This and that

Barb has her finals this week for her 2nd semester of nursing school. She is doing well (of course!) but the finals are comprehensive so she is quite nervous. She has been studying this weekend and went to school today so she could study in peace without having to worry about the kids (or me!). After this semester Barb has 1 more to go. Graduation is set for December 12th and Barb has had that marked on her calender for a long, long time. Hang in there, honey, you can do it!

The Rams opened their preseason schedule Friday night with a win over the Jets. The team came out with a much-improved demeanor over the last couple of years. I give all of the credit to new head coach Steve Spagnuolo, who will not let these guys coast the way they have in recent years. Spags is a go-getter and believes in playing with great intensity. It was so nice to see it come together on the field. There is still an overall lack of talent on the roster (especially at WR) and more than a few problems from the past few seasons, such as pass protection and pass rushing, still look as though they could be a problem this season. Blitz pick-up in particular looked pathetic as QB Marc Bulger was sacked 3 times in the 1st quarter. So while I am not expecting a miracle turnaround from the Rams this year, I do expect them to play with real heart and to compete in each game. If Spags can pull that off this year and win 5-6 games, he will be setting up a really solid foundation for the future.

I have put in a little time with Madden 10 and it seems very solid. The game plays much slower than NCAA Football and it is quite jarring at first, but this lets you see the plays develop and makes the game more a test of brains rather than just thumb twitching. I like that. The presentation is much improved (though it still needs work) and the game play itself is more realistic. It still needs to be adjusted in some areas: the CPU cannot mount a decent running game against you and rushing the passer seems too difficult, plus several other things (such as constant holding calls on extra points) keep the game from being nirvana, but it is the best Madden on this generation of consoles to date. Last year's Madden was an improvement. This year's is a pretty big leap beyond that. Kudos to EA for making Madden more of a simulation this year rather than catering to the arcade crowd. It was a bold decision and I hope it pays off for them.