Best Video Games Ever!

Okay, these are more or less like the 5 Greatest Video Games in Sal's Keeper's life.

A little back story, my parents never bought me video games or if they did they were cheap, old PC games. But never the less I was able to actually find the best games ever and some of these go beyond the 16-bit Nintendo days.

5. One on One: Dr. J v.s. Larry Bird
The Year was 1983 and basketball was in a renaissance, the ABA was long gone but players like Julius Erving were tearing up the highlight reel. A youth movement started; Magic and Larry Legend were starting their own legacies for two storied franchises. The Atari 7800 had this gem, pitting Bird vs the Doctor. Many fond memories playing this game in the basement, on the old black and white Sylvania television. Of course it canceled out the ability to determine who was the black guy. The ability to break the backboard was genius and literally made me giddy in a 7 year old who knew nothing about basketball way.

4. NHL 2004
One of the greatest things about getting a job at a grocery store is the ability to buy a PlayStation 2. One of the best purchases ever was EA Sports NHL 2004. Picking up the Heatley copy (nothing against Sakic, but I hate the Avs) was so choice and creating teams was so cool. Of course it was a step above NHL 2002, which I thought was God then. I was able to destroy the engine devising nice set plays for my Penguins in franchise mode. Simply getting a fast winger to go into the corner and find the centerman to get a centering pass to lead to numerous 4-1, 5-1 games. I still love the game, even though I'm further along in my lovefest for the NHL series.

3. Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball
He's OUT! All you need to know. Having different strike out reactions, an awesome home run derby feature and giving me my first case of epilepsy, this SNES legend consumed my life whenever I hung out with my best friend in grade school. Yes, I didn't own the game, but gosh, I still get fuzzy thinking about it.

2. NASCAR Racing 2
No game was as real as the NASCAR Racing series. It turns the EA series into a sad copy cat. The paint shop was one of the greatest features ever. So many sites dedicated to new paint schemes and car set ups. Regardless of how you feel about NASCAR, this is a winner.

1. Earl Weaver Baseball II
So the guys who made High Heat and started EA Sports created this game. Apart from being a commissioner and creating leagues, teams, players, managers, strategy, stadiums, schedules, etc, the game was unreal from a strategy stand point. Of course with Weaver's name attached, the game had the best strategy that is not even seen in some games today. It was like having the MVP series, MLB the Show and all those lame baseball manager games mixed in one.

You might have noticed there was no mention of Madden. Well, the thing is, I have been playing Madden since '98 and I get so bored with it. The entire series is overrated, if people didn't care so much about football, maybe they'd know what a real game is.

Sal Fasano says: Play Sal Fasano's Baseball, where every play has a mustache; from Howard Johnson to Jack Morris.

NBA Playoffs: Smooth Move Paul Pierce

Congrats Paul Pierce.

Because you fouled out and drew a dumbass technical foul, you and the Celtics have to play in a Game 7. Also, best supporting cast Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen laid some huge eggs at the tail end of the Celtics 103-100 loss to Hot-lanta.

Allen was laying up so many bricks, he should be a mason. His play in the last three minutes were God awful. He looked less like the pure shooter he is and looking like a CYO benchwarmer.

Garnett didn't help out matters. Never have I seen a guy, who rules the rebounds and also works the inside as well as Garnett. However, he felt that rather than grab an offensive board and go right for the high percentage shot... he'd rather dish it out to an ice cold Allen or Rajon Rondo.

Of course, Boston being the more mature and experienced team played so bad right down to the last possession. With about 7 seconds left, the Celts decided to shoot a very poor, low percentage three pointer that was far from being logical of taking. Rondo would have had a better chance of hitting that three if he threw up the shot like Jimmy Flaherty in Celtic Pride.

Though, on the surface, it looks like the Celtics can win at home, destroying the Hawks, at the Fleet Center (i know it's not called this now).

Also, the Cavs finished off the Wizards (no surprise there) and the Jazz took care of Houston, proving that if you win at least 20 straight games now-a-days it doesn't mean you'll win the championship (cough* Oakland A's *cough).

Sal Fasano Says: Celtic Pride was my favorite movie... next to Necessary Roughness

A little personal news

A Little personal note from the 401K...

This week, Sal's Keeper will become part of the real work force. This means that I will be graduating from college with a degree in communications/journalism. Yes, so despite how much S.A.S, my hero Costas and Bissinger hate blogs, some of us actually have degrees and are actually qualified journalists.

Like some others out there, both myself, Sal's Keeper and Zooberstar, have both been in the trenches ironing out leads and contacts and battled deadlines. I myself have had the pleasure of announcing games on TV and then having to bust out a couple articles that same night, so some of us are, again, real journalists.

