Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Bolt Yourself In
Saturday
October 18, 2003
I've rediscovered just how fun the classic PC game Civilization II is... and let me tell you, my free time is taking a big hit as a result. But it's worth it... Unfortunately I set the difficultly level a tad too tough on my first go around on it for the first time in years, but hey, it's a challenge, and I can take it. And as it's playing out, it's me against the world, which is kind of cool (if you like fighting wars on three fronts and all). If you want a fun game on the cheap, check it out. It still holds up its fun factor, seven years after it first came out...
|  | | Civilization II remains an all-time classic computer game. |
Last night I played the card game Spades for the first time in years. It was great. I found that Jeff Riley and I make a great team at it (especially with Deann distracted on the cell phone). We played with some rules that were a bit foreign to me (like the two jokers and the 2 of spades both beating the Ace of Spades, which I never quite got used to). The gamesmanship was fun; I goading Kim into overbidding, and then earned a tongue-lashing about needing to have some balls and betting what I thought I could win. I countered with a quick retort about not betting based off my opponent's trick count. All in good fun, though. Card games remind me of fun times gone by...
The four of us ate at this pizza shop near Kim's new apartment in Hyde Park that supposedly won "Best In The Bay" for 2002 and 2003. I wasn't all that impressed with the two pieces of cheese pizza that I had, though. Granted, the stuff with the crazy vegetables that Kim and Riley had was piled on there in an almost insane fashion, but the cheese pizza I ate wasn't anywhere near as good as the pizza as Demi's market in Ybor (which is, without question, the best pizza in Tampa). But I do enjoy trying meals out at new places and what not.
The game is in progress as I type this, and Cadillac Williams of Auburn has six rushing touchdowns against Mississippi State. Ouch. Good thing MSU head coach Jackie Sherill announced that he's going to be "retiring" come the end of the season. Time to try something new up there in Starkville.
Incidentally, my favorite score of the day was at the half: Vanderbilt 2, Georgia 0. What were the Vegas odds on that particular combination? Uga and company woke up in the second half to beat the hapless Commodores, but still that particular score made me chuckle. It made me think of a regional soft drink promotion in Nashville in the late 1980's where the screw-off caps would have an SEC team and a score (not the plastic caps, but the old-style metal caps on glass bottles). If they won with the number posted as that final score, you won some prize. In theory, it sounded like a good idea. The commercials seemed cool enough -- "Vanderbilt 23" or whatever. But then you'd buy the drink, and it would say something like "Mississippi State 4". In other words, Mississippi State would have to win by scoring TWO SAFETIES and that's it. For those of you not well-versed to American college football, that never ever ever happens. And this wasn't an isolated incident; it happened on just about every cap I saw. Now I'm not one to throw around the word fraud... but man, that was a rather shady contest. Made me wish that it would've happened in the fluke, just so whoever was responsible would take it right in the middle...
|  | | The irony here is overwhelming. |
Speaking of scam contests, how is it that McDonald's is bringing back the Monopoly at McDonald's promotion? Doesn't everyone remember the scandal about how the contest was RIGGED for something like the past five or six years?!? Yet at work over at DigiQuest (or wherever), people are hording Illinois and Kentucky, hoping Indiana Avenue will show up (or whatever the "rare" piece is). Go figure. I do remember really liking the contest when it first came out... in the late 1980's. When I was in grade school. But, hey, to each his own.
I'm liking this Ron Zook leading Florida back to the winning side thing... It's just enough to get some of the UF fans believing again, thinking maybe he has the ship headed in the right direction... right before Georgia rips their heart out in two weeks. Rinse, repeat. I could get used to this (so long as Tennessee keeps beating them).
Looks like Ohio State is going to beat Iowa in the game that should've happened last year. I'm tired of writing about the problems in college football's power structure... At least the two teams got to square off in 2003.
|  | | All of Tampa hopes that John Pouncey (right) will dress up as Luis Guzmán (left) at Guavaween 2003. |
What an awkward situation it's becoming with Bobby Bowden on the brink of passing Joe Paterno for #1 on the all-time coaching wins list. It's a highly unusual situation to have two living legends still competing like this. If there's any consolation, it's that Paterno got to claim the #1 spot for himself, at least for awhile. Though, with how things go, it's possible that Bowden and JoePa could jockey back and forth for the top spot (though it seems that Bowden has much more gas left in his tank than Paterno, who really needs to retire... at least in my opinion).
My bro Matt just called and said that John Pouncey is coming down for Guavaween next weekend. Oh hell yeah. That'll be so great. I told him that one stipulation is that Pouncey must dress up as actor Luis Guzmán (who is Pouncey's all time favorite actor,
as everyone knows). Reprising Guavaween 2001 (when Matt, Richard Karg and I tore this place up) will be a tall order, but adding Pounce to the mix will certainly help make that a distinct possibility. I need to get ahold of Slick to find out the when/where on his travel plans...
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