I Love Knocking Out Rich Franklin

So, the Red Ring Repaired X-Box 360 returned home a couple of days ago and tonight, I finally had the energy to open it up and re-connect it.  I was greatly surprised to discover that a] it's either a new unit or b] they updated the software for me which is greatly appreciated since I do not have an Internet connection within range of it.  They also tossed in a one month free subscription to X-Box Live for my "troubles" which is kinda nice, I guess, but I can't use it at the moment so it's also useless.

I popped in the UFC game finally that had caused this whole scenario to unfold and was immediately taken aback by how nice the opening sequence was.  The menus were straight forward and I was able to figure out what was going on pretty easily.  I skipped the Tutorial because I'm a guy and we hate learning how to do something before we just try to do it.  Duh.

So, in mere moments, I was in an Exhibition fight at the Light Heavyweight level between Kenny "Ken-Flo" Florian and my opponent - I think it was Thiago Alves?  Can't remember.  This one was a slugfest which I knew it probably shouldn't be but it was all my button mashing would manage.  After a hard-fought first round, I looked up how to do a takedown attempt but I kept getting stuffed with it.  I went back to the punches and kicks and scored with an awesome high kick to floor Mr. Serra and end his night in the third round.

I was overjoyed by how beautiful this game is.  Nicely done characters.  Good textures on the skin tones and the little things like ink, blood, and sweat.  Even the cornermen were holding up sponsor sheets.  I didn't get annoyed by the commentary immediately which gives it a plus from most of the WWE games.

I moved on, determined to do at least one match at every weight level before calling it a night [another 7 AM start at work tomorrow.]  The Welterweight division saw me use BJ Penn to KO Matt Serra in the second round.  The Penn character was pretty dead on while the Serra was not so much.

At Middleweight, I absolutely had no choice but to kill Rich Franklin with Anderson Silva... again.  By this point, I was playing with some of the more advanced offense and was trying to hit the Thai clinched knees.  I could get the clinch with ease but couldn't really take advantage of it.  I threw some knees to the body but couldn't score with the big knees I wanted.  On the break, I snapped off a flying knee that made me freak out but I hit nothing but air.  In the end, a big kick knocked Franklin's mouthpiece out as he hit the mat for the KO.

At Light Heavy, I decided Wanderlei Silva needed to get some shots in.  The computer randomly selected Rampage for the opponent so I was a little worried.  I shouldn't have been.  The Axe Murderer ran right through him, finishing him with strikes on the ground.

At Heavy, I was planning to use Lesnar until my old friend Mirko Cro Cop's name showed up.  Being arguably my favorite fighter, I had to give him a workout.  The computer selected Heath Herring for the slaughter... which came in mere seconds with a brutal left high kick.  God, I loved every moment of it.  Even if it's a video game, it's awesome to see Cro Cop dominate again.

I went back for seconds at heavy, beating Gabriel Gonzaga with Lesnar using strikes on the ground.

All in all, I had a blast in the one hour I played it and I'm looking forward to starting the Career mode on it over the next few days.

Oh, and I think there was a real UFC fight tonight too but I was too busy beating up digital copies of those guys.

Egads

Today was one of the most exhausting days ever. Excuse me if my brain
is melty

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Not Exactly Cain vs Abel... or Kane vs The Undertaker

Just a quick one as I have to be at work in just a handful of hours...

Today, the Dodgers informed Jeff Weaver that he would be starting Saturday's game vs the Angels. This is significant because his little brother Jered will be starting for the Angels making it the first brother vs brother starting pitching duel in several years. When asked for comment, Jeff informed the media that his parents cancelled attending a relative's wedding on Saturday to go to the game instead - which seems a little odd to me unless they're really distant relatives and the Weavers were just looking for an excuse not to go.

The more significant part of the quote was when Jeff basically said that the ideal scenario would be that they'd go out of the game tied and let the bullpens decide the game.

No, jackass. The ideal scenario is that you throw a complete game no-hitter which does not require the bullpen while your brother gets lit up like the sky over Disneyland during fireworks.

Keep your shit together, yo. This is business... it's not personal.

I'm In Love

"Hey Iceman, Tell Me How My Ass Tastes!"

Head hurts. Sleep

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Donald Trump?

I know, I know. I'm supposed to write about the Lakers.

But... well...

Donald Trump?

Lemme explain for those non-wrestling fans on the blog. Tonight on Raw, Vince McMahon announced that he had "sold" Monday Night Raw to Donald Trump for a healthy cash payment. Partially, this was used to explain why next week's Raw is going to be commercial free but... what about the other part?

I'm just not sure where this is going. Does anyone want to see another Vince/Trump feud? I'm all in favor of "selling" Raw to attempt to make more of a split between Smackdown and Raw [especially since Smackdown has been much better lately - does anyone else find it odd that Raw is pretty much the worst show these days?] but I would've liked to see someone who made more sense.

Granted, it's tough to find someone you could sell as having enough money to tempt Vince but all of wrestling involves leaps of logic. Who else would have fit this role well?

Eric Bischoff? Could've been a good time to "relaunch" WCW since the Rise And Fall of WCW DVD is coming out soon. JBL? Hogan? Austin?

How about Floyd Mayweather? He suddenly has some free time on his hands.

Mike Tyson? Okay, maybe not.

There must have been someone else to slot into this role that would've been fun to watch. I just can't see Trump being entertaining for more than a week or two. I guess it depends if they just use him as a figurehead and let the GM he appoints do most of the work. Trump as an occasional "it's a big deal when he shows up" owner could be okay.

I just wish it was more exciting. At least they didn't hype it for more than twenty minutes or so.

A Sigh Of Relief

I'll probably write a little recap tomorrow but for tonight...

Congrats, Lakers.