Fun time-wasters for those long fridays at work

The "Same Game" - a diabolically simple and addictive puzzle game - perfect for work, since it is a tiny file which uses no system resources, and there is no time limit, so it's easy to minimize and come back to:

http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?500000030590

Ballparks old and new, some decent pics:

http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/

See your favorite team's unies through their entire existence:

http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/exhibits/online_exhibits/dressed_to_the_nines/database.htm

Reviews of everything from CD's, DVD's to Video Games:

http://www.metacritic.com/

Geeky Star Wars dorks can find trailers and such here:

http://movies.channel.aol.com/feature/starwars/

Non-baseball related topics? Pshaw!!

Someone mentioned that most if not all of my postst thus far to this blog have been baseball-oriented. To which I say, so?

Honestly, some other topics are coming. I have yet to go to a park this year besides the 4 featured. (Truth be told, I haven't gone to the Urinal this season yet - I'm trying to put it off until May 20-22...) So those posts will be few and far between for a while.

I will be starting up a re-read of my Western Philosophy textbook soon, so I'm sure I'll have some inspiration for non-baseball topics soon..

In the meantime, how about those White Sox? 6-2, best record in the majors, baby!

What's encouraging is generally, they're hitting like crap but still finding ways to squeak out games. The pitching has been mostly terrific. Once they start hitting, they should be a juggernaut...

No school like the old school.

I just bought a Sony PSP. Yes, I'm a dork.

It looks really neat, and the games thus far have been pretty cool. I've got Lumines and Ridge Racer. They're nearly PS2 quality, though not quite. Still, very neat to have in a hand-held.

But it got me thinking - what games would I like to see ported over to the new system?

Wah lah, here they are:

Rez. From the creator of Lumines, Tetsuya Mizugichi. Like Tron on acid, with trippy trance music that changes with your gameplay. A total mind-job. I'd love to zone out on the train playing this (and grooving to the beats).

Speaking of beats, Frequency would be an amazing chill-out game to take with you on a plane.

ICO would be an incredible game to have with you. I don't know how well it would translate away from the big screen, but damn, I just want more ICO. One of my two or three favorite games of the past 5 years.

Gradius V would be an incredible and addictive time waster on a handheld. They just don't make space shooters like this any more. Oh, wait, this came out last year. Well, OK. Treasure still makes them like this. Those wonderful Japanese saints...

Oh, I can't forget Katamari Damacy. The story of a cosmic prince and his junky balls... the graphics would not tax the PSP hardware, and the thought of humming along to the theme song (lyrics: nuh nah.. nah nah nah nah nah nuh.......) makes me happy.

Gaming Dorks of the world, unite!

Money matters

Here's a link to the "Team Marketing Report", which calculates the "Fan Cost Index" for major league teams in every sport. The upshot - The Cubs cost the 2nd most in MLB to go to a game, while the White Sox cost the 6th.

To which I say - outrageous! Are we (the Sox) the 6th best team in the majors? Do we have the 6th highest attendance?

No, I say. This is ridiculous. Something needs to be done. Jerry Reinsdork and his marketing goons have priced Sox fans, who are generally a more working-class population to begin with, onto their living room couches.

And people gripe about attendance.

I have a simple cure: $5 upper deck tickets, Monday through Thursday. You publicize it, build some goodwill, and put fannies in seats that otherwise would have gone empty.

Brooks Boyer, are you reading this? Probably not.