CQI13

Why does my respect go down? I thought it wasn't supposed to do that. (Saints Row 1)

Haven't changed clothing, and have done missions. But now, I start a stronghold and it goes down from 96 to 95 or 94. What gives?

I like that trade. Heat doesn't need capspace until 2010, by which time O'Neal's contract will have expired. Also, it's a big body. Preferable to the other trade that had been discussed of Marion & Beasley for Amare Stoudemire & someone else. You could still end up with Stoudemire in 2010 without giving up Beasley.

Well, as stated they'll probably get the 9 they need for the city. The county is where the team expects trouble. City vote started at 9am (have seen no results yet). The vote for the county (where they need 4 of 5) will start at 1pm, but some people expect it won't take place until much later than that.

As for cities, I don't think there are that many cities that would be able to support a team. There had been talks ages ago (when the stadium talk began down here) about San Antonio as a possibility (since they only have the Spurs and whatever minor league teams in other sports. Portland was another name floated out there. Obviously divisions would have to get moved around some way or something. But to be honest, if some other city could support the Marlins (or another baseball team) someone would have moved already. I always see that kind of talk as the owners trying to get leverage.

For the two people? It was called in by a reporter who was there to the radio station. I believe the person was being interviewed by MLB.com or MLBTV, so I'll try to find that. I will edit this post when I do.

That's the last story detailing the upcoming vote (as of 2/12)

While INSIDE City Hall may be full, support is sparse outside

In a hilarious report, the Marlins stadium issue will be resolved today. They need to get 13 of 18 votes to pass (9 of 13 for the city, 4 of 5 for the county). They expect to get the city without much problem, but the county they're facing some serious trouble. Anyway, the hilarity of the situation is that 2 (yes, TWO) people were at city hall today. One with a sign saying "I want to take my kid to a Marlins game in 2013" (stadium set to open in 2012) and one person with a sign saying "NO DEAL." I'm sure the owner & team president were flattered by such a terrific turnout. Less than 100 people showed up to try to save the Orange Bowl stadium, and that has far more history than the Marlins.

If you're the Browns, how uninspired a pick is that? Besides, shouldn't you pick a GM and let HIM pick the coach? There goes getting Scott Pioli.

So is Stoops now considered a "small game" coach? Good for Tebow & the Gators. Hopefully Tebow comes back next year, but we'll see.

Well, at least OSU showed up (in the 4th quarter).

Which match types can you call out Hornswoggle during, do you have to have him set as a manager or anything, and can anyone do it, or just Finlay?

You have to set him as a manager with any character you'd like, not only Finlay. He comes from under the ring and throws the shillelagh in and disappears, so I'm assuming any match where you can throw things in the ring (no EC, no cage I'm assuming). Also, unless it's a no DQ match and the ref sees you use it, you will be DQ'd.

Mangini is debatable for sure, but I just don't think he'd done enough to warrant the firing. I don't care who you are, you can't out coach 22 INT's from that guy that was brought in as the savior. He has no control over that. Besides, the strength of the team is the running game why the fuck not ram the ball 4 straight times ? That's just a personal take on philosophy though. Yeah, he isn't on par with the top echelon and got a bit of an over praising, but he certainly shouldn't have been fired. I mean, now what ? The Favre experiment failed and you've probably got a hole now because he probably isn't coming back. You've got SHIT at QB. Thomas Jones and the running game overachieved so banking on that wouldn't be all that great. Mangini got out of the team what they are. 8/10 win team on the bubble of the playoffs. That's what they did. I sure as hell wouldn't want to take away the HC from a team that might be overturned at several key positions in the offseason. Get the new "key" pieces in under the same direction of the core of the team ... and THEN change philosophy if needs be.

