jab, and Belfort counters with a push kick to create distance. Bisping is firing left jabs. Both men near the cage, exchanging blocked strikes. Bisping tries for a takedown, missing horribly and landing on all fours, but “The Phenom” doesn't capitalize. With both men back standing, Belfort lands a right jab. Bisping with a right cross and then a left body kick. Belfort fires back with a right hand of his own. Belfort is landing. Several counter shots, followed up by jabs. Bisping backing off a bit. Bisping finally catches a kick, tripping Belfort to the floor. Bisping doesn't follow him there, letting him up.
Both men back standing. Some whiffed strikes by both fighters. Both men clinch in the middle of the ring. Bisping shoots for a double and has it. He's operating in full guard, looking for a chance to pass. Bisping finally passes to side control, and he lands a big strike, cutting Belfort. Bisping lands another big strike from the side. Belfort reverses Bisping, but then Bisping rolls right back on top. Bisping holds position in half guard for a bit. Belfort sweeps him again, getting into half guard and landing some big shots. Belfort now being controlled by Bisping from the bottom. Belfort finally stands up. Bisping instantly shoots for a double and is stuffed by Belfort. Belfort rolls Bisping over and gets side control. He lands a hard elbow to end the round.
Wigmore's Round Verdict: 10-9 Belfort
Round 2
Belfort lands a stiff left, and he follows up with some jabs. Now he's landing uppercuts, forcing “The Count” to back up. Bisping does land a few right straights of his own. Belfort lands a right uppercut, followed by a right to the body. Bisping desperately shoots, but Belfort's sprawl looks good. Bisping flies in with a huge double and actually gets it, but Belfort instantly bucks him off, going into Bisping's guard. Bisping now bucks Belfort off and tries a double, but Belfort sprawls and punishes him with some hard shots to the side of the head. Both men back standing. Bisping closes quickly and does a single-collar clinch, landing a few short rights. Both men are exchanging short strikes in the clinch. Bisping finally backs Belfort into the cage, looking to show his strong clinch game.
Bisping is swimming through all of Belfort's pummel attempts, and he finally lands a two hard left uppercuts. Bisping shoots a double against the cage and drags Belfort to the mat. Belfort tries to stand, but Bisping is ready and hits a huge slam. Belfort instantly sweeps, taking top control away from Bisping. Belfort holding position. Bisping finally bucks him off, and they're both standing. Belfort lands a hard right, backing Bisping off. Belfort tries a push kick, but Bisping catches it and trips him. Bisping jumps into Belfort's guard, landing some shots, and finishes the round in side control.
Wigmore's Round Verdict: 10-9 Bisping.
Round 3
Both men come out swinging, with Belfort getting the better of the exchange. Belfort stiffens up Bisping with a hard right uppercut. Now Belfort is closing, grabbing a Thai clinch against the cage. He lands a big right knee and two short left punches. Bisping pushes him away and desperately shoots, but Belfort stuffs it. Another uppercut by Belfort, followed by some body shots. Bisping is countering wildly, missing most of his shots. He does hit a jab and body kick. Leg kick by Belfort, and then a three-punch combo. Belfort is landing, but his pace is slowing, as Joe Rogan notes that he's breathing heavily. Belfort collects himself, and then he lands a few more shots. Two counter jabs by Bisping. Uppercut by Belfort followed by a push kick and body punch. Bisping desperately shoots the double and gets it, but Belfort instantly sweeps into Bisping's guard.
Bisping quickly grabs a kimura and is trying to lock it in. Belfort is fighting it, but Bisping is cranking tighter and tighter. He finally gets full torque, and Belfort has to tap. Crazy.
The Result
At 3:36 of Round 3, the winner by submission (due to a kimura), Michael “The Count” Bisping.
Analysis
That finish just came absolutely out of nowhere, and Bisping clearly saw an opening when Belfort was punching himself out. Since Belfort was low on gas, his ability to fight the submission was fairly limited, and it's a big win for Michael Bisping.
