Only play the matchup game if it will get you more points. I mean Westbrook catching stuff from McNabb doesn't offset a thing if Barber gets more points for you vs Washington. Keep it to basics. If you like the matchup Westbrook has over Barber, then take him but don't do it because McNabb is the one throwing to Westbrook.

Who do you think will score more points?

HOly crap that is the coolest chimp of all time.

Don't know if you noticed, but James' backup actually did a pretty solid job that year. Is your view of football really so simplistic that the best thing you can do is say "TWENTY THREE PICKS WITHOUT JAMES!!!!!!" like a trained monkey? So Manning had a bad year. The following year, with James he threw 19 picks. Big deal. He also threw more than 25 TDs both seasons.

And to date, this season he has 7 picks for 41 TDs. Seems to me he is doing his job better than any other QB in the NFL. If the Colts defense steps up and does their job, then maybe the *team* will have a better playoff experience this year.

[team]

I think there is one important thing some people are losing sight of - what a player's job is.

The job of the offense is to score points. The job of the QB is typically to 'run' the offense and guide it on its way to scoring points. The defense is then supposed to stop the other team from scoring *more* points.

Depending on how well the offense and defense do their jobs, the team wins or loses.

Now how you can call a single player on a team a 'winner' or a 'loser' based on the performance of the *other* half of his team is beyond me. Manning goes out there and puts points on the board. His offensive line gives good pass protection but is hardly dominating. Harrison is undoubtedly a great WR, but there is a reason Wayne and Stokely aren't primary recievers for other teams. Manning makes those guys better than they would otherwise be. He runs his offense with greater control than any other QB in the NFL and does it exceptionally.

When the Colts met Denver in the playoffs last year, Denver was 6th in passing yards allowed per game. They were 8th in passing touchdowns allowed per game. And Manning tore them to pieces. That he struggled against a Patriots defense that had dominated the NFL all season long doesn't make him a loser - it makes him human.

But when it comes down to it, this year Manning is getting the job done better than any other QB in the league. Whether he can carry that lame-ass defense through the playoffs remains to be seen.  He's getting paid enough he ought to be able to, but we'll see Either way, he is the best QB in the NFL right now, and if he keeps at his current pace when he retires he'll be viewed as one of the best ever, regardless of whether or not his team wins a Superbowl.

It was Manning, against a pretty vanilla defense, who made the bad choices and cost the Colts the game.

Err... you just called the Patriot's defense 'pretty vanilla'? And somehow the rest of what you said is supposed to be believable after that?

Devil's just jealous Jeff because he wishes Brady were half as good

There is no doubt he's a good QB but what I'm saying is that there are a few guys in the league right now who have done more with far less to work with.

I mean stuff like this is just nonsensical. The point Jeff made originally is that *nobody* has done more at the QB position than Manning this year. Nobody. Let alone 'done more with less'. I am sure you somehow now think that Stokely and Wayne are top tier recievers better than Jerry Rice because Manning is moving the ball around and scoring a ton with both of them. But when Brady does the same thing he is a genius QB who is working with absolute crap.

The simple fact is, football games are won and lost by teams. Pick any player at any position in the NFL as the best player at that position and it might be true. It doesn't mean their *team* is going to win consistently. But given the stats Manning has put up this year it is pretty hard to argue with the fact that he is at this moment the best QB in the NFL, and quite possibly having the best year by any QB, ever. We'll know in a few more weeks. But it is patently obvious that the defensive is the limiting factor for that Colts team. Manning has taken a couple of unknown WRs and turned them into studs. His offensive line is dependable and gives good pass protection but they are not overpowering (ever watched Indy on 4th and inches? They get stopped a hell of a lot). There isn't a single QB playing in the NFL right now you could put in that offense who would put up numbers even close to what Manning has done, or carry that team to as many wins.

There's a reason he is getting paid so much freaking money - because people who judge football talent for a *living* realize he is the best QB out there and they want to keep him. I don't know why you hate the guy so much Devil, but I'm sure there is a good councilor in the yellow pages who can help you Do you hate Marino too?

Finally got time to finish watching the series on DVD last week. I hate FOX so much. Can't wait to see the movie though None of this has any relevance to the release date news. Thanks for readin.

Alice, you really don't seem to be listening to anyone here. So, I am going to draw an analogy so maybe you can understand...

Let's say you go to Wal-Mart to buy Trivial Pursuit. Wal-Mart sells you a copy where the shrink-wrap was already broken, and the box had been opened. You got home and found out that the dice and some of the cards are missing.

Do you:
1) Blame the makers of Trivial Pursuit for Wal-Mart opening the box?
2) Blame Wal-Mart for selling you a game that had been opened such that someone could steal the dice and cards.