Crennel - only four seasons. The first one doesn't really count for ANY HC. It isn't his team. He then took his lumps with the guys he brought in during his second year. Last year (his third) the team showed their capability. I think Crennel had quite a bit to do with it. 20 wins in his first three years at the Browns ? Yeah, that's as good as it's been in a hell of a long time in Cleveland. Hell, the '02 playoff season wasn't even ten wins, and Crennel got them to ten last year. Yeah, this year wasn't good but I still think injuries and a people underperforming contributed to that more than Crennel's ability to coach. And please, you're using the Patriots as a comparison ? They are an anomaly. You're taking 4 years of building/philosophy against a decade. Hell, the Patriots are proven in their system/philosophy. If I remember correctly the deal with Cassal replacing Brady is exactly what happened to Brady when he replaced Bledsoe. Using the Patriots as an example here is a bit much considering NOBODY has been able to do what they have over the last 6-8 years. I know what you're saying though and there's certainly validity in it to a degree. But if we compared what all HC's do against the patriots, there'd be less than a handful of guys with jobs next year.

Point is, everyone deals with injuries. Maybe part of the problem is the fact that he stuck with Derek Anderson for so long, or whatever. Their GM was fired the day before, but it has been reported he may come back if they can't find anyone else to replace him.

As for Mangini, reports are that he was told on Monday (a week ago) that he had to win to keep his job. Had he won, he would not only have kept his job, but also gotten a contract extension. After being 8-3 and being talked about the class of the AFC, possibly heading to Tampa to play the Giants, and then you collapse? Obviously Brett had a lot to do with it, but seriously, they catered their offense to him as the season went on (less motion/shifts pre-snap for example). I wonder how easily he will get a job after he came out and ratted on Belicheck about spying on other teams. There was talk that while some people praised him for it, there were also a number of teams that would wonder what he would say about them if he was hired, and down the line fired.

As for the now what? Yes the Favre experiment failed (and deservedly so -- karmically), but the owner is in absolute love with Brett and what he brought to the Jets (yes, 2 TDs, 9 INTs in the last 5 games and all). So they will do everything in their power to bring him back. If he does come back, you still have an OK team, albeit an aging one that wasn't 1 piece away last year (much less 5 pieces away), so there's speculation that they will go after an older coach as a caretaker for a year or two while keeping at least the Offensive coaches (for however long Brett decides to stay). And if the Jets somehow manage to pry Bill Cowher away from his job at CBS, it will be because Brett isn't coming back, Bill would come in and start from scratch.

As an aside, I think it's hilarious that T.O. & Romo were saying yesterday they were unhappy with the schemes. The same schemes that made Garrett the hottest commodity last year, that got them 13 wins and a #1 seed.

I thought this had been reported a while ago (with the girl from Smallville and Michael Clarke Duncan right?)

Mangini/Marinelli/Crennel all out already.

NY is stupid. Mangini isn't the problem. I point to Favre and his stretch run that saw him double his INT's as to one of many issues other than the HC. But that's an entirely different discussion.

Crennel .... iffy. I'm sure most others won't see it this way, but I'd have given him another year. Yeah, they were shit the final six games, but this team was destroyed by injuries. You can't coach nobody.

Marinelli ... just ouch. Not a fiar judgement because 0-16 isn't on one man. He shouldn't be in charge next year, but this clearly goes much much deeper than him and everyone knows it. I hope he gets another shot somewhere and gets a fair shake.

I disagree on all, and I'll tell you why:

Mangini: Horrible judgment this season. Look at the first Jets/Patriots game (you have 4 tries inside the 10 -- much closer even -- and you run 4 times? You have Favre who everyone thought would be their savior, and you don't use him in that spot?!?! Really?), the game a few weeks ago when he didn't send Feely out for the FG (after the 5 yd penalty that negated the previous FG), and the fact that Buffalo handed them that second game. He's oblivious to game situations.

Crennel: He had one good season. He hasn't shown anything to say that that season WASN'T a fluke. And injuries are part of the game. Patriots defense was decimated by injuries, and they lost Tom Brady. They managed 11 wins with what was originally considered one of the tougher schedules in the league.

Marinelli: Fair or not, you can't come back after 0-16. You just can't.

As for predictions...