Belfort was definitely doing a great job of stuffing takedowns while landing some heavy uppercuts and body shots, and he had great positioning and punishment when in top control on the ground. Overall, Belfort landed 59 strikes to Bisping's 38, and I'd say about 40 of Belfort's 50 punches were significant. This is backed up with the fact that Bisping had 81 percent head damage, meaning a TKO was in his future if he didn't grab that kimura.
For his part, Bisping had more dominant positions than Belfort, and he landed 6 of 16 takedown attempts. He got some decent punches in where he could, and he survived until his magical opportunity arose.
I don't personally see Bisping having the strength to kimura Belfort in the actual fight this weekend, but a submission victory is definitely possible. Still, Belfort is a threat on the feet to Bisping on any given night, as long as he doesn't get roped into a clinch and takedown war.
Does Chip Kelly's 2012 performance against Stanford give us the best picture of how his offense will translate to the NFL?
While watching NFL teams rack up major yards and big-time points during the two-minute drill I've often thought to myself, "Why don't teams do that all the time?!"
I may finally get my answer with the hiring of former Oregon Ducks head coach, Chip Kelly, to the same post for the Philadelphia Eagles.
While Kelly's offense was never complex in its scheme, the hurry-up execution is what helped produce arcade-like points for the Ducks throughout his tenure. In reality, Kelly doesn't bring that much new to the NFL. His scheme is run out of shotgun with the bread-and-butter foundation of the read option, dive, inside zone, outside zone, and play action off of those.
The success in 2012 of quarterbacks like Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, and Robert Griffin III show that such a scheme can work in the NFL -- but does Kelly's blur concept -- or hurry up tempo -- translate to an advantage in the pros?
Recently I discussed the thriving read option attacks of the NFL and how they differ from the triple option or wildcat fads. The read option offers a sophisticated play action passing game while forcing linebackers to play passively, which opens up run lanes and subsequently passing zones in the intermediate. The problem with the wildcat and triple option in the NFL is that they both require the defense to make mental mistakes and to be physically outmatched -- things that don't happen nearly as often in the pro game versus college or lower.
Much like the triple option and wildcat, the hurry-up relies on the same advantages, except the physical aspect relates to fatigue while the mental is still alignment. Schematically, the hurry-up also forces coaches and players to play passively, a large advantage to any offense. But don't expect the mental mistakes of misalignment and mismatch issues to translate to the NFL to the extent of the college game.
Chip Kelly and his Oregon offense thrived on running more plays than the competition and on big-yardage plays. The most intelligent opponent of Oregon each year was the Stanford Cardinal -- not a surprise -- and that very team was the one who made the least mental mistakes and was able to take down the Ducks in 2012.
If you want to get an idea of what the Eagles offense will look like under Chip Kelly, think San Francisco, Seattle, or Washington run at a two-minute pace. But don't picture the 80-point explosions full of 70-yard touchdowns that you witnessed against the likes of Colorado.
Instead, think Stanford versus Oregon. Think 17-14. But also think of how much fun they'll be to watch.
Sound Off: What impact do you think Chip Kelly will have on the Eagles and the NFL?
Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Give him hell in the comments or on Twitter: @long_snapper
Describing the Big Ten in two words is a fun passtime for fans of the SEC.
The conference of Legends and Leaders may be in for a divisional name change leaving its current branding campaign looking loathed and lost.
According to ESPN's Brett McMurphy, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney has noted that new division names are a real possibility for the conference in 2014. A decision on the matter could be made as soon as June of this year.
The Big Ten, which is a misnomer considering the group carries twelve schools, developed the Leaders and Legends divisions when Nebraska was added as the twelfth school, allowing for two six-team divisions. Many in Big Ten country questioned the choice for the division names and that hasn't set well with the business minded Delaney.
Living in the heart of Big Ten territory, the name Legends and Leaders seemed a bit romantic for my taste at the time; but like anything the passing years have made it a natural part of conversation as the phrases have been used. It seems a bit of an overreaction considering that fact that little is said currently about distaste for the division names. Delaney and the Big Ten should know that any change is going to be met with opinions and typically the negative side is presented the loudest.