I'll be moving from college and the end of my academic career into a position as a play-by-play for a semi-pro baseball team in my hometown. Personally, it's been my life long dream to be a baseball announcer, so this was a dream come true.

With that said, there will be a million more posts and research done, especially since I have a week of freedom, playoffs and drinking to fuel it.

Sal Fasano Says: Beer before liquor; you'll get sicker. Liquor before beer; you're in the clear.

Falling from Grace

So I guess tomorrow is supposed to be the Kentucky Derby. The only way I knew was that Mike and Mike were doing a remote from Churchill Downs. Does anyone really care about the Derby? Seriously, anyone, anyone?

My parents grew up in the 1950's and 1960's when some things had relevance. Horse racing and boxing were a few examples. My mother grew up watching horse racing, along with golf, so she takes notice when the Derby is on television. Apart from that, you'll never see my mother at an OTB laying down some green on a horse for the fifth race.

Boxing is another sport fallen from grace. Does anyone really care about it anymore? Since Mike Tyson went insane, boxing has been a total mess. Don King kept ruining fights and fighters. Evander Holyfield seeming to keep popping up in the heavy weight champion stages ever few years (despite being too old to really seem logical).

Oscar De La Hoya's fight with Floyd Mayweather was being promoted by Sports Illustrated as "The Fight to Save Boxing". I don't honestly believe that would possibly happen. Especially since people tend to think of Mayweather as a soft person, "a bitch", to people who talk to the contributors to Sal's 401K. Then going to De La Hoya, apart from releasing an album and dressing in drag (wish I made that up), he's a shell of a fighter he was years ago.

Now, I don't watch boxing all that often, but many people bring up the same complaints that are really idiotic. Some non-sports guys usually rule that the only reason no one watches boxing is because it's two black guys slugging it out. First off, I didn't say this, so don't get mad at me. But if you really want to play the race card on this, you're stupid. Okay, so maybe no white American has been attempting to fight for the heavyweight belt, but let's grow up here.

The fact remains, boxing is dull because people don't like the sport. In an age where hockey violence is chastise, along with boxing for being too violent, people are turned off. Combine that with dumb pay-per-view packages that no one wants to pay for a three round knock out, no one feels that the fighting is worth the money and effort.

Now going back to horse racing. Seabiscuit was the horse that saved America from the Depression. I guess Babe Ruth did nothing of the sort from the 20's to the 40's. Of course apart from Secretariat, War Emblem and Zippy Chippy, who honestly remembers a horse. I hate, no abhor, horse names, they are so juvenile and pointless. Some day there might be a horse with 5-1 odds in the Derby names Seymour Butts. Maybe Matt Groening owns it, who cares, it's not the point.

I worked at a grocery store, along with zooberstar, during high school and college that was located near a race track. Seeing the clientèle of both establishments really makes you think of going to high school, graduating and then going to college. These people are not the types of people who go home and sip brandy, discussing economic structures of Europe. It's along the lines of drinking Milwaukee's Best and talking about which chick on Deal or No Deal has bigger tits.

And I'm going to safely bet, it's like that at every race track in America. People go to tracks with hopes of hitting it big, make some money. When they lose... and they do, they drown themselves in alcohol to dull the pain.

Then America wants everyone to take time and remember Barbaro, a horse that no one really knew, personally and shed a tear, because he "captivated America". I remember that race, I was home from college and my mom was a little shocked, but then she said, "Well, at least they didn't have to shoot him on the track."

Bravo.

Yes, I guess back in the day, if a horse came up limp and they weren't going to spend millions of dollars to rehabilitate it, like anyone else would have, they would just shoot the animal dead. Now, as a member of a family that shows no emotion, I could not find it in myself to feel bad for a horse. I really was amazed that one of my friend's had a roommate that cried for a week, when Barbaro went to the great racetrack in the sky. A week, seriously, she didn't know the horse. If your father dies, I could see shedding a tear for that, but not a horse, not even a Triple Crown winner (unless its Carl Yastrzemski).

So people I say to you, who really cares about horse racing or boxing? Discuss.

Sal Fasano says: He was traded to Elmer's glue after Barbaro died for a case of wood glue to save Rob Nenn's career.

NBA Playoffs: Damn you LeBron!

So close, but yet so far.

If only the ball just rolled inward instead of outward from the front of the rim and I'd be cheering like a preteen at a Backstreet Boys concert. It didn't and now the Cleveland Cavaliers have to travel to D.C. to close up the series.

A Caron Butler basket late in the fourth propelled the Wizards to an 88-87 win against Cleveland. LeBron James drove to the basket but his last second attempt was too hard off the backboard and clinched it for Washington.

