Madden is finally released.
Raining and crappy weather be damned - I'm playing Madden tonight!
Showing posts with label General interest stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General interest stories. Show all posts
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Tuesday, 7 October 2014
NFL Tidbits
A couple of interesting things I read today over at MMQB:
First, a quote by Peyton Manning when asked about his 500th TD pass, he ended the game only 5 TD's behind Brett Favre who holds the all-time record:
"...somebody asked me if for my first [touchdown pass], ‘Did we wear leather helmets?’ So, that was a nice free cheap shot there. I wouldn’t start that guy on your fantasy team next week. He’s not going to get a lot of balls next week. I’ll leave him nameless.”
Quietly, every franchise in the NFL just improved its bottom line by $24.2 million a year, without any effort whatsoever. The new deal the NFL signed Wednesday with DirecTV, an eight-year contract worth a minimum of $12 billion (I hear it’s slightly more than that) beginning in 2015, is an increase in rights fees for satellite TV from $1 billion to $1.5 billion per year. That $500-million-per-year increase nets out to $15.6 million per team. Add to that the new $275 million this year from CBS for doing the Thursday night package ($8.6 million per team) and you’ve got $24.2 million a year more in found money for NFL teams from TV revenue alone. (To be clear, the DirecTV contract starts in 2015, and the $275 million will certainly be the floor that the NFL accepts from whichever network does the Thursday night package in 2015.)
By Wednesday, the long-term future of the Bills (and maybe a new downtown stadium) will be assured. Terry Pegula, 63, who has made his fortune in the natural gas and fracking businesses, and wife Kim are likely to be approved in a landslide by the NFL’s 31 owners at the annual fall meeting in New York City. He’s buying the Bills for $1.4 billion, almost $500 million more than their appraised value, and word on the NFL street is he’d like to oversee construction of a new stadium in downtown Buffalo, near the hockey arena where his Sabres—he owns them too—play. Think of the inflation of franchises in less than a generation. In 2000 the Jets were sold to Woody Johnson for $635 million. New York is the biggest city in the country. Buffalo is 73rd-biggest, behind Henderson, Nev., and Plano, Texas. If you rank by TV markets, Buffalo is 52nd (because of its surrounding counties). But if the NFL franchise in Buffalo is worth $1.4 billion, what are the franchises in New York worth? What would the Cowboys sell for?
First, a quote by Peyton Manning when asked about his 500th TD pass, he ended the game only 5 TD's behind Brett Favre who holds the all-time record:
"...somebody asked me if for my first [touchdown pass], ‘Did we wear leather helmets?’ So, that was a nice free cheap shot there. I wouldn’t start that guy on your fantasy team next week. He’s not going to get a lot of balls next week. I’ll leave him nameless.”
And now, money:
Quietly, every franchise in the NFL just improved its bottom line by $24.2 million a year, without any effort whatsoever. The new deal the NFL signed Wednesday with DirecTV, an eight-year contract worth a minimum of $12 billion (I hear it’s slightly more than that) beginning in 2015, is an increase in rights fees for satellite TV from $1 billion to $1.5 billion per year. That $500-million-per-year increase nets out to $15.6 million per team. Add to that the new $275 million this year from CBS for doing the Thursday night package ($8.6 million per team) and you’ve got $24.2 million a year more in found money for NFL teams from TV revenue alone. (To be clear, the DirecTV contract starts in 2015, and the $275 million will certainly be the floor that the NFL accepts from whichever network does the Thursday night package in 2015.)
By Wednesday, the long-term future of the Bills (and maybe a new downtown stadium) will be assured. Terry Pegula, 63, who has made his fortune in the natural gas and fracking businesses, and wife Kim are likely to be approved in a landslide by the NFL’s 31 owners at the annual fall meeting in New York City. He’s buying the Bills for $1.4 billion, almost $500 million more than their appraised value, and word on the NFL street is he’d like to oversee construction of a new stadium in downtown Buffalo, near the hockey arena where his Sabres—he owns them too—play. Think of the inflation of franchises in less than a generation. In 2000 the Jets were sold to Woody Johnson for $635 million. New York is the biggest city in the country. Buffalo is 73rd-biggest, behind Henderson, Nev., and Plano, Texas. If you rank by TV markets, Buffalo is 52nd (because of its surrounding counties). But if the NFL franchise in Buffalo is worth $1.4 billion, what are the franchises in New York worth? What would the Cowboys sell for?
Monday, 22 September 2014
Week 3: Interlude
Monday Night Football is my favourite time of the week. Get home from work, have a tasty meal and watch the football. Usually I can fit two games into my schedule, last night I did three, but not without paying for it today *yawn*. But there was no way I was missing the Superbowl rematch, the last quarter and a bit was great football. The old Manning and the young Wilson - two stud players duking it out. Both QB's final drives of the game were stand out performances and I totally recommend watching them if you can.
The same cannot be said of the Packers @ Detroit game or the Raiders @ Patriots game. Ugh, not as interesting as they should have been. And totally blowing my fantasy team for the week: BOOOOOO!
