An Old Racing Colt Becomes a Bucking Bronco

Peyton Manning, one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, is now officially a member of the Denver Broncos. The free agent signing of Manning is being looked at as one of the biggest moves the Broncos have ever made since ironically, the Baltimore Colts traded the draft rights to now-GM John Elway to the Broncos since Elway threatened to continue playing for the New York Yankees rather than play for the Colts. Although the move is seen as a big win for the Denver Broncos - and a hilarious loss for Tim Tebow fans - many analysts are puzzled that Manning would choose to play for the Denver Broncos rather than the San Francisco 49ers, a team that would have become the automatic favorite to win the Super Bowl had he joined. Former NFL players (and former 49ers) Steve Young and Deion Sanders are particularly critical of Manning's decision, especially after seeing how much money Peyton Manning will be making. Should Manning pass his physical exams every year, he will be the highest paid player in the NFL.


So did Peyton choose money over winning? Some of the morons on ESPN First Take claim the Broncos will go 8-8 and miss the playoffs even with Manning at QB, due to how terrible the defense is. Those same morons forget that the AFC West had a 3-way tie for 1st place in 2011, with the Broncos, Chargers, and Raiders all getting an 8-8 record and the Chiefs had a 7-9 record, the whole division being mucked up by the quarterback shuffle of Tim Tebow replacing Kyle Orton, Carson Palmer replacing Jason Campbell, Kyle Orton temporarily replacing Matt Cassel, and of course Bizarro Phillip Rivers replacing the real Phillip Rivers.


Of course, that doesn't really answer the question... So did Manning choose making a shitload of money over winning a Super Bowl now? All you need to hear is that the 49ers signed Randy Moss and Mario Manningham and are retaining the core of their record setting defense, which only allowed a single rushing touchdown all year. What do you think?

The Portland Trail Blazers had the Most Epic Fire Sale in the History of the NBA

The NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone. Although ESPN would like you to believe that the biggest story is  that Dwight Howard decided to opt-in for the final year of his contract in Orlando, the real biggest story of the trade deadline is the epic fire sale the Trail Blazers had. After losing by 42 points to the New York Knicks the same day head coach Mike D'Antoni resigned, the Blazers decided to fire their own coach, Nate McMillan. Oh, but the Blazers didn't stop there! After using the amnesty clause on the retiring Brandon Roy before the season began, the Blazers decided to waive former #1 draft pick Greg Oden due to his constantly exploding knees. OH BUT IT DOESN'T STOP THERE! The Blazers also traded away Gerald Wallace to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams, and a protected 1st Round Pick. EXCEPT IT DIDN'T STOP THERE! The Blazers ended things by trading Marcus Camby to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Hasheem Thabeet and Jonny Flynn.


The Blazers were a strong team at the start of the season, but things quickly went to hell in a hand basket and now the team has fallen out of playoff contention thanks to the Lakers waking up and the Timberwolves and Suns deciding to actually play like they mean it. I don't think I've ever seen a team with such an epic collapse mid-season before, but I'm sure the Blazers will continue to make all of us lol whole-heartedly for many years to come!

Mass Effect 3 - Review

Mass Effect 3 has finally arrived after being delayed a few months to polish the game. In the final epic chapter of Commander Shepard's story, the Reapers have attacked Earth and the Turian homeworld, Palaven, as well as nearly wiping out the Batarians. Shepard must lead his/her squad in a final battle against the Reapers in a fight that will determine the fate of the galaxy.


Rest of the review after the break.

Bounty Hunter Scandal in the NFL

The NFL announced today that they have found substantial evidence that the New Orleans Saints had a "bounty hunter" program headed by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Saints defensive players were rewarded $1,000 for giving players injuries severe enough to be carted off the field and $1,500 for knocking out opposing players. Jonathon Vilma offered $10,000 for anyone who successfully injured an opposing player during a playoff game sometime between the 09-11 seasons.


Shortly after this was reported, it was revealed that the Washington Redskins had a similar system in place. I normally don't take ESPN polls seriously at all, but there is widespread outrage among the fan community. The vast majority of fans and football analysts are calling for fines, suspensions, and loss of draft picks for the Saints and Redskins. Typical of regional bias, Saints fans will settle for a fine, but not suspensions or loss of draft picks.