Considering that the Big Ten will be adding Maryland and Rutgers, it does allow for a natural opportunity to revisit the division names once those two schools are allocated into current divisions -- or perhaps new divisions will be developed from scratch.
Instead of wasting time trying to fix a problem that didn't survive past the initial outcry, Delaney and the Big Ten should stick with the current offering and learn to love it and leave it.
Sound Off: Should the Big Ten keep the Leaders and Legends divisions after adding Maryland and Rutgers? What two words best summarize the Big Ten conference for division names?
Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Give him hell in the comments or on Twitter: @long_snapper
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Most fans could only dream of a refund for witnessing a poor performance -- one man took a literal stab at it.
Imagine a world where professional sports competitions featured your favorite team as the victor -- guaranteed or your money back.
Cleveland fans might salivate at the idea -- however mythical it seems -- but one man has taken it to the extreme. A lawyer has filed a lawsuit against the San Antonio Spurs for their decision to sit their star players in an early season visit to the Miami Heat on November 29th, as reported by ESPN.com.
Siting state "fair trade practice laws", the class-action suit addresses the NBA's dynamic pricing setup. Teams typically charge a higher premium for contests that feature big market teams and/or star players. Spurs coach Greg Popovich sat out multiple starters including Tony Parker and Tim Duncan in hopes of resting his players during a tough stretch of four games in five days. Fans forked over premium ticket money to see the marquee players but received only half the star power they paid for.
Ironically, the matchup actually played out very closely as the Heat narrowly pulled out a five-point win over the Spurs and their reserves. But for one man in a suit with money on his mind, the "game" wasn't why he went to see the game.
Sound Off: Which team's fans most deserve a "refund" for all their years of struggling and pain?
Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Give him hell in the comments or on Twitter: @long_snapper
The recently released MLB 13: The Show fact list is a hot topic on the OS forums, and not without reason. The extensive press release covers 16 major additions and 50 bulleted improvements.
Here are my quick thoughts regarding what’s new with The Show:
•The “Post Season” Mode: I’m thankful that this is here for no other reason than making our playoff sims easier to manage (doing it through exhibition games was a nightmare!). But I also like the ability to experience the intensity of the post season in isolation of my franchise.
•Cross Platform Online Home Run Derby: I know this seems to be a hot selling point for SCEA, but I’m not particularly excited about it. Primarily because I don’t play Home Run Derby that often, but also because I don’t own a Vita.
•Beginner Mode: To be honest, even as a Show “lifer,” this mode is intriguing. I may be odd in that I enjoy tutorial levels in all games; I enjoy the slow build into a game’s full mechanics. I also think this will be a good way to build up my timing and learn the intricacies of the new hitting engine (see below).
•New Push/Pull Hitting Trajectories Engine: I’ll trust that this will be done well and won’t be overblown. If that’s true, it’s a great natural evolution to an already established quality hitting engine. I like that it increases player diversity and hit variety.
•Franchise and Season Mode Evolution: The key to all of these franchise additions is how well the user interface has been changed to keep pace. I love The Show’s franchise as is (not that it couldn’t be better), but I do feel the UI has needed an upgrade for a while. That said, these additions seem very interesting on paper; I’m excited to see how they play out over the course of a franchise.
•Road to The Show Evolution: Outside of presentation elements, there aren't a lot of specifics in this description. I play franchise first, so my time in RtTS is usually limited. However, what’s mentioned here sounds like good updates.
•The Show Live: Modes like this are almost standard; it’s another welcome addition to what The Show offers.
•Diamond Dynasty 2.0: I was super-excited about this mode last year, but after the first month I hardly touched it. If they are able to make it more user friendly, smooth out the online issues, and make me care more about my team over the long haul, I think this mode can be a worthy addition to the Show’s feature set.
•TruBroadcast Presentations 2.0: I the commentary gets criticized a lot around here for being relatively repetitive and relatively unchanged from year to year. However, I still think it’s a step above most other games not named NBA 2Kx. It will be interesting to see if the changes are as dynamic as they sound.
•New Scouting and Training System in Franchise Mode: I really like the title of this feature, though its description doesn't quite do enough to describe the specifics. Still, I’ll take just about any improvement to franchise mode, and this one looks to improve our organizational control.
