Random Thoughts 2/8/08

• The Chiefs are in trouble with star DE Jared Allen if they can't sign him soon. Allen says that if they don't sign him to a long term contract now, he'll never sign long term with the team. If the Chiefs hold true to form, Peterson will stall, anger Allen, slap the franchise tag on him ($9 million) and then lose him to free agency in '09. If the Chiefs don't pay Allen, it becomes that much harder to claim they are earnestly rebuilding.
• My boys have really been enjoying the Wii, but at least half of what we play is actually the older GameCube games. The Wii accepts the smaller GameCube mini-DVDs and GameCube controllers plug in to the top of the Wii. I can buy the old games that were $50 new for only $5-10 used and we've also inherited some old games from friends for free. Favorites in our house include Mario Kart Double Dash and Super Smash Brothers Melee mixed in among the more current Wii games like Wii Sports and Mario/Sonic Olympics. The old Gamecube games (some as old as 2001) are new to us and provide a cheap way to add variety.
• Maury, the new puppy, now has a camouflage collar with, appropriately enough, a dog tag. The problem is that he's so short that if he lowers his head at all the dog tag smacks the floor. The poor thing is just so little. In the picture below, I think he's facing left. I think.
  
  
  
• I've begun playing basketball again on Tuesdays during our lunch hour. Jay-rod and I did this for awhile last year and it's great to get back into a routine with a bunch of great guys.
• Speaking of video games, it's interesting how universal gaming is becoming. The average age of video game players is rising every year. Grandparents and nursing home residents are playing the Wii. The video game review show, cable's X-Play, has grown up recently and become an video-game industry news program (Adam Sessler almost looks and sounds like a legitimate journalist now… almost). Even Vanity Fair, a magazine that has never covered video game news before, will publish its first game review in the March issue.