More as the story develops...

Leaving Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu and Starting Shotokan Karate

When I was about 5 years old, I told my mom I wanted to start exercising. I don't remember for what purpose, but it was probably because I wanted to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who I had just seen in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. My mother didn't quite know what to do to satisfy my desire, so I assume she asked around and found out how a 5 year old child could get exercise outside of the weekly P.E. class.


A lot more after the break.

Why I'm Watching the NBA All-Star Game Instead of the Oscars

The Academy Awards. Yet another awards show in Hollywood, but it is considered the biggest honor in the film industry to win an Oscar, similar to winning an Emmy for television work, a Tony for stage work, and a blue ribbon for an 8th grade science project. Hardly anyone ever remembers for what movie an actor won their award for, just that they won, especially if they win more than once. The Oscars are not a measure of talent, they're a political process used to perpetuate a star's career, or identify hot newcomers. More often than not, Oscars are undeserved in the 6 major categories, Film, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress. Other categories like film editing and screenplay writing are generally well-deserved but are unfortunately hardly recognized. Besides all that, why would I want to watch an awards show that voted to give itself 10 options for Best Picture, but only nominated 9? I know the Academy is essentially saying 2011 was a really shitty year for movies, but there wasn't another movie that was better than fucking War Horse?

The NBA All-Star Game. Once a year, the NBA masturbates to itself by showcasing its superstars and rising talent to a more casual audience in hopes to bring in more fans, while making sports writers and diehard fans groan. The Rising Stars challenge was an interesting twist on the Rookies vs Sophomores Game, but the game itself was uninteresting, other than watching Ricky Rubio passing alley oops to Blake Griffin and seeing Charles Barkley gloat all over Shaq.

All-Star Saturday was incredibly flat, where the most compelling event was the 3-point shootout, surprisingly won by Kevin Love. The Shooting Stars contest was awful as usual, and the Skill Challenge involved Tony Parker of all people being better than Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook. The Slam Dunk Contest was about as godawful as you could imagine it. Rather than taking known stars, the NBA instead decided to showcase young guys who hardly anyone has ever heard of. In an effort to return to basics and stepping away from theatrics, the slam dunk contest was horribly boring, save for Jeremy Evans' dunk over Gordon Hayward while also dunking 2 balls off alley oops. The general public felt the same way, voting for Evans to be the champion in a contest that wasn't even close because of the lack of originality and skill. Yeah, it was cute to see Chase Budinger prove white men can jump to Sean Combs (I will never refer to him by his roulette wheel nicknames), but he didn't do much else.

What do I expect from the All-Star Game then? I expect to see Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, and Andrew Bynum play on the same team at the exact same time. Oh, and Kevin Durant as well, I guess. The Western Conference All-Star starters are a clear cut example that the capital of basketball is Los Angeles, not New York, and that the East Coast Bias will not stop talking about Jeremy Lin, but won't mention the Clippers' meteoric rise (albeit thanks to BASKETBALL REASONS). The TNT analysts have already mentioned their displeasure in the All-Star reserves, saying that while they hate that fans choose the starters, it's obvious the fans know more than the coaches, who make terrible reserve selections every year.

I expect to be entertained at one event and bored with disgust at the other. After all, I can just check to see who won the awards on my phone during the game.

Mass Effect 3 Demo Finally Arrives!

The new default face for Female Commander Shepard.

The demo for Mass Effect 3 has finally arrived and it includes the opening mission where the Reapers begin their attack on Earth and contains a later mission where Shepard, with squad mates Garrus Vakarian and Liara T'Soni rescue a female Krogan with the help of Urdnot Wrex and Mordin Solus. The characters appear here regardless of what background you decide to give Shepard, a new feature for first-time players that will determine which squad members are alive, choosing whether to kill Ashley Williams, Kaidan Alenko, or the majority of the ME2 squad members. As far as who lives by default is a good question, but at least 1 of them must survive in order for Shepard to survive the ending of ME2.


General changes  since Mass Effect 2 after the break.