Droppin

Ink winners — Safety Jarrod Cooper showed off photos of the winners in his best Raiders tattoo contest.
o        The winner, Scot Johnson of Kansas City, Mo., had his back covered in Raider tattoos.
o        Second place went to Juan Orozco of Yuba City, whose artwork feature a graveyard that included a picture of “tuck-rule game” referee Walt Coleman hanging from a tree.
o        Third place went to “Larry B.” whose tattoo of Raiders owner Al Davis starts at his sternum and covers his midsection.
o        Stacy Posey of Napa will have her tattoo paid for by Cooper. She had a portrait of Cooper tattooed on her thigh five days ago.
The winners receive cash prizes, Raiders tickets and gift cards to Raider Image stores.

According to one of the quirkiest named blogs out there in internet land some retailers have already broken FFXII street dates thus confirming rumors I heard a week or two ago that retailers had already recieved their shipments.  Personally I don’t understand what all the hullabaloo over street dates is for.  I mean if the game is ready and in the hands of retailers why shouldn’t they sell it?  Oh well.  Guess I’m not a big time marketing guru.  So head on down to your local electronic mega-mart, you just may wind up with a shiny new copy of Final Fantasy XII.  As for me I’ll be anxiously waiting for the delivery of my collectors edition.  Even if it does mean waiting until Thursday for the game (overnight shipping my butt!)

Big Head Mode: FFXII Breaks Street Date Internet Pirates Collectively Say “meh”

By Jason Jones – Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, October 23, 2006

OAKLAND-The immobile kid from Arizona State made a nifty move to set the tone.  It was third and 21 from the Raiders’ 39-yard line in the first quarter.  Arizona’s defensive line was bearing down on Raiders quarterback Andrew Walter, not known for his elusiveness.  Chike Okeafor had the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Walter within his grasp. But Walter slithered away to his left and found Randy Moss for a 32-yard gain.  Seven plays later, ReShard Lee scored on a one-yard run to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead that would become a 22-9 win Sunday at McAfee Coliseum.  It was the first victory for the Raiders (1-5), who entered the game the NFL’s only winless team.
It was Walter’s first victory as a starter, one that ended an 11-game losing streak that started Nov. 27, 2005, with a home loss to Miami.  It was also the first time coach Art Shell said after a game that Walter would start the next week, even as it appears Aaron Brooks is close to returning from a shoulder injury suffered in Week One.  None of that seemed to matter to Walter, who said Shell was given the game ball.  “I’m just happy we got the win,” Walter said. “Hopefully we’ll put the bricks in place to build a foundation.  “But it’s one good game; now we’ve got to make it two.”  Walter might have solidified himself as part of the Raiders’ foundation, but he left the game late in the third quarter with a left hamstring injury.  He said he could have played, but the coaches elected to have Marques Tuiasosopo finish the game.  But as long as Walter is healthy, the Raiders are his team. 
And the scramble and pass to Moss in the first quarter got it started.  “That was sweet; that was nice,” guard Barry Sims said. “That’s what you like. After the protection breaks down and a guy gets on him, he’s able to make guys miss and still make plays. That’s the kind of highlights you can expect to see from him.”  Walter completed 17 of 30 passes for 263 yards — all career bests — and a touchdown. It was Walter’s first game as a pro completing more than half of his passes.  But it wasn’t all good for Walter. He was intercepted late in the first half and lost two fumbles after being hit on sacks.  “Walter played well, I thought,” Shell said. “He made a couple of mistakes, but again, he’s young. But he made some great throws out there at times. He moved around in the pocket and made some good throws. He got us into some good checks at times, and he continues to grow.”  A lot of those good throws came on third downs, on which Walter was 9 of 10 for 137 yards. The Raiders converted 13 of 20 third downs (65 percent). 
Walter’s favorite target was Moss, who caught seven passes for 129 yards and a touchdown.  Ronald Curry said Walter showed what his teammates expected after he did not play as a rookie in 2005.  “We’ve been watching him for two years,” Curry said. “It wasn’t about growing up — it was about him getting out there and playing. And if you don’t play for a year, obviously there’s going to be some rough spots.”  Being a part of three of the Raiders’ five turnovers wasn’t a bright spot for the second-year quarterback, making his fourth career start.  “It’s not easy to talk about after a win,” Walter said of the turnovers. “But bottom line is, our defense stepped up.”  The Raiders didn’t allow a touchdown and kept Cardinals rookie quarterback Matt Leinart off balance with three sacks, two interceptions and constant pressure. Walter was peppered with questions during the week about Leinart, whom the Raiders didn’t draft because they believed in Walter.  Walter was 0-2 in college against Leinart, who was at USC winning national championships.  But that didn’t matter Sunday.  “One-and-oh as a professional,” Walter said with a laugh.

