That’s right, the impending return of the NFL season means it’s time to get the gang together for the annual fantasy draft. We had ours Sunday night, and here’s the lineup I’m sporting this season in our 14-team league…
Starters
QB – Matt Schaub, HOU
RB – Jonathan Stewart, CAR
RB – Brandon Jacobs, NYG
WR – Andre Johnson, HOU
WR – Percy Harvin, MIN
RB/WR – Mike Wallace, PIT
TE – Greg Olsen, CHI
K – Garrett Hartley, NO
D – Carolina
Bench
WR – Mohamed Massaquoi, CLE
WR – Roy Williams, DAL
RB – Kevin Smith, DET
QB – Jason Campbell, OAK
RB – Correll Buckhalter, DEN
TE – Jeff King, CAR
WR – Brandon LaFell, CAR
Early analysis – I’m thin at running back but really like my crop of receivers. A preseason trade for another back isn’t out of the question, but as it is I like my chances as long as Houston’s passing game keeps up the #1 form it had last year. What about you? Who are you looking at as a fantasy stud this year? Who’s going to be a bust? Let me know in the comments about your outlook for this year.
Last week, San Fransisco 49ers running back Glen Coffee announced his retirement from the NFL. A football player retiring is usually unremarkable, unless the player is a superstar or Brett Favre takes his retirement total into double digits. What makes Coffee remarkable is that he’s only 23 years old and was expected to be a key contributor to the 49ers backfield this season. Why would a perfectly healthy second-year running back hang up the cleats during camp? For Coffee, it was the realization that God didn’t want him on the football field, but rather had other plans for his life. Recently, a radio station interviewed him about his decision, and it’s clear to see the great passion this man has for Christ, willing to give up a career people all across America dream of because his conscience wouldn’t allow him to continue. An excerpt…
“When I was in the league, my heart was always in turmoil. And when my heart is in turmoil, I can’t account for anyone else. I can’t do what I want to do as far as spreading the gospel and ministry if my heart is not in peace. I really felt like for me to do what I need to do and for me to answer my calling, I needed to be outside of football. If you’re not at peace yourself, it’s hard to minister to others.”
Head on over and read the rest. May God bless this guy in his faith and give him guidance for his future.
For a while, I’ve been following the development of Backbreaker, an ambitious new football game for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 that uses a groundbreaking physics engine to simulate every collision on the field in real time. In short, this means that every hit and tackle is unique, and you’ll never see the same one twice. The game was finally released on June 1st and I picked it up on opening day. After having about a month to play around with it, I thought I’d offer some thoughts on the game and a recommendation to any football-fan gamers who are on the fence. The game’s not perfect, and people will either love it or hate it, but for a first effort I’ve found it a breath of fresh air and a lot of fun to play.
The Pros: The physics-based action is nothing short of spectacular. Every now and then something will happen that looks a little off, but on the whole this is the most fluid, realistic-looking football game ever made. There is real weight and momentum to player movements, and it will be hard to play a game built on pre-made animations ever again. This kind of technology is the future of video games. The camera view – an over-the-shoulder third-person view that puts you right down on the field – is going to be the game’s most divisive characteristic. For those who are used to the wide, overhead view of traditional football games, the view is going to be limiting. Some will find it dealbreakingly frustrating. I find it a lot of fun – it sets Backbreaker apart from every other football game you’ve played for the last 10 years and makes pulling off a big play a real rush. Even one of the game’s perceived weaknesses – the lack of the NFL or NCAA licenses – is negated by the incredible team and logo creator included with the game. The logo editor is so deep that with a little practice you can create anything you can dream up. I’ve tried the logos of several college teams and reproduced them exactly. No exaggeration. The editor is actually a lot of fun to play around with.
The Cons: Oftentimes, the game shows the fact that it’s developer NaturalMotion Games’ first time ever making a game. Sometimes, the rules are a bit off (I’ve had passes that were caught by a receiver for literally a split-second and then jarred loose ruled fumbles), the AI players make stupid mistakes (three straight roughing the kicker penalties by the same guy?), and penalties seem to be implemented in an uneven fashion. The simulation deck seems a little too stacked towards the defense, as sacks and interceptions seem to occur too frequently. The situational AI of the CPU is lacking a bit as well, with play selection and clock management being downright puzzling at times. Playbooks, offensive and defensive adjustments, and other tactical moves pale in comparison to the competition. All these can be occasionally frustrating, but perhaps the thing I dislike about the game most: the instant replay system only allows you to view the action from the same camera angle you witnessed it from. Why create a game engine that allows for some truly unique and memorable moments only to deny the player the chance to get a good look at half of them?
