K-State lost to OSU last night fair and square. This team isn’t going to win many games letting a team shoot over 50% from the field or when Hoskins and Martin have limited playtime because of foul trouble. That said, Mario Boggan is a straight-up thug (see video below). Message boards have had mumblings this morning that there will be no suspension because the headbutt was not a punch. This is probably going to be the case, but the Big XII has some messed up priorities if players are allowed to march down the court and attack another player.

The O.C. finale was about what I expected: cheesiness (the Marissa locket, how sweet!), quirky-humor (the sons named after Texas towns and then…Hanoi), self-reference (one final shout out to the Valley), and an ounce of drama (Frank v. Bullit) to go out old-skool O.C. style. Personally, I hoped the O.C. would go the wigtastic Six Feet Under route and give 10 minutes of all the characters getting old and dying, or at least getting old. A nice little “Breathe Me” like tune as a backdrop (or perhaps even something Icelandic) would have sealed the deal. Nonetheless, this episode, along with the rest of this season were good reminders of that great first season.

Luckily, the O.C. time-slot vacancy allows me to stop watching tapes of Scrubs and 30 Rock. 30 Rock has been getting better all season, and tonight’s episode was no exception. Seriously, I don’t know how successful this show will be, so watch it while you can.

I had not known before hand that J.J. Abrams was directing tonight’s episode of The Office. Good episode, especially considering the end of Pam and the apparently-psychotic Roy.

“TELEVISION, ON! PORNOGRAPHY!”

Crackdown is the first non Live Arcade game I’ve picked up since Gears of War, and it is a damn fine follow-up purchase. Something about blowing the crap out of everything and then jumping from rooftop to rooftop is mindlessly entertaining, and I can’t imagine it getting old anytime soon. Those familiar with Havok physics probably know that it is comically unrealistic 99 percent of the time (see Half-Life 2), but in Crackdown it is awesome. Still unrealistic, but in a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, a blast.

Crackdown isn’t without fault:

• The menu system is annoying. The first couple of times starting up the game I could never tell what was selected. Using a base color of blue and then making it slightly brighter isn’t very effective, even on a 53-inch HDTV. Also, what is it about 360 game developers not optimizing their games enough to prevent hiccoughing during menu use. I know, I know, the Xbox team can’t even get the Dashboard to not skip a beat every once and awhile, but seriously, every QA person should have a check box for “Menu Stutters”.
• Occasionally, the camera colides with a wall and the third person controls go to hell. At this point in gaming, I’d think this wouldn’t happen in games anymore.
• The driving soundtrack is awful. I usually don’t notice the music while I’m driving, but occasionally I won’t be running over criminals and I’ll start to hear generic techno and be annoyed. My usual response is to get out of the car and blow it up. (Complaints about the soundtrack and the story are in many of the reviews. The generic story doesn’t bother me as much as the soundtrack, rather, it serves as something to do in between fooling around).

I hear co-op is awesome, but I won’t be trying it out until I can get hooked up to a broadband connection.

My spread prediction yesterday was right, just favoring the wrong team. So the streak goes to 24. The crowd was incredible: almost everyone wore black, and, for once, the awful Rock-Chalk chant did not drown out the coliseum at the end of the game. If anything, the lack of this chant is a sign of improvement in Manhattan (not real improvement, though, more of a loser’s improvement…similar to a “moral victory”).

And of course, the idiot students were out in force: at least two chickens were tossed on the floor, players’ moms were called whores, and the Hawks were not-so-subtly called gay (”Tim Hardaway Hates You”). Scott pointed out that this idiot minority ends up being the K-State ambassadors, and I think to a certain extent he is right, but I don’t know how much it matters in the long run. I’m sure the Phog forums were flooded with KU fans complaining, but that doesn’t really matter: student fans, including those at Allen Fieldhouse, are always jerks and I find it hard to believe that the K-State fans are any worse. K-State wins this game, and nobody remembers the cruel student section, they remember the W.

The guy that sits directly behind my dad’s seats is one of those complete asshole fans. Complete package asshole. As far as I can tell, this guy follows K-State sports and that’s about it. Every game, he tells anyone who can hear his theories on why K-State lost or almost lost or whatever. The game, as with most, was on the shoulders of the refs. He claims the Big 12 refs are the worst in the country, and, while I find that hard to believe, I don’t understand his point. K-State Lost this game, and they Lost at Nebraska. K-State isn’t going to beat KU shooting poorly, even if they play great defense. KU is just too good when they are playing well. The refs have little to do with this.

K-State has three regular season games left, and for the sake of the post season, I hope they win out.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Mike’s computer prediction was only off by one point. Very nice indeed.

The Wildcats take on the Hawks tonight in what I hope will not be a repeat of the earlier game this season (97-70), nor a repeat of the last 23 games at Bramlage Coliseum. I was talking to Mike about our chances in this game: his website gives KU a 10 point edge on a neutral court, he gives the cat seven. As long as predictions are being made, I’m gonna give the Cats a five point edge going into the final minute, with free throws pushing the edge to nine. Gotta be proud, right?

I’m heading to Manhattan now…Go Cats!

Here is a shout out to the Slashdot first post trolls.

(Actually, I just needed something different from the default Hello World! post that WordPress uses. I have finally settled on a theme, so real posting should start soon.)