Right now, you are blaming Valve for something over which they have absolutely NO control. That's the same as blaming Trivial Pursuit in the above example. Now ten different people have told you how to fix your problem: go and speak to the District Manager for EB. You can likely do this over the phone, so you don't even need to drive anywhere. It would take you TEN minutes.

Now, you can either fix the problem, or you can sit here and whine about it. You've already spent more time whining than it would have taken to fix it in the first place. So how about you try calling and dealing with the problem?

Often happens to me when I'm at a counter being serviced by a clerk.

Err, they are servicing you and still can't tell? What is the going rate for clerks these days anyway? And does it vary from store to store?

There is a pat at the Publix down the road from me. Black guy/chick who wears his/her hair in this funky pull-back-do that could go either way. Wearing the gender-neutral Publix stuff and has some funky name I can't remember off the top of my head but that also doesn't give it away. Funny stuff.

I'd be more impressed if it was bumped from a year ago though I wonder if someone will actually track this thread down in one year and bump it again and it still be true!

You have a pm.

Fafhrd, does the Gold Upgrade for Operation Flashpoint allow you to play coop online with the GOTY edition people?

I have to say my respect for this administration will increase dramatically if they do appoint someone moderate to this position. It'll increase even more if Bush actually does reach out to the 48% of the population who hate his guts

+1 to noun too for Raven Shield.

+1 to Rage. Both NWN expansions all shiny with manuals.

Fuck Christian Bale.

Is there some unrequited man-lust there we don't know about?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Christian Bale

Left Side:

Rome: Total War
NA
NA
NA
NA
Rise of Nations
Planescape: Torment
NA

Right Side:

Unreal Tournament 2004
Baldur's Gate 2
Diablo 2
Master of Orion 2
Starcraft
Knights of the Old Republic
NA
NA

Krull was a fantasy movie though about humans taking out the big bad ugly creature.

Either or. PM or post below if you have one or both you are looking to unload. I have the original game already.

Madden 2003
Chessmaster 6000
Chessmaster 7000 [Taken by Gratch]
Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance [Taken by noun]
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
F-22 Lightning
Age of Empires
Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit
Operation Flashpoint [taken by wookie]

These are all CD cases guaranteed, and most will have manuals to boot. If you need to know just pm me and I'll hunt it down.

I vote for me to make it a five-way tie for first!

Which I'm sure you realize you started.  

Whatever though, this is silly.

Check again bucko. I did a regular smiley face. You were the one who started with the rolleyes! Nice try though you communist bastard

(For the humor impaired, this was not a serious post!)

Ah, but when I posted the first one it was 100% appropriate.  See below:

As was pointed out when you posted this over at OO Eco, all evidence suggests that John Hospers in fact had absolutely nothing to do with this letter. Which I guess shows that you really are just posting any random crap you find on the internet that supports your cause

Yea, cause I knew it wasn't actually written by John Hospers when I wrote it... :roll:

Gah. And if you check the postings again, my rolleyes in response to that was also 100% appropriate. Because, as I pointed out, when you learned it wasn't reliable information you made no effort to retract or qualify it  :roll:

I was making fun of the third rolleyes in the exchange, which you posted along with having forgotten about this thread. Now that's only appropriate if you hadn't actually forgotten about the thread and were being sarcastic. In which case you never replied to my zinger! So there!

[completed]

Eco, I know you and I don't get along particularly well, but hopefully we can keep our mutual antagonism down some and have a rational discussion here.

To explain something from a different perspective:

When 9/11 happened and the U.S declared it was going to invade Afghanistan, Australia was the first national to pledge troops. The moment they did that, I was about as proud to be australian as I ever have, because we were stepping up to do the right thing. Nearly the entire world was behind the invasion of Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11. At worst some countries were ambivalent. Up to this point, with the tax cuts, I thought Bush was doing a pretty solid job as president.

Since that initial invasion of Afghanistan however my opinion has changed dramatically, and with it the opinion of much of the world.

1) The job in Afghanistan was never finished. Whatever you might say, Bush pulled the majority of troops out of Afghanistan prematurely before the country was secure in order to invade Iraq. He did this despite his own CIA saying at the time that Saddam was not an immediate threat to the U.S. I cannot quote exactly the words, but their comments were something to the effect of "If Iraq does hold weapons of mass destruction, they are unlikely to use them unless attacked."

Now if you look at the mess which is Afghanistan, you cannot pretent for a second that the job there was finished properly. Large regions of the country are still under Taliban control, the elections were incapable of including large portions of the population because of said Taliban control. And it is patently obvious at this point that Iraq was not any sort of an immediate threat to the U.S.