But looking at the scores I'm not the only one in the BOOOOO category - although maybe the worst as the scores stand at the moment. I'm losing to the Farnsworth's! I'm 6-0 against the Farnsworth's!
SHAME!
Following MNF is Tuesday Night Football: FOOTBALL!!!
One great thing about football is it brings families together, father-son time is to be cherished:
The same cannot be said of the Packers @ Detroit game or the Raiders @ Patriots game. Ugh, not as interesting as they should have been. And totally blowing my fantasy team for the week: BOOOOOO!
But looking at the scores I'm not the only one in the BOOOOO category - although maybe the worst as the scores stand at the moment. I'm losing to the Farnsworth's! I'm 6-0 against the Farnsworth's!
SHAME!
Following MNF is Tuesday Night Football: FOOTBALL!!!
One great thing about football is it brings families together, father-son time is to be cherished:
Thursday, 4 September 2014
Waiting most IMpatiently
Cue elevator music because that's how Friday afternoon is. There was a game. THE game. It's over. But I MUST watch it tonight without knowing any results. So here are some interesting escapist tidbits to fill the expanse from now until tonight:
Interesting piece on how huge rule changes in 1994 completely changed the NFL and propelled it to being the biggest game in the US. In essence, the NFL protected the quarterback and the receivers and turned it from a defence league into an offensive one. Smart move: offence is fun, defence is boring. At the time the NFL faced fierce opposition and accusations they were ruining the game: the end is nigh! Didn't quite work like that. Coupled with a salary cap and free agency the league has blossomed. The AFL could take a hint or two, especially regarding free agency. Players ability to move around and teams ability to trade them around is critically important. Have a hole: plug the hole: move on. The criticisms about Buddy moving to Sydney instead of Melbourne are stupid: if Melbourne hadn't already screwed up their salary cap through incompetence they could have, and should have, offered Buddy more. Plenty of pro-sports people move to loser teams for a payday: G. Ablett Jnr for example, or LeBron heading back to the Cavs. The problem isn't loser teams having less to offer, it's shocking management that means Melbourne Demons have hit their salary cap with 42 losers, while Sydney can exploit their situation and probably walk away with this years Flag. Who's stupid now?
Moving along...
For something completely different, the story of a guy that tries to weird things in the Madden games. In the first attempt in Madden 15 he attempts to beat the all-time sack record of 210 sacks: but rather than do that over a career, he is doing it in Clowney's first ever game. Can the Number 1 draft pick get 210 sacks in single game? When you set the offensive line to be jockeys and make Clowney to be a demi-god then anything can happen:
Finally, technology is trying to reduce the human based fuckups of sports. Video review, laser guidance and now magnetic transmitters. The magnetic transmitter is placed in the ball and receivers around the field can detect the location and orientation of the ball. It's not perfect yet, but it's getting better.
Interesting piece on how huge rule changes in 1994 completely changed the NFL and propelled it to being the biggest game in the US. In essence, the NFL protected the quarterback and the receivers and turned it from a defence league into an offensive one. Smart move: offence is fun, defence is boring. At the time the NFL faced fierce opposition and accusations they were ruining the game: the end is nigh! Didn't quite work like that. Coupled with a salary cap and free agency the league has blossomed. The AFL could take a hint or two, especially regarding free agency. Players ability to move around and teams ability to trade them around is critically important. Have a hole: plug the hole: move on. The criticisms about Buddy moving to Sydney instead of Melbourne are stupid: if Melbourne hadn't already screwed up their salary cap through incompetence they could have, and should have, offered Buddy more. Plenty of pro-sports people move to loser teams for a payday: G. Ablett Jnr for example, or LeBron heading back to the Cavs. The problem isn't loser teams having less to offer, it's shocking management that means Melbourne Demons have hit their salary cap with 42 losers, while Sydney can exploit their situation and probably walk away with this years Flag. Who's stupid now?
Moving along...
For something completely different, the story of a guy that tries to weird things in the Madden games. In the first attempt in Madden 15 he attempts to beat the all-time sack record of 210 sacks: but rather than do that over a career, he is doing it in Clowney's first ever game. Can the Number 1 draft pick get 210 sacks in single game? When you set the offensive line to be jockeys and make Clowney to be a demi-god then anything can happen:
Finally, technology is trying to reduce the human based fuckups of sports. Video review, laser guidance and now magnetic transmitters. The magnetic transmitter is placed in the ball and receivers around the field can detect the location and orientation of the ball. It's not perfect yet, but it's getting better.
Thursday, 28 August 2014
Madden 15
The second most exciting day of this time of year was yesterday, August 28 - the day Madden 15 is released. The most exciting day being, of course, next Friday when the first NFL game for the season is played.
Like any good NFL obsessive I bought Madden 15 and quickly raced home to oooh and ahhhh at all the new candy. And ooh and ahhh I did.
It took a few minutes to install on my Xbox One but before long I told Madden my favourite team was the Patriots and I was invited to attend training camp. Well, it's a good place to start. I stopped the Basic Offence trainer pretty quickly, lob versus bullet pass? I've worked out. On to Defence.
