Discrim

A little unintentional humor I came across while window shopping on ebay: Frankenstein Angels jersey...I feel like this is somebody's concept brought to life poorly ...whatever the heck this is... ...and for good measure, whatever this thing is... and last but not least, this complete botch job

From what little I know about the Minneapolis-St. Paul rivalry, that wouldn't have been well received right away, at least by folks from the latter city.

The Knicks missed a golden opportunity when they named their D-League team the Westchester Knicks...we coulda had the New York Bockers, people.

It actually looks more collegiate to me, but I see where you're getting at.

The numbers on the Cubs' batting helmets used to be in the same font they use for the jersey numbers. At some point in this decade, though, they changed the helmet numbers to the Red Sox font for some reason.

Back in the PS2 era, 989 Sports put out the World Tour Soccer series, in which MLS' teams were always among the unlicensed. Given the European production team, I figured the mistake was a bit more excusable...but the then-Wizards were always listed as Kansas. Not Kansas City, just Kansas (I can only presume they thought it was like Manchester City).

Oddly enough, this is the first time I've seen Hat Tricks used as a team name in spite of it's cliche-ness.

Wait, when did this happen? And why are they dropping Blackbirds?

Ready for more pixelated football? No? Too bad You know those times when a play starts out great....but then disaster strikes? Happened to me in the second half of a solo play between the Trucks (Bucs, me) and the Regals (Eagles, automa). So going into this play, a combination of an early safety and a pass that ended up going all the way gave the Trucks a 9-0 lead, and I was trying to put the game on ice, so I figured I'd hand it off to Al Stop (Mike Alstott). His 3 skill rating, while making him very slow, also makes him VERY hard to bring down, for reference; combined with his skills, Block +1 and Shove, I figured I'd be able to chew a little clock before Al went down. Starting from the Trucks' own 15, I sent a couple receivers down field as decoys, then gave it to Stop. None of the Regals' stronger players were anywhere near him, so in a scene reminiscent of Tecmo Bo, I basically spammed Shove all the way to the Regals' 15...but then I guess he ran out of steam, as one more Shove failed. Worse, the dice roll wound up being doubles...which meant a fumble. The ensuing bounce was within reach of the Ultimate Weapon himself, the legendary Q.B. Eagles, and with his speed, some help from his friends, and probably at least one juke, Eagles took the fumble to the house to make it 9-7. Exactly what I'd been trying to avoid. I held onto the lead and won 23-14, but damn if that play didn't almost completely swing the momentum the Regals' way. Fortunately, they had issues with the AAF-style onside try (my own house rule, which I'm still kinda tweaking), going 0 for 2 and even giving up a touchdown on one. Honestly, I really wish I hadn't lost the scoresheet to the epic 28-all tie I'd played a few weeks back between the Ankhs (Saints) and Falchions (guess). Flat out track meet, man.

Still amazing how simply changing the number color took the Nets grays from trash to classics.

Free the Trashers! In all seriousness, an inspired choice of both name and emblem. Wish I'd thought of it.

And here to throw the first pitch...Ric Flair

Nice update, given that in the old version, the lioness looks like an afterthought.

He's Bono's cosplayer brother, that's why.