The Dolphins will probably lose to the Ravens, but they missed Ferguson in their first game, which was pretty close despite the 27-13 score. Still Ravens over Dolphins. The AFC looks right, though I'd like to see Tennessee beat the Colts.

NFC -

Eagles over Vikings, setting up Giants vs Eagles. That's a scary match up. I'd like to see a Tennessee vs Carolina SB. Anything over any Manning. But if not, anything over TWO Mannings. What a dull SB that would be.

Ah, feels SOOOO good for Favre to get his comeuppance. Never liked him. He got too much of a free pass for "making things happen" when what he made happen were pick-6's. I guess karma is a bitch. And to just leave the field like that? Horrible!

Anyway, glad to see the Dolphins make it to the playoffs. They'll lose to Baltimore, but what a year. They need a lot of help in the offseason, but I'm confident that Parcells will get the job done (should he decide to stay). What is this, 5 organizations he's re-built? He should go into the HoF AGAIN (this time as a personnel guy).

Saw a bunch of movies this week, mostly while doing laundry:

The Dark Knight - (again)

Black Xmas - Fun horror movie

The Rage: Carrie 2 - Decent special effects at the end

The Sandlot - You're killing me Smalls!

Sydney White - I liked the modern twist on Snow White.

I like the scout feature, only just started using it in 09. I picked up 3 midfielders and a striker through it who generally only play as late subs or in League Cup games. With a top scout you get 78-79 rated players. Which with my current team, Fulham, will be pretty good.

I just wish the game was more intuitive when it comes to naming the randomly generated scouted players. I got a left midfielder called Pedro Chavéz. His nationality? Norwegian. >_<

On another note, I'm not far into my season on Manager Mode but I know I definately want to try another league out next season. Do any of the other leagues have unusual setups (i.e. the US?) cause that would provide a different challenge and something a bit more entertaining.

I believe the Mexican League is two smaller tourneys (rather than play everyone 4 times, you play them 2 times in two separate tournaments).

Saw about Mussina's retirement. Good logic too. He said something along the lines that he didn't want the game to hold on to him for 2 or 3 more seasons. I'm assuming he means that the closer you get to 300 wins, the more you end up having to stay. Randy Johnson is at what...295? At this point he HAS to stay to get to 300. Mussina would need at least 2 years to get to that. I think he falls into the Hall of Very Good.

He's said he wants to go to a contender (if it had been a trade). But contenders don't really need him. And I hope that wherever he ends up they give him a different number, so that "Ocho Cinco" will looke more retarded on the jersey.

The quiz shows will come later on. They didn't want to release everything at once.

Why is Pacman Jones allowed back? Seriously, how many chances is enough?

HttK, I would say that Youkilis was more valuable to Boston. In a year when Manny gets traded, Ortiz is hurt, Lowell gets hurt, and Bay comes in and has a nice season, Youkilis batted in how many spots in the line up? Played great defensively at 1st base, and considering it's not his natural position, did a very good job at third base. I haven't looked at the batting numbers, but I would venture a guess that they might be better than Pedroia's. I have heard from the Boston media that they were pretty sure that Pedroia would win (given how any time they were on national tv, it was all about Pedroia for the announcers), but they didn't think the margin would have been that great over Youkilis (who I believe finished in third).

Also, I thought Morneaux finished second, not Mauer.

Ruki, does this work?

Repair Status

from the main page, click on the support tab, then select "Check Repair Status".

Oh. That's odd. Haven't really paid attention to the ticker. I believe it's every Wednesday they are supposed to update, though right?

Sinistarr, you live in Gainesville?

And yes, the Gators have been great since the Ole Miss loss (Tim Tebow, God bless). Provided that Tech wins out they'll be in. Hopefully OU doesn't make it in. Also read somewhere that USC would make more money by going to the Rose Bowl than another BCS bowl, considering the traveling expenses/budget.

Dustin Pedroia was announced as AL MVP.

Didn't watch too many Sox games this year, but I'm assuming he had a good enough year.