Now, being an Ohio born person, I was crushed, because I like LeBron. However, I don't view him as the next Michael Jordan. On the surface I hate comparing players, I think it's a poor gauge to connect history. Also, every guy who comes up through the NBA and NHL have to be compared to Jordan and Wayne Gretzky.

A lot of people have been giving LeBron fans crap, saying that he is not clutch, shoots poorly and is just overrated. Now, it's got to be tough to be this guy and this goes beyond Wizards players running their mouths.

I will answer those complaints. First, LeBron can be clutch. He's the franchise player, so when the game is tight, the first option is going to be LeBron. Though, to counter that, having guys like Daniel Gibson to shoot the three helps LeBron make plays. Let's be honest if you want to compare him to Jordan, the Bulls had John Paxson and Steve Kerr to shoot some big shots. Also, it was better to see LeBron take the ball to the basket with 3.9 seconds, rather than attempt an 18 footer.

Yes, LeBron is a average, below average shooter. He does shoot 48% from the field, but looking at the shot chart from last night's game
he made a few three pointers but apart from that he made most of them inside the paint.

Overrated? Well, can you blame a guy for signing so many endorsement deals (this even includes you, Peyton Manning)? So yeah, enough said.

Anywho, looking back on last season's NBA Finals run, LeBron matured as a team leader and he really did become the face of the team and he is getting a little bit of help from some key role players. However, I would still think the Cavs are not front runners for the title.

Some stats you can really use

So FIRE JOE MORGAN has a great post today, talking about an article, where the writer was talking about the amount of innings a pitcher should throw in the minors before being called up. It really got me to thinking about how much stock we take in certain pitching stats.

First and foremost, I abhor pitch counts. The Japanese have this, we really don't like the American school of pitching, monitoring and holding hurlers on a leash. I was one of those kids, whose father believed in one type of pitching school... throw until your arm hurts. Never really had a problem with my elbow needing surgery. I really had a problem getting some zip on my fastball.

Might I digress, I really think the pitch count is a really crappy way to mess with a pitchers mind. I like to think that if your throwing a great game, you got your stuff, the last thing you need to hear and get coached on is pitch count. If I'm in the 8th and have thrown 130 pitches, the last thing I want, throwing my game off (no pun intended) is a pitching coach or manager telling me to take a seat because of how many pitches I've thrown.

Now this post on JOE MORGAN, the focus was on the amount of innings a pitcher should throw in the minors to move up. According to Buzz Bissinger the "rule of thumb" is to have around 400 minor league innings, because this is how clubs try to play it safe and help lead young pitchers into the show.

However as the post goes on, many great pitchers like Carlton, Ryan and Palmer, pitched well below 400 innings. Judging how history turned out, they didn't do too bad. Now, I hate numbers, I think they can be horribly deceptive. If you got a kid that can pitch and he's effective, I really don't care how many innings he throws. I'd rather have quality starts, realistic quality starts.

Now, the Yankees are having this problem, but some Yankee fans can't see this. Joba Chamberlain, the super set up man, is originally supposed to be a starter. However, due to some shake ups, he is still in the bullpen. Seeing that he hasn't thrown more than 24 innings in a few seasons in the show, it doesn't seem reasonable to shove him into a starting role.

Also, I'm a firm believer in the idea, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The rotation for the Yanks is crap, but this was to be assumed; Wang will work until the playoffs, Kennedy is just horrible, Hughes also is a bum and seriously, Mussina should have quit long ago. Has anyone lost as much as Mussina. At least Schilling was effective last year, almost threw a no-no, but Mussina has been a wreck.

So kids, the moral of the story is don't believe in pitch counts and if you throw less than 400 innings in the minors, you might have a chance to succeed in the majors.

Sal Fasano Facts: Sal threw 500 innings in AAA Richmond

Real American Heroes

Sports are great. Can't argue with that, we have great athletes and great games of skill to showcase the will of the human ability. Though sometimes, people use sports to do a little more.

It was interesting to see that a few days ago, it was the 32nd anniversary of Rick Monday's greatest highlight. The interesting thing about it, this wasn't a game winning home run or a diving catch.

The game at Dodger Stadium, pitted the boys in blue against the Chicago Cubs and Monday was out in centerfield,

"In between the top and bottom of the fourth inning, I was just getting loose in the outfield, throwing the ball back and forth. Jose Cardenal was in left field and I was in center. I don't know if I heard the crowd first or saw the guys first, but two people ran on the field. After a number of years of playing, when someone comes on the field, you don't know what's going to happen. Is it because they had too much to drink? Is it because they're trying to win a bet? Is it because they don't like you or do they have a message that they're trying to present?

"When these two guys ran on the field, something wasn't right. And it wasn't right from the standpoint that one of them had something cradled under his arm. It turned out to be an American flag. They came from the left-field corner, went past Cardenal to shallow left-center field.