•Road To The Show Commentary and Presentation Evolution: This seems like a great way to refine RtTS, and make it feel like your player has some prestige. I don’t mind the anonymity of being a small piece of a large machine, as RtTS has felt in the past, but ramping up the individualization can’t hurt.
•Online Road To The Show Leaderboard: Ok. Not a big deal to me, but a nice feature.
•Universal Profile: I love stats, and the whole “leveling” up concept. I hope the stats go deep; at least deep enough to where we can analyze and improve on our own performance.
•Button Accuracy Meter: Wasn’t something similar already in there, it just didn’t work well? Fielding is perhaps one of The Show’s few weaknesses, and any improvement is welcome.
•Steve Lyons Joins The Booth: Not a huge Steve Lyons fan, but it will be nice to hear a fresh voice in the booth.
•MLB 13 Online Leagues Overhaul: The league overhaul is nice, but The Show is constantly criticized for its shaky online play. Hopefully games themselves will see some improvement.
What feature are you most excited about in MLB 13: The Show?
Monday, January 14, 2013
These are the three things I would focus on:
1) Overhaul the Defensive Controls
We've definitely had total control given to shooting and skating over the last few years of NHL products, but I've yet to see a meaningful change to the play without the puck. Sure, you've got requisite poke-checks and stick sweeps, and the hitting is serviceable, but none of these systems gel as well as they should.
The animation priority on hits needs to addressed, as there still seems to be instances where big hits are generated with little momentum or where nothing happens after long wind-ups. Just the same, EA needs to make up its mind with stick-lifting and poke-checking and how much of a factor they should be on defense. Also, greater control of the kneel block and shot block would be much appreciated, as would additional backskating and movement options.
2) Address Lingering AI Issues and Penalty Sliders
While EA does always tote various improvements and adjustments to the AI and sliders each year, it would be nice if the CPU could react better in certain situations. I've always found it infuriating that when I go into boardplay behind the net that I often get no teammate providing an outlet for pass along the boards. Players squirrel around in front of the net or hide up the half-boards, providing no meaningful puck support.
Just the same, on offense it can be frustrating to have wingers not providing one-timer opportunities or driving the crease (particularly when completely wide open), even when the strategy is set that way. The gap control on defending players is also a bit wonky, with certain CPU schemes pressuring heavy at the blue line, whereas other times non-controlled players back off and provide easy lanes to key areas, even when it's a large defender who should be capable of bullying a small forward.
Of course, many users had issues with the penalty sliders this year, and I can't blame them. The complete absence of interference calls this year was baffling, as well as the ability for players to just freight-train opponents into the boards -- often from behind -- with little worry of a call.
3) Improve GM Connected
While I loved this mode, there certainly are many areas where it could enhanced a great deal. For starters, the stability and speed of the whole mode needs to be addressed. As I stated in my review, you often see the "EA spinny wheel" rolling away in this mode, and there are prolonged pauses when using basic menus and checking stats. This is unacceptable. The on-ice stuff is lots of fun, but when the off-ice portion hangs and takes forever to load, that's a deterrent for users wanting to stick around.
It would be great to see fantasy draft option for the leagues so that players could create their own teams completely from scratch, and league commissioners should have the ability to see more clearly when games have been played as well what games are coming up. In fact, why can't everybody see their full schedule?
How about you, OS? What needs to be added or addressed in NHL 14?
Many have doubted the traditional quarterback skills of Tim Tebow, but the success of the read option in 2012 may beg for a different approach to the former Heisman winner and others.
The NFL is a quarterback driven league demanding arm strength, intelligence and pocket presence from the elite signal-callers. Nowhere in the equation does professional football allow for dual-threat quarterbacks to excel and win on a consistent basis.
For years we've heard the same things: The option offense just can't work in the NFL. The pros are too fast and disciplined defensively to get beat by the scheme when compared to the college game. The option carries an unsophisticated passing scheme that demands little respect from defenses, allowing teams to load up against the run.