2) The invasion of Iraq. I could have forgiven the Iraqi invasion if a couple of things had taken place. The first being that Afghanistan were properly secured and the job there completed first. It wasn't. The second thing being that there be a comprehensive plan of action of how to deal with the occupation of Iraq once the invasion was complete. I don't care how partisan you are or how often you watch Fox news, NOBODY can say that the occupation of Iraq was properly planned.

Now yes you have now made Iraq the centerpiece of the 'war on terror', but that isn't necessarily as good of a thing as you might think. I mean consider it for a moment. The U.S's borders are at least moderately secure. Within the U.S, your intelligence gathering abilities are a thousandfold greater than in Iraq.

In comparison Iraq is a sieve. People cross the borders practically at will, which is part of the reason you have these incredibly large numbers of terrorists in the country right now causing all this trouble. You have poor intelligence. You have limited manpower, with limited logistics. In other words, you have presented your weakest front to the enemy at their strongest point. That's like having the better football team, but isntead of playing them out on the field sending your *kicker* into their locker room before the game to piss on their lockers. All you've done is make everyone really really angry, and you're not at your strongest to fight them.

So sure, you have americans dying every day in Iraq instead of americans dying here in the U.S. But ask yourself this: how effectively do you really think the terrorists could bring the fight over here? They have to come halfway around the world, find their way into the country somehow, plan, prepare and then execute. All of this at their weakest, with you at your strongest. Imagine too if those soldiers in iraq were instead back here shoring up the borders instead of being shooting gallery ducks in iraq. Wonder how many americans would be dead from the terrorists in the last year and a half then? A lot less than you have now I'd be willing to bet a whole lot of money. Because let's not forget that 9/11 was the last terrorist attack on U.S soil. You can sure bet they had opportunity before the troops landed in Afghanistan, but they didn't strike a second time. They probably have opportunity now but they aren't striking. Why would they when they can go to their own freaking locker and beat the shit out of your kicker? Except over there, random people from the stands who would otherwise be staying out of the game are joining in for the hell of it.

Anyways, my point is there is a reason that support for the U.S is waning around the world. It isn't because the french are a bunch of pansies who are afraid to fight. If you take a look around, the populations of the U.S two most stalwart allies, Brittain and Australia, are against what is happening. And both those countries are democracies. If you think their leaderships will continue to support Bush's efforts forever you're mistaken.

Now I'm not going to pretend that everything I have said here is 100% correct. I am sure I've made an error or two along the way. But I seriously challenge you to stop, take a deep breath, forget the partison rhetoric for a moment and read what I wrote with an open mind. If you can't see even ONE valid point in what I've written then I don't fruitful political discussion is even possible.

Which I'm sure you realize you started.  

Whatever though, this is silly.

Check again bucko. I did a regular smiley face. You were the one who started with the rolleyes! Nice try though you communist bastard

(For the humor impaired, this was not a serious post!)

Trick or treat candy
More than that you cheap bastard
I piss on your car.

EDIT: Woah. Apparantly I forgot how to count earlier today and had 6 syllables in my first line. Which is really sad because I've known the rules for haiku since I was 13, and speak pretty fluent japanese after living there

As was pointed out when you posted this over at OO Eco, all evidence suggests that John Hospers in fact had absolutely nothing to do with this letter. Which I guess shows that you really are just posting any random crap you find on the internet that supports your cause

Yea, cause I knew it wasn't actually written by John Hospers when I wrote it... :roll:

Yea and once someone pointed out to you it was in all likelihood a fake, you rushed right over here to make note of it in this thread too  :roll:

I had forgotten I even posted it here as well...   :roll:

Well here's to inappropriate use of roll-eyes  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:

As was pointed out when you posted this over at OO Eco, all evidence suggests that John Hospers in fact had absolutely nothing to do with this letter. Which I guess shows that you really are just posting any random crap you find on the internet that supports your cause

Yea, cause I knew it wasn't actually written by John Hospers when I wrote it... :roll:

Yea and once someone pointed out to you it was in all likelihood a fake, you rushed right over here to make note of it in this thread too  :roll:

As was pointed out when you posted this over at OO Eco, all evidence suggests that John Hospers in fact had absolutely nothing to do with this letter. Which I guess shows that you really are just posting any random crap you find on the internet that supports your cause

Ignoring the fact that Gone in Sixty Seconds was actually an enjoyable movie, I offer the following:

Beverly Hills Cop
The Rock
Remember the Titans
Pirates of the Caribbean

The guy doesn't make a perfect movie every time, but I don't suppose you do everything right all the time either do you Ralph? Unless you're actually perfect, in which case I'm sure Hollywood is just waiting for you to come along and show them how movies should be made

Operation Flashpoint.

I'd have thought Tom Welling could do a decent job in the movie. Guess we won't know though

Hehe. No I meant Christian Bale as 007.



VS

Christian Bale?

I just registered. Hey everyone.