Posted 3:46 PM by Mike
Madden 2004....most excellent! I LOVE the Playmaker option now added to the game. I have only played my first three games, but Terrell Owens is ripping it up. I'm going to give the Owner Mode a try, but if it takes up too much time and is too complicated, then I'm going back to regular Franchise mode.

Training camp for the Pens opens tomorrow. Rookies have been there all week and veterans are joining them tomorrow. Mario has been skating with them all week too. Less than four weeks til Oct 10th opener!!

Posted 11:50 AM by Mike
Where to start.......

Well, let's start with the bachelor party two weekends ago. If you all remember, I really didn't feel like going since I didn't really know anybody. Well, I went and it was fairly fun. Was nice to hear stories about Chad from other people and vice versa. It was at his best man's cabin which is on Lake Mill Lacs. I had never been on that lake and must say it is very nice. Definately a tourist trap type of place though! After some beers and grilling, we decided to hit the local tavern for more drinking and bull-shitting. After last call, we weren't ready to call it a night yet so we decided to hit the casino. Luckily we had a sober driver, so all seven of us packed into a Nissan X-terra (imagine clowns in a Volkswagon). We ended up getting back at 4:30am. The next morning saw a monster breakfast followed by golf. I had been told by the groom that the golf was free, but to find out it wasn't and it was at a very nice (and also expensive) golf course. I had decided that going golfing would have made the weekend way too expensive for me so I declined. (Golf would have been $60!, way more that this hack is willing to pay for golf!) Got home early and ended up going to a friends house that night for a relaxing evening.

This past weekend, went down to my uncle Mike's in Muscatine, IA. We had originally planned on going to the the Iowa-Buffalo game on Saturday, but changed our minds (well, I should say Mike changed his mind). He also had a money issue so we decided to watch the game at Mike's at 11:00am and drink gin all day, which I think was just as fun and definately cheaper!! That night we watched the NASCAR race with a bunch of people. Since the Florida State game was also on, I kept switching channels during every commerical during the race (which with TNT/NBC is quite often!) Must say FSU has looked pretty impressive the first two games. Their swagger seems to be coming back. I hesitate to say that they are back since their first two games were against UNC and Maryland, but they definately look good.

Got to watch most of the Niner's destruction of the Bears. Definatey a fun game to watch for Niner's fans!! Packers got thumped (the game wasn't as close as the 30-25 score indicates), and "Crusty" Rusty Wallace got a Top 5 finish in the race so all in all, a very good sports week for me!!

Lally, must say I was very impressed by the Bills this week. The new guys on defense (Spikes, Adams, and Milloy) all had huge games. Adams looked funny returning that interception!!

And now, I must defend myself a bit. I know I told everybody to feel sorry for my wife because hockey is about to start. It's not as bad as I (or my wife) let on. Alot of the time I tape the games and watch them later so I can zip through commercials and such. I don't arrange my schedule around the games (that's what VCR's are for). But I'm definately ready for October 10th!

Bought Madden yesterday. Still setting up my season so haven't officially played my first game yet. I did play it on X-Box over the weekend at my uncle's house and must say am very impressed. I know I said it will take a lot for it to rival NCAA 2004, but I just might!!