Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
National Attention
Thursday
April 21, 2005
"[One] of the top draft analysts around... This is one of the more underground draft sites on the internet, but not so radical with its picks."
-Nick Eatman of DallasCowboys.com, regarding DraftKing.com, 4/20/2005
It's funny: there's probably a small percentage of people who saw the title of this column and thought I'd have the latest scoop on Bubba The Love Sponge on here. Not today, muchachos.
No, what I'm referencing is DallasCowboys.com listing my mock draft site, DraftKing.com, as one of just five mock drafts in its preview of who the Cowboys might take in the first round. How I was chosen I don't know, but I woke up this morning to two e-mails alerting me to the fact that I had made it on there.
If you want to read the article in full, click here. The fact that I was listed above The Sporting News is humbling to me beyond belief. This is proof positive that one man with a computer in Tampa can have an impact. Not that I pretend to have some sort of powerful influence with Draft King -- I mean, I picked the name as an homage to the Plow King episode of The Simpsons, and because it was one of the few names I liked that was actually available. But it's a fun way for me to give my opinion about the draft, and to hear from others with their thoughts on how things will play out. I love the internet.
Vishal Khubani, the guy who I mentioned in my last column, wrote me a really nice e-mail thanking me for what I wrote about his site. It's obvious that he's super-smart, both from his site and from the e-mail. I enjoy interactions with really intelligent people. It doesn't happen just a whole lot for me, but like when I spend time with my friend Glenn Brown, who is definitely my intellectual superior, it's a challenge to match him in a debate, or even in a conversation where he can draw on a far greater well of knowledge than I have. I enjoy giving it a try, though.
I bought my bro Matt MVP Baseball 2005 for the X-Box for his birthday last week, and I broke down and bought it for myself for the PS2 this week after reading overwhelming positive reviews and getting the seal of approval from Scott Massey. And, wow, it was worth the purchase price (only $30). I traded in last year's game, which I had bought used and which had scratches on the disc, the only experience like that I've had from EB Games (which I've read has been bought out by Gamestop). But this year's game, the final one by EA Sports before 989 gets the exclusive MLB license (goddamn 989 and MLB), looks like a keeper. Owner Mode is fun, and even though I don't know all the guys like I do in the NFL, it is a great learning tool to get to know some of these guys who I'm unfamiliar with. I'm doing my Owner Mode with the Marlins, but it makes you build your own stadium, which I named Pickney Park. It may sound silly, but seeing that name up there in centerfield in big letters is actually really cool.
As for the end of the road for EB Games, assuming Gamespot rebrands them under the Gamespot name, it'll be a shame to see them go. I remember the place from way back when they were "Electronics Botique", which is what the EB stands for (no, it's not someone's initials). To put it in perspective, one of my first memories from Hickory Hollow Mall in Nashville was being in line to see Santa Claus, but the line closed and I didn't like that. At all. So I pitched a fit, and my dad, more to shut me up than anything, somehow directed me into Electronics Botique. He ended up buying me an Atari 800 game (no, not the inferior 2600, but the 800) called Princess and the Frog. Basically it was a ripoff of Frogger, and I remember that it was a white cartridge, unlike the rest of the Atari 800 cartridges, which were black. To the best of my knowledge we still have that game today somewhere with the rest of the Atari 800 cartridges at home in Nashville. Now my dad is not one to just spend money to shut people up, at least not me, and that's the only time I ever remember him doing something like that.
But, it worked. That is worth remembering.
Anyway, I'll be sad to see the name go, even if it has already disappeared into the world of initials. But there's no room for nostalga in the highly competitive field of video games.
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