Another post, another pixel this time out, I'd bought a new folding table (and also made myself a dice tower out of an old pop tarts box and duct tape), and figured I'd christen it with a battle between the Monsters (me) against the Yellow Jackets (automa). The Monsters' playing style is predicated on a good deal of synergy (and Perry Freezer holding the periodic block party), while the Jackets are reliant on Tony Boselli Boss to clear the way on both sides of the ball, whether it's shoving fools out of the way so Fred Taylor Freddie Thunder can get loose, or creating opportunities for teammates through teamwork. In lieu of the coin toss, I rolled a single die, which came up as the odd I'd called, and elected to go on defense first. Initially, that looked like a good choice, as the Jackets attempted a pass that went awry, and was picked off by one of my LBs at the 35. Since I had a certain star nearby, I decided to try something I see on Cookieboy's Madden Top 10 all the time, so I had Walter Payton Payday take a handoff shortly after the pick, and he was able to reach the endzone for the first salvo. Monsters 7, Yellow Jackets 0. It didn't stay that way very long, though, as the Jackets were able to hold up just long enough for Thunder to find some open space. One evaded tackle later, tie ballgame. Not to be outdone, I decided put the ball in Payday's hands on the next drive, and ended up reaching the Jackets' 30 in two downs, but there was only time for one more play, so I attempted a field goal, which went through to put the Monsters up 10-7 going into the locker room. The first play of the second half, I decided to put the ball in the air. The good news was my receiver made the catch....the bad news was that on the Jackets' tackle attempt, doubles were rolled, which meant my man coughed the ball up...only for Mike Singletary Solitary to pick it up and make it to midfield...except he'd fumble as well, a ball the Jackets would pick up at their own 45. Solitary made up for his miscue by making the tackle that finally ended that debacle, but the damage was done, and on the next play, Thunder, under center this time, showed off some quarterbacking chops, finding one of his bigger targets for what ended up a 45 yard TD pass, and the Jackets would take their first lead, 14-10. As the Monsters went back on offense, I figured it might be time to pass it, but with my intended deep options stuck in coverage, I decided to toss it to my guy in the flats. Problem was, the skill check failed, which basically meant the pass ended up offline. Even worse, it got picked off at our 15. Adding insult to injury, the Yellow Jackets were able to toss it into the end zone to take a commanding 21-10 lead with only a little time left. I won't lie, the below pic looked like the dagger. It wound up taking the last three plays to do it, but this time as a receiver, Payday put the Monsters on his back, and on the last timed play, he made a Jackets defender miss a tackle, and took advantage to get in the endzone, which made the score 21-17. I figured one thing, something similar was working for the AAF, why not test out an "onside play" idea here? Though normally, there's no getting a first down in Techno Bowl, in this case, I figured this called for an exception, that the onside play would need to reach the 50 in order to keep the ball. Once again, though, Walt Payday was puttin the team on his back doe, making a catch at the 45, then taking it all the way for the walkoff touchdown... The thrill of victory, as Payday is carried off the field... ...and the agony of defeat, as a stunned Jacket wonders how it all went wrong I figure I might flesh this onside play idea out a bit, but unlike the AAF, I'll be playing this week (too soon?)

More Techno Bowl Fun with 'Scrim...so a few weeks back, I got around to doing several things: making bases for my standees...then redesigning said bases recently, buying a case to put all my TB crap in, printing out a few more teams (the Cowb...er, Bulls and Regals, shown below, also the Jaguars Yellow Jackets and Ravens Ninjas), junking my Arena board because I realized it was too narrow...and trying out and idea I'd borrowed from the Electric Football community, interchangeable field art. Yes, I made Rhein Fire field art despite not yet making a Rhein Fire team to go with it. So basically just like about half of the highlights on Cookieboy's Madden Not Top 10. Anyway, I'd decided to play a quick half before work. Unlike my earlier forays, here I used a solitaire deck a fella at BGG devised, and so I played as the Regals, led by QB Eagles and Mack Koi. The Bulls' standouts are no slouches themselves, leaning on Sam Emmitt's powerful running, Roy Cakeman under center, and Dee Sandman shutting down his side of the field on defense. To make things brief, the half ended tied at 7, with the Bulls' TD being an interception return on the first play, as a somewhat ill-advised pass wound up being picked off by a Bulls linebacker who took it to the house. Nearly got free, but he got chased down a few squares short of seven. Honestly, I was looking to hand it off to Mack Koi, but the defense was on the cusp of blowing the play up...and the Ultimate Weapon already had the ball in his hands, sooo...one abandoned RB and one juke later, touchdown Regals! Not the prettiest field ever, the concept needs a few tweaks, but I think it's sound.

Well, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. Not too often something Phoenix does is actually an upgrade, so bravo to em.

And they make ham too....eeeeeeevil ham.

That Rays scheme was one big missed opportunity. One of either the green or blue should have been lighter. The shade of blue the Lions use would've been a much better fit.

Yeah, a fine color scheme, just not for the Giants.

Don't want your team to be mistaken for a psychopathic, murderous Argentinian, after all.

One thing has been clear to me for years: if the 90s alt with the big buck had been purple, I doubt it is looked at as nostalgically as it is.

It is the shiny.

And after all this time, I foolishly thought Phoenix had quietly gone under. They live up to their name, I guess.

One of my cousins went to SIU, I figure he'd call this an upgrade.