Wow! Madden for years has kept the camera rotated the same way whether you are playing O or D: the O is at the bottom of the screen heading up and the D is at the bottom of the screen going down. This is fine when you're playing O and the camera is behind the head of your QB, you can see what is going on and get a good feel for the field. But when you're playing D - well you never cared that much about individual assignments as you were not behind the head of your D. As one reviewer characterised it: playing defence was something you did until you could control the offence again. Not anymore. On D the camera swings around and can tuck in tight behind a defender. There are all new controls for defensive players that make playing D, well, like playing D. It was a lot of fun.
After the D trainer we moved on to concepts. Madden 15 is willing to take your hand and walk you through NFL playbooks, explain how to read a defence, how to pick the best play to beat the D and how to execute it. It takes you through why offence plays are drawn the way they are, and which route to throw to depending on what the defence does. Of course, you can jump straight into a game and play like normal - but I found it useful, intriguing and left wondering why they didn't do it years ago. Maybe the expectation has been that Madden gamers are ex-high school footballers? Computer games for jocks? But for a simple Aussie like me, left to figure it all out, having my own personal tutorials and coach in Madden is like a dream come true.
The graphics: amazing. Physics: amazing. Environment: amazing. The interface has had a major makeover and is, at times, intimidating. There is so much information presented with so little time to read it before you have to select a play. Couple that with extra information on my phone via the SmartGlass companion and it's almost information overload. I'll get used to it as I log countless hours, like every year.
This is a video showing the transition of Madden from its Neanderthal roots in the late-80s to next-gen simulation:
Like any good NFL obsessive I bought Madden 15 and quickly raced home to oooh and ahhhh at all the new candy. And ooh and ahhh I did.
It took a few minutes to install on my Xbox One but before long I told Madden my favourite team was the Patriots and I was invited to attend training camp. Well, it's a good place to start. I stopped the Basic Offence trainer pretty quickly, lob versus bullet pass? I've worked out. On to Defence.
Wow! Madden for years has kept the camera rotated the same way whether you are playing O or D: the O is at the bottom of the screen heading up and the D is at the bottom of the screen going down. This is fine when you're playing O and the camera is behind the head of your QB, you can see what is going on and get a good feel for the field. But when you're playing D - well you never cared that much about individual assignments as you were not behind the head of your D. As one reviewer characterised it: playing defence was something you did until you could control the offence again. Not anymore. On D the camera swings around and can tuck in tight behind a defender. There are all new controls for defensive players that make playing D, well, like playing D. It was a lot of fun.
After the D trainer we moved on to concepts. Madden 15 is willing to take your hand and walk you through NFL playbooks, explain how to read a defence, how to pick the best play to beat the D and how to execute it. It takes you through why offence plays are drawn the way they are, and which route to throw to depending on what the defence does. Of course, you can jump straight into a game and play like normal - but I found it useful, intriguing and left wondering why they didn't do it years ago. Maybe the expectation has been that Madden gamers are ex-high school footballers? Computer games for jocks? But for a simple Aussie like me, left to figure it all out, having my own personal tutorials and coach in Madden is like a dream come true.
The graphics: amazing. Physics: amazing. Environment: amazing. The interface has had a major makeover and is, at times, intimidating. There is so much information presented with so little time to read it before you have to select a play. Couple that with extra information on my phone via the SmartGlass companion and it's almost information overload. I'll get used to it as I log countless hours, like every year.
This is a video showing the transition of Madden from its Neanderthal roots in the late-80s to next-gen simulation:
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Pre-season countdown: the hidden costs of fantasy football
Some firm in the US was tasked with calculating the financial cost to organisations of employees playing fantasy football and clocked it at $13 billion, up from $6bn two years prior.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2161720-firm-estimates-fantasy-football-costs-american-employers-13-billion-per-year
I'd like to thank the VP3 coaches for contributing to the doubling of fantasy dollars in the two seasons we have been active.
Without our efforts who knows what our firms could have produced with our attention firmly centered on their goals, instead of our own.
I'd also like to thank our firms for allowing us the space to clear our minds of their organisational-mumbo-jumbo with a little escapist fantasy. We are better workers for the short breaks we take each day to plot our opponents demise and wonder how it is that the benched player always performs better than the active ones, and what we can do to trick the universe into thinking the active player was benched so they perform better.
Obviously the $13bn is not really lost from the US economy - if it wasn't fantasy football it would be something else.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2161720-firm-estimates-fantasy-football-costs-american-employers-13-billion-per-year
I'd like to thank the VP3 coaches for contributing to the doubling of fantasy dollars in the two seasons we have been active.
Without our efforts who knows what our firms could have produced with our attention firmly centered on their goals, instead of our own.
I'd also like to thank our firms for allowing us the space to clear our minds of their organisational-mumbo-jumbo with a little escapist fantasy. We are better workers for the short breaks we take each day to plot our opponents demise and wonder how it is that the benched player always performs better than the active ones, and what we can do to trick the universe into thinking the active player was benched so they perform better.
Obviously the $13bn is not really lost from the US economy - if it wasn't fantasy football it would be something else.
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