No, unfortunately, I'm not talking about my Indians making the World Series or my Crew making the playoffs, but I am excited that my son's soccer team finished the season undefeated! They were playing winless Olentangy on Saturday, and built a 4-0 lead (without our best goal scorer, who was out of town). As a reward, the coach flip-flopped the defenders and attackers for the second half, so my son got to play on the left wing. He got a goal! I was proud of him. He broke free on a through-ball for a one-on-one with the goalie. Instead of panicking and firing away blindly, he took his time deaked back to the right, and pushed the shot past the goalie. It was well taken, and our last goal of the game in a 5-0 shutout. Up next is our last tournament. Hopefully, the squad can bring back some well-earned hardware.
I often bemoan about being an Ohio sports fan, but in retrospect, it's been a pretty good year. The Buckeyes got to the national championship game in football and basketball, the Zips hoops team had 26 wins (and were robbed of a post-season birth), the Indians made it all the way to one game before reaching the World Series, and the Cavs got to the NBA Finals. No championships, but many of my teams had stellar years. Even the Browns are 3-3, although that's a bit sweet and sour for me, since I'm not a fan of Savage or Crennel, or many of the players on the squad (Edwards, Quinn, Winslow Jr., Lewis, etc.). "Next year" is looking pretty good for just about all of my teams, so I guess I can't complain… too much…
Right now, I'm working up a review for "NBA 08 the Life v3" for the PS2. It's been laborious, for sure. First of all, there is no franchise-type mode at all. Even in season mode, things like the salary cap don't apply. Consequently, I traded Larry Hughes pretty easily for another similarly-rated point guard, which would never happen in real life due to Hughes' contract. Also, there are no injuries, and after simulating several seasons independently, no team signed a free agent. There's not much meat there for NBA fans…
"The Life" is supposed to be the main attraction in the game, where you assume a role on a team who's on a mission to win one more championship before the coach retires. This story is held together by cut scenes surrounded by mini-games, often not related to each other. Most of the mini-games are the same practice drills you can choose in single player mode! It's incredibly drawn out, and pretty lame, by all accounts.
Lastly, on the floor, it's not too bad of a game. The controls aren't as complex as the other NBA game alternatives, which makes it fairly easy to pick up and play. I like the "shot halo" and the area of the floor that lights up to help you grab rebounds, especially. However, I wouldn't call it a "great" NBA experience. I've seen a few AI leaks, like when the point guard tries to start the offense by passing to the wing before getting to half court, which always results in an easy steal. Most players wouldn't do that at the high school level, let alone in the NBA. That said, I need to give it a few more hours before passing judgment. Maybe there's some value in there somewhere...
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