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MLB 2011: Hot Stove Talks

T.J. Lauerman July 26, 2011 No Comments

We are less than one week away from the MLB Trade deadline and I decided to have a compilation article with Jeff at TwentyThreesThoughts on our thoughts of the current MLB players being rumored to move.

Visit: http://twentythreesthoughts.wordpress.com/ and support a friend of the site.

CARLOS BELTRAN

TSG: Beltran is a great pickup for any team looking for a good outfielder for the rest of the season. If you think he is going to repeat what he did for the Astros in 2004, you’re sadly mistaken. If you think he’s going to be a quality outfielder, then you are right. He is a solid fit for the Braves, he can slide right into CF and give Heyward some days off in right.

23: At one point in time I would’ve trusted Beltran, but it’s 2011 and I’m smarter than I used to be. I don’t think I could give up major prospects for a 3 month rental, unless I knew I was going to win the World Series. Beltran has a no trade clause and will choose where he wants to go. I don’t touch Beltran unless I’m certain I can afford the prospects in return for a player that has a history of injuries. Prognosis: Stay Away.

Get more of our Hot Stove thoughts…

EA Puts Down Servers For Old Games

T.J. Lauerman July 13, 2011 No Comments

Its that time of year again, EA is taking down online play for a bunch of games. Essentially this is EA telling you it’s time to upgrade.

August 11, 2011 Online Service Shutdown

NASCAR 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (North America)
NCAA Basketball 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NCAA Football 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
SKATE for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 for PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 Demo for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

October 1, 2011 Online Service Shutdown

Madden NFL 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
NHL 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

The one game of interest to lost its online play is NCAA Basketball 10. EA Sports hasn’t put out a new NCAA basketball game since November of 2009, so I’m very interested to see if there is an uprising for whatever community still exists for this game.

On The Field Friday – Seattle Mariners 1998 Turn Ahead The Clock Jersey

T.J. Lauerman June 24, 2011 No Comments

While “Turn Ahead The Clock” may have been one of the worst ideas in MLB’s history, it does give us something to talk about. In case you didn’t know, in 1999, Major League Baseball and Century 21 Real Estate had a promotion where rather than wearing retro uniforms, team would “Turn Ahead The Clock” to jerseys they would wear in future.

In the year prior, 1998, Mariners Marketing Director, Kevin Martinez brought the idea to his team to wear jerseys from 2027, which would be the teams 50th Anniversary. Ken Griffey Jr. played a crucial role in creating designing the Mariners “Turn Ahead The Clock” jerseys, even down to choosing the new colors. One of those colors being red, possibly foreshadowing his future move to the Reds?

Griffey also made some last minute changes to the jerseys once they got to the ball park. He convinced his teammates to cut the sleeves off their jerseys and spray paint their cleats silver.

While the 1999 MLB wide “Turn Ahead The Clock” was pretty much panned for being a joke, the Mariners 1998 outing was widely considered a success by the organization.

Throwback Thursday – FIFA 2001

T.J. Lauerman June 23, 2011 No Comments

With the official release date for FIFA 12 coming out this week, I felt it would be apropos to mention one of the more interesting releases in the FIFA series.

FIFA 2001 was much like any other FIFA game, more of an evolution then a revolution most would say except for two things. The main one being that this was the first year the game had been brought to Sony’s super powerful PlayStation 2 system.

The second feature was far ahead of it’s time. The disc had a “‘scratch and sniff’ feature that allowed you to smell the turf. Why has this feature disappeared? I’m assuming it made a lot of people nauseous. I didn’t have this game, so my guess is that when the disc spun up that material would get hot and funk up your whole room, but I could be wrong.

I’d love to see EA Sports bring back “scratch and sniff” discs, but that may still be ahead of it’s time.

FIFA 12 comes out on September 27th in North America and September 30th for the rest of the world.

Steven Stamkos Is Your NHL 12 Cover Athlete

T.J. Lauerman June 22, 2011 No Comments

During Wednesday night’s NHL Awards, Tampa Bay Lightning Center, Steven Stamkos was announced as the EA Sports NHL 12 cover athlete. Stamkos was the 1st overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and in his three years with the Lightning he has netted 119 goals and 113 assists. His 51 goals in the 09-10 season made him just the 3rd youngest player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season.

NHL 12 comes out on September 9th in Europe and September 13th in North America on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Just How Old Is Jack McKeon?

T.J. Lauerman June 22, 2011 No Comments

Recently, Jack McKeon took over as manager of the Florida Marlins after and abysmal 1-19 beginning to the month of June. At 80 years old, Jack McKeon is now the 2nd oldest man ever to manage a professional baseball team. Connie Mack holds the record by coaching the Philadelphia Athletics (the team he owned) till 87.

McKeon was born in 1930, so I have compiled a list of interesting facts from that year.

Click here to read the list…

Hitting The Limit: FIFA 11 Ultimate Team Squads

T.J. Lauerman June 20, 2011 No Comments

When I’m not playing with my Online Pro Club in FIFA 11, the majority of my time is spent playing Ultimate Team. Aside from actually playing games and aquiring players, a big part of my fun is derived from creating squads, mixing and matching players for the best chemistry while still putting a great team on the field.

Last night I ran into a huge problem, I ran out of squads.

Click here to find out what squads I use…

Happy Father’s Day

T.J. Lauerman June 19, 2011 No Comments

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there. Without your father you wouldn’t be here, and without my father, you wouldn’t be here at ThatSportsGamer.com.

It’s not because he’s some sort of web-genius that you are here, believe me, I still have to help him with Excel from time to time. This site most likely wouldn’t be in existence if it wasn’t for the quality time that we spent together when I was young playing that Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt double cartridge on the NES. As a matter of fact, that system and game are still somewhere in my parents house.

No matter what, he can always make me smile, so I just want to thank him for everything he’s done for me any my sisters.

Thanks Dad, I love you.