Thursday, March 22, 2007

Why My Wife Loathes Me...and Why I Don't Post Very Often

Well, this is totally unrelated to the Saints or the NFL or football. But, alas...it's baseball season. And I love baseball season. When I was in college, I used to skip class (this was a purposeful skipping of class) to watch Opening Day baseball. All of it. In all it's glory and splendor. There's nothing like watching the Pissburgh Pirates playing the Washington Nationals and all their naivity. The looks in their eyes is so...hopeful. But, the chances of Pissburgh or Washington or Tampa Bay or Kansas City making the playoffs are about as good as an American orphan baby being adopted by Angelina Jolie (see, 'cause she only adopts the foreign babies).

I purchased the video game you see pictured. It is 2K Sports' latest baseball iteration, namely Major League Baseball 2K7 for my beloved XBOX 360. Here's the deal...MLB 2K7 is arguably the greatest baseball simulation I've ever played. The team at 2K Sports completely overhauled player animations, player faces and models, jersey physics, and stadiums. And, the hard work payed off. Now, to the part that keeps me from writing to all you good folks: I decided to play Franchise Mode, where I chose a franchise and play all it's games and sign and release and demote and promote all its players and set ticket prices and buy scouting reports...it's so great.

Naturally, the franchise I chose was the Chicago Cubs. However, I thought (get ready for a trip inside my head) "Why don't I just do a league-wide draft of all the players and see what happens?" So, that's what I did. What happens is all the players in the game get put into a pool and each team takes a turn drafting players. It's like the NFL Draft, except it's baseball and the players are already professionals. The players, along with their current contracts, are picked by all 32 teams in MLB. I could choose to control from 1 to 4 franchises. I only chose the Cubs, and here's the strategy I used: select young players that have a lot of upside and very low salaries. Here's the roster I got from the draft:

Lineup:

1. CF Felix Pie

2. 2B Ryan Theriot

3. 3B David Wright

4. 1B Nick Swisher

5. LF Matt Murton

6. RF Brad Hawpe

7. C Jeff Mathis

8. SS Khalil Greene

9. P Pitcher

Bench: OF Jeremy Reed, OF Reggie Abercrombie, IF Chris Woodward, IF Pete Orr, C J. D. Closser, 3B/1B Scott Moore.

Starting Rotation: Mark Prior, Johnathon Papelbon, Carlos Zambrano, Adam Wainwright, Matt Capps.

Bullpen: CL Kerry Wood, Johnathon Broxton, Brian Tallet, Horacio Ramirez, Wade Miller, Jonah Bayliss.

My budget for the 2007 campaign was set by my owner at $135 M. My expenses, including my team's salary and the purchasing of scouting reports, is currently just under $50 M. Average ticket price at the always sold-out Wrigley Field is $25.50. My current net profit for the year is projected to be more than double my expenses. Life as a Cub is pretty damn good. Not too shabby...currently, I'm 13-5, and leading the NL Central by 2.0 games over Milwaukee. Great success. It's loads of fun, and maybe I play it a little too much...but, we all have our "things" and being virtual owner of the virtual Cubs makes my wildest dreams come true....or something. If you have $60 hanging around the house, spend it on this game for your 360. I highly recommend it.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That post has absolutely nothing to do with the Saints, but I like it anyways. The American orphan comment just made my day! The game sounds pretty cool, however, I don't follow baseball and I have no idea who is on your roster. Great post Adam.

In a Nutsack said...

No problem...I do what I can for my fans.

Oh, by the way...strawberry harvest lager is the best thing ever.

erwhitey said...

I think you might need a veteran or two. Consider Larry Walker, great off the bench as the Cardinals proved last year or the year before. You should also look into picking up ULM's own Ben Sheets. That guys is awesome. In fact, I'd dump Prior for him every day and twice on Sunday. Thanks for the post O' Great Nutsack!

In a Nutsack said...

Not "the" Larry freakin' Walker...that guy's so old...uh...he's just old.

Ben Sheets would be a great pick-up, but my best pitcher so far has been Matt Capps...of the Pissburgh Pirates.

Chris said...

I think Katie would call off the wedding if I bought a 360. Guess I'll just have to wait 3 more weeks!!! And yes, strawberry harvest lager is the shit!

In a Nutsack said...

Sometimes you just have to lay down the law to these women and do whatever the hell you feel like doing.

I remember the last time I tried that...I miss that spleen she tore from my body, though.

Bennyisadevil said...

I think half of your pitching staff is out on DL right now...what a kick in the "nutsack" huh?!