While most of these things are true, one problem prevails. Those statements pertained to the triple option. In 2012, led by the exploits of first-year starters, the read option is alive and well; scoring big points, winning games, and marching through the playoffs.
With the triple option, defenses must stop the fullback dive, quarterback off the "D" gap, and pitch-man wide on every single play. The offense forces all defenders to play assignment-perfect football (assuming someone will screw up), depends on massive double-teams in the "B" gap to blow open dive lanes, and exploits defenses with a lack of pursuit speed on the edge -- all three things that don't come easy in the NFL.
In contrast, the read option operates more like a conventional offense. There is still the choice of the dive (give to the back) or the quarterback through the "D" gap (keep), but the real difference maker is that it runs out of more conventional formations which allow a more sophisticated passing attack -- something that causes linebackers to play less aggressively. By slowing down the linebackers in the read option, running backs and quarterbacks have an extra step to get into running lanes, while receivers are able to fit into zones behind linebackers who are retreating from an initial step to stop the run.
Up to this point, dual threat quarterbacks have been looked at in terms of the wildcat formation. But the success of the wildcat relies on out-manning the defense at the line of scrimmage by placing more blockers and thus more gaps to defend; as well as catching the defense out of position in heavily unbalanced alignments. Two of the big problems with this in the NFL are that it brings no significant passing threat and, once again, NFL defenders are too talented and typically line up and fit into gaps more successfully to defend plays from the formation.
While the wildcat and triple option are more of a gimmick that requires certain physical and mental mismatches, the read option has proven its worth against the best defenders on the planet. Similar to the way the run-and-shoot passing attack (when run to perfection) can theoretically never be wrong, in a similar way the read option gives that possibility to an offense while incorporating the running game.
As surprising as it may seem that the read option has been successful in the NFL, the more amazing thing could be the fact that NFL franchises have made the decision to incorporate it by scheming around their quarterbacks. Cam Newton, Russell Wilson, Robert Griffin III, and Colin Kaepernick would have likely found life difficult had their respective teams stuck with the traditional approach of a drop-back system. But instead of a stubborn approach by coaches to stick to traditional systems and schemes, these teams have built the system around the quarterbacks -- and with great success.
In Seattle, Russell Wilson led the Seahawks in his rookie campaign to an impressive regular season and near-upset of the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons. Wilson passed for over 3,000 yards and held a 26-10 advantage in the touchdown-interception department while racking up nearly 500 yards on the ground with four touchdowns. Likewise, Robert Griffin III took the Redskins to the top of the NFC East in his rookie year by tossing 20 touchdowns to only 5 interceptions via 3,200 yards; and also ran for over 800 yards and seven touchdowns.
And then the most unlikely of scenarios -- as Colin Kaepernick took over mid-season for the 49ers for an injured Alex Smith -- San Francisco completely changed their offense in the midst of a successful run to fit the skill set of Kaepernick. In thirteen games played, Kaepernick piled up nearly 2,000 yards through the air with 10 touchdowns and three picks while rushing for over 400 yards and five scores.
Of the four teams remaining in the playoffs only Kaepernick and the 49ers are left standing with an offense reliant on the read option. But who could have predicted that an offensive scheme with the word "option" would carry so many teams -- not only through the season and into the playoffs -- but with inexperienced quarterbacks.
Are we looking at another fad? I don't get that feeling. The read option seems to be here to stay. More and more teams will open their minds to drafting dual threat quarterbacks with running and passing skills with the intention of molding their offensive sets around what those quarterbacks do best. The NFL has grown into a vanilla league of offenses and defenses that all run similar styles and plays, but a hint of flavor has crept its way in.
The league's coaches and front office personnel are showing a shift towards flexibility and innovation to take a chance at something new and are seeing the rewards. It's the type of move that Tim Tebow wishes he could have been a part of a few years ago, but perhaps this season's successful incorporation of the read option in the NFL can mean a second chance for dual threat quarterbacks in the college game and those trapped in the media circus of New York.
Sound Off: Is the Read Option here to stay in the NFL? Should a team pick up Tim Tebow to build a similar offense around his abilities?
Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Give him hell in the comments or on Twitter: @long_snapper
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