The Verdict: While those two paragraphs are of about equal length, I can’t stress enough that for me, the fun factor of the first paragraph far outshines the frustration factor of the second. I’m really enjoying this game and hope to see these developers hone and fine-tune their creation over time. Hopefully, that will come as a post-release patch that will fix some of the game’s easily-addressed problems, but even without it I’m still having a lot of fun with the game. The best way I know to recommend it? Download the free demo on Xbox Live and play around with it. It’s pretty representative of the full release as far as gameplay goes. If you don’t like the demo, don’t buy the game. If the demo feels fresh and fun, however, I think you’ll probably find yourself feeling a lot like I do after your Backbreaker purchase – very glad you did.
I’m no Cowboys fan, but it’s impossible to tour the brand-new Cowboys Stadium and not be impressed with the football palace Jerry Jones has built in Texas. My father-in-law, my wife’s uncle and I took the VIP stadium tour last night before taking in a Rangers baseball game, and what a blast it was. Here are a few pictures.
For a while, I’ve been following the progress of the physics-based football video game Backbreaker. The game is the first-ever sports title to use real-time physics (developer NaturalMotion’s Euphoria engine) instead of canned animations to render the action on the field, meaning that no two plays will ever be quite the same. The game is set to release on June 1st for $49.99 ($10 less than most new PS3 and 360 titles), so curious gamers will have a couple months to give it a try before this year’s version of the Madden juggernaut hits shelves. Here’s an ad for the game that was shown during last weekend’s NFL Draft. Notice the fluidity of the action, and pay careful attention to the final shot of the guy diving across the goal line. You’d never get interations like that with Madden. Hopefully, the game will live up to its potential.
I had a bit of a double-take moment watching the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl Sunday night. Colts kicker Matt Stover had just pushed a big 51-yard field goal a couple feet wide left, when the camera caught him turning and pointing both index fingers skyward in that “glory-to-God” motion that it seems you see all the time from athletes after a big play. My first thought was oh, man – he doesn’t realize he missed it. It was just then that announcer Jim Nantz explained “Matt Stover, a deeply spiritual man, does that every time – make or miss.”
In sports, like in all of life, it’s easy to acknnowledge God after a big victory. But praising God after missing a crucial field goal in a one-point game in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl? That, you don’t see so often. Here’s what Stover had to say in a 2003 interview with Baptist Press…
“Through my career I have to first and foremost honor Him,” Stover said. “It’s not about me, it’s about Him. When I point up I’m giving thanks — not only when I get a field goal but also when I miss one. It’s life’s trials that make you grow the most, not the good times.”
That kind of attitude demonstrates a mature faith. Just ask Job, who came through unimaginable suffering only to remark about God, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,but now my eye sees you.” The same God that is sovereign over our best moments is also firmly at the wheel when it seems the wheels have fallen off. He is deserving of our praise just the same in those moments, because we can trust his promise that he is working all things for our good. Matt Stover reminds himself of that reality by pointing to the sky in the triumphs and disappointments of his football career. Let his example be a reminder to you as well.
A commenter asked a question yesterday about the upcoming football video game Backbreaker. The game has finally found a publisher, it’s due out this spring, and it looks very promising. If you haven’t heard of it, the game doesn’t have the NFL license (Madden has that exclusively wrapped-up), but it does have a physics engine called Euphoria (which powered recent games such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed) that makes every tackle unique with no pre-rendered animations. The result is a game that looks incredibly fluid and lifelike. Check out the latest trailer below.
Last January, I watched in horror as the Arizona Cardinals demolished my Panthers in the playoffs. Jake Delhomme had five interceptions and a fumble, and the Panthers were just flat run over, bringing a bitter end to a very promising season. In fact, it was so bad that they haven’t really been the same since.
Until yesterday.
Carolina traveled to the desert and beat up the favored Cardinals 34-21, intercepting Kurt Warner 5 times and forcing a fumble from him (sound familiar?). The game got the Panthers to 3-4 and seemed like just the exorcism needed to get this season back on the right track. Was it a true turnaround or just a one-week abberation? We’ll get a better idea next week as the Panthers head to New Orleans to take on the 7-0 Saints. Let’s go Panthers!
For a while
