Sports Doldrums

Even the most hardcore sports fan would recognize a few down times for sports, where there is seemingly nothing to get excited about. One of these times is about to begin.

Post Superbowl - March Madness and Post NBA finals to NFL opening day.
I would argue to extend both of these, especially this year, because I really don't care about a Steelers/Cardinals Superbowl and the NBA playoffs just take an eternity. So for me it is A.) When the Packers are finished through the start of March Madness and B.) the end of Wimbledon to NFL Kickoff. I'll take a quick look at the pros and cons of these periods.

A.) There is an obvious let down when the Packers are finished, but I will usually watch the NFL playoffs regardless. February is the worst month. It is saved by college basketball conference play and European football (soccer). January and February are actually the busiest months in England. But unfortunately, Sportcenter is full of NBA and NHL?? highlights. NCAA b-ball is great, but who can really get excited about a Michigan State-Northwestern or Georgetown-Depaul matchup. It's too inconsitant to follow.
And I understand most Americans don't enjoy soccer, but it is great - See future post for more on this.
Feburary is tough, though, because you know what is coming next. March Madness and Baseball opening day. Probably the best time for sports.

B.) July, nothing but baseball and golf. Man, good thing the days are long and the weather is nice. If you are really hurting, the NFL preseaon starts in August, but that may even be more boring to watch on TV than baseball.
The good thing about the summer, though, is that your team could possibly play 29-30 games a month, so there is never really a day where there is nothing to watch. But in a 162 season, no single game really matters. And once every four years is the glory of the World Cup to save the summer.

So, taking everything into account- active sports, TV watching, live watching, fantasy sports, Shaq, your teams- let me know which period you think is worse as a sports fan. Or possibly, you love them all.

Lost Season 5 Premiere Preview

Ok. I guess the term preview is a bit of a misnomer, because I have no actual inside knowledge of what will happen in tomorrow’s Lost Season 5 premiere episode. This will be pretty much just me talking about the show, pretty much like a normal blog entry of mine.

What will happen?

Ok, I don’t really know. I am very curious about how this season will be set up. I hope it will begin right where they left off, and how they usually lead off, on the island, you know, the next day. But the problem with that is the only traditional Survivors of the crash still on the island are Sawyer, Bernard, and Rose and none of them really seem to want to leave the island. You also have Julia, who wants to leave the island, at the beach and the three freighter folk – Daniel, Charlotte, and Miles – who all have vastly different stories and reasons for being on the island, and this is assuming Daniel gets back with his little raft.
Also on the island then are Locke, seemingly taking over for Ben as leader of the others, who are back to wearing there “others” clothes and Claire who seems to be on some sort of drugs. I don’t really know what Locke will do with the others and what Claire is up to.
And then, you got the Oceanic 6 – Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, and Aaron – off the island seeming 3 years in the future along with Ben.
Desmond is with Penny. And Lapidus is off wherever, probably trying to find more answers.
Jack’s Ghost dad seems to now be the second weirdest character on the island, after Jacob, who we have not seen, well ever, or at least since Locke’s 1st trip to the cabin with Ben.
And Charles Widmore still doing his thang.

Ok, so this turned from a what will happen next into a recap of season 4. But that makes sense
Here is what I do anticipate happening.
- Desmond’s “happy ending” will somehow be thwarted, possibly be Charles Widmore, and he will be drawn back to the island. I’m not sure if this was the original plan, but the show would not get rid of it’s most popular character.
- I see there being no ground zero here, instead, there will be two main starting points – the day after on the island, or at least after the moving of the island, and 2-3 years in the future with the Oceanic 6. Traditional Flashbacks and Flash-forwards will then only occasionally appear
- The Freighter Folk will have much more expanded role this season – which would have happened last year if not for the writer’s strike

- Story-lines that we will see
· How Charlotte is related to the island
· Flashbacks of Ben and the Others, way back perhaps telling more about Richard Alpert, what they did after the killed all the Dharma people, Ben's Grade-School crush Annie and how the Others got to the island in the 1st place
· Flash-forward to Locke tracking down all the Oceanic 6, but probably not yet how he got off the island, or how he died
· more about Jack’s dad
· How Desmond gets drawn back to the island
· Future Sun, Sayid, and Kate becoming equally as unstable as Jack and Hurley
· Jin and Charlie will remain dead
· more about Miles’ “powers”
· more experiments by Daniel, assuming he can find the island, or possibly he will be reunited with Desmond, that would be cool

- Jack will shave his beard
- Jack will be intense and unhappy
- it will be revealed that Ben killed Nadia
- More questions will be poised
- as usual, no questions will really be answered

There you go. If this preview is not sufficient, watch the real shows tomorrow, but don’t be disappointed when no questions are really answered. There are previews out there on youtube and of course a thorough wikipedia preview, but thank you for reading Big Dunc’s definitive Lost Season 5 Preview.

Nintendo Madness

Anyone remember the Nintendo Madness Tourney I put together last March? No, well that's ok. I kinda forgot about it too and never completed it. It got trumped by the amzaing LOTR/Star Wars bonanza.
But the Nintendo Tourney is back! We have four finalists. Vote over one the right. Most votes wins the title of BEST ORIGINAL NINTENDO GAME


Pick your horse.

1. Super Mario Brothers 3You got P-wings, frog suits, tails, memory games, big world, ice world, warp whistles, tons of great levels. Level 8 was extremely difficult. Plus, in this game you could go forward and backwards. And who can forget the king of each level being turned into some sort of weird animal? Great

3. TMNT IIThe classic arcade game in your own home. Who could want more? Well, you got Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, Thousands of Footsoldiers, Shredder, and Krang in his giant, scary robot body. Very Nice.

1. Techmo Super BowlFirst great sports game. Great game play for nintendo, plus stats and season mode. Warren Moon, Rodger Craig, Bo Jackson, Randle Cunningham, Ronnie Lott and much, much more

.

2. Zelda II the Adventure of LinkGreat RPG, introduced a lot to the genre. How important was it to keep perfect health to shoot that shiney beam out of your sword? And that horse guy in the first castle, man. Talking to the towns people was always a laugh. And the music is still engrained in my memory