"That's when I saw the flag. They unfurled it as if it was a picnic blanket. They knelt beside it, not to pay homage but to harm it as one of the guys was pulling out of his pocket somewhere a big can of lighter fluid. He began to douse it.

"What they were doing was wrong then, in 1976. In my mind, it's wrong now, in 2006. It's the way I was raised. My thoughts were reinforced with my six years in the Marine Corp Reserves. It was also reinforced by a lot of friends who lost their lives protecting the rights and freedoms that flag represented.

"So I started to run after them. To this day, I couldn't tell you what was running through my mind except I was mad, I was angry and it was wrong for a lot of reasons."

Yes, two guys were about to set a flag on fire, at a baseball game. Personally, this is wrong on the same levels Monday thought it was offensive. I don't care what other people political affiliation is and how they view flag burning, but trying to do it at a baseball is not the time or a place. Baseball is a pastime, where people go to relax and escape politics (which is why I hate politicians throwing out first pitches). Baseball is not a place or event to burn the symbol of our country.

Monday was able to save the flag and the Dodger fans let him know he did a great job, cheering his move and even giving him praise on the scoreboard. It really gives us a new meaning to a hero, reading the write up from Major League Baseball, Monday, like many of us, have dealt with those who fight to protect that flag and this country. Again, I don't care what your politics are and whether or not you agree with the Iraqi war and the war on terror, but we have people who fought for freedom and to protect it.

Monday's Story

This is very reminiscent of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

Abdul-Rauf refused to stand during the national anthem, because he felt that looking and acknowledging the flag was acknowledging a "symbol of tyranny". Now looking and remembering that statement and event on the surface it felt like it was very political and selfish. However, reading the link from the New York Times, it really gives you a real perspective on different religious views and outlooks on the world.

However, he still still what he did and here's my feeling, you live in America. Every week the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings gave you a check, you earned in America and due to the rights and privileges you have being born and raised in America, the least you could do was stand for the national anthem.

The NBA compromised, telling Abdul-Rauf to stand, but he could close his eyes and use the time to pray. This was beneficial since he would recite a Muslim prayer.

It's interesting how sometimes sports can take a larger meaning to sporting events.

Playoffs?

Okay, so it's playoff time. Many of you, possibly out West, love basketball, right? The NBA Playoffs are the end all of spring time post seasons.

We here and especially myself, am huge hockey fans. The divide is between the love for the Blackhawks, Red Wings and Penguins, but nevertheless, hockey fans with a deep love. I have been watching hockey since the New York Rangers were battling the Vancouver Canucks. However, why is that people rag on the NHL Playoffs. Here are the common complants:

"Why do they play 82 games, the Playoffs last as long as the long season?"
"Isn't it funny how the Stanley Cup is decided in June, when it's the spring/early summer?"
"Who cares about hockey?"

I want to defend the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I think they deserve this.

Yes, I will admit, the NHL has been making many poor decisions (Fox Trax, putting teams in the south and California, allowing the New Jersey Devils to destroy hockey), but the game itself is so great and you really get to see what athletics are all about in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

First off, the NBA season is just as long. But the NHL plays games every other night and if the series goes to game 7, it'll be the day after game 6 and that requires travel. The NBA takes like three days off, so it takes two weeks to decide a long series. As of Wednesday, three Conference Semifinal series are at 3-0 right now, while there are only a couple first round NBA series decided.

The season is so long now, because expansion, the bastard it is, has created so many teams that too many need to make the playoffs relevant and the NBA's last longer for the same reasons mentioned above.

Hockey is still one of the top four, for the reason that it is the Stanley Cup. Just because ESPN doesn't have a TV deal with the league anymore, FSN and VS do a great job covering and broadcasting the games.

It's the Stanley Cup, a legendary trophy, the only trophy where the winners get their name engraved on it. Every young hockey player wants that opportunity to play for the Cup.

Guys will play hurt and do anything to play. Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson sat out of the AFC Championship game, all because he thought he couldn't go. That never stops a hockey player. I remember the story of one of the players in the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs having a groin injury. The trainers wanted the player to go on the disabled list. However, that player pleaded, instead taking cortisone shots in between periods. The team could hear his screams from down the hall, just so he could keep playing. Now, that's passion to play.

To take that much abuse and play so hard to get your name engraved.

So watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs or else... Sal Fasano will get you.

A History Lesson

In 1979 the greatest college basketball game was supposedly played. Michigan State, led by Ervin "Magic" Johnson took on Larry "Before he was Legend" Bird and the Indiana State Sycamores in the NCAA Final. I was born in 1985, so I have no knowledge of watching the game as it happens. Though reading sports history books and yes they do exist, this game was