Report card

B-: OFFENSE
Five turnovers were a downer, but Andrew Walter played the best game of his career. Raiders converted 65 percent of third downs.
B+: DEFENSE
Had two interceptions and didn’t allow a touchdown. Line made Matt Leinart look like the rookie he is.
A: SPECIAL TEAMS
Perfect on two field goals and shored up problems in kick and punt coverage. Chris Carr had 118 yards on five kickoff returns and forced a fumble on a kickoff.
B: OVERALL
Sure, the Cardinals are bad. But so are the 49ers and Browns, both of whom beat Oakland this season. Still must fix turnover problems.
 

Walter helps Raiders enter the win column – sacbee.com

For those of you who care for this sort of thing.  Be sure to check up the two minute trailer for the upcoming season of 24.  I’m guessing Jack is going to somehow save the US from terrorists again but thats just a guess.

FOX Broadcasting Company: 24

In case you haven’t had a chance head on over to NBC.com and take a look at the webisodes of the office.  It’s not as good as a regular episode of the office (no Michael, Jim or Pam) but its still a must see for all fans of the office.

NBC.com > The Office > Video

Official Zelda:TP Design BOXART! – Wii – Nintendo NSider Forums

The console wars in pictures as could only be brought to up by Business Week of all people. Check it out.

A Brief History of Game Console Warfare

Joystiq, the blog for gamers, has put up an interesting article about Sony’s recent Gamer’s Day. Be sure to take a look at the first screen shot which shows Sony president holding the official PS3 box. Drop it like its heavy!
Surviving Sony Gamer’s Day – Joystiq

This article from Yahoo discusses an interesting topic, the absence of TV theme songs.  You may not have noticed but they really don’t exist anymore.  Is it kind of sad that we live in such an instantaneous time that we can’t even wait for a song before our shows start?  It makes sense though, I do enjoy the Office intro but I do FF my TiVo through it most of the time.

Television theme songs are fading fast – Yahoo! News

Yes its late and no I don’t care. Chances are I’ll probably take a few episodes off in order to catch up. What can I say life happens. Here were my thoughts from week two in case anyone cares:

• Sundra says that she wants to represent well but they have all this added pressure being the African American tribe. Yes as opposed to the pressure free of the latin tribe, Asian tribe or white tribe.
• The Latin tribe all gets up and goes and gets fish because, “Latinos are all hard workers” Seriously what is up with these people?
• Ozzy doesn’t get along well with Christina because “She’s a cop”. Okay then.
• Then the Asian tribe catches two chickens in a crate moments after Ozzy from the Latin trbie caught one. Okay are these like plant chickens or something? They are everywhere on these islands and just walk blindly into traps. Have you ever tried to catch a chicken before? It doesn’t go quite this smoothly. Only in reality TV.
• The Latrin tribe busts out another 15 fish caught every time they turn around. Wait I thought the racial stereotype handbook said that the Asians were the fishermen…
• Billy tells his tribemate that he doesn’t fit in because he doesn’t feel Hispanic. This after the first episode where he told us that their team would do great because they are all from the Caribbean.
• Jenny gets a headache and once again Cao Boi steps up and releases her from the Bad Wind with another patented pinch o’ doom. In a few weeks everyone will be walking around with red dots.
• Back at the Latin tribe nobody can sleep because Billy is snoring. So Ozzy brings up the idea of throwing the challenge to get rid of Billy. Has this ever gone well in the history of Survivor?
• Challenge time, Nate uses his funky math to tell us that they have to win because they are four down and everyone else has five. Four down? So Nate is the only person left on his tribe? He thinks that he is everybody!
• JP tells them that they can stop at the beginning to read a copy of the story but it might take precious time. So of course the Latin tribe does so. Wow that wasn’t set up for them to throw it or anything was it?
• The latin tribe does everything short of going backwards and giving up to throw the challenge. Boy that wasn’t obvious or anything was it? How bad do you have to feel if you are Billy. Your tribe hates you bad enough to throw the second immunity challenge in the game to get rid of you. Ouch!
• Yul gets sent to exile island. Yeah I didn’t know who that was either.
• Before they all separate Billy leans over the the white tribe and tells them that he is next and then says “I love you” Umm okay then.
• Yul gets to exile island, reads the clue, walks out, digs a hole and finds the immunity idol. You gotta love a twist that gets blown on week 2! Here is hoping that it actually comes into play. I’m tired of twists in reality shows that don’t do anything.
• Billy then ends the show by saying goodbye and tells everyone that his prize is that he fell in love with Candace from the other tribe. JP is like what the crap?!?!

I’ll chime in later on in the week with my thoughts when I’ve had a chance to watch a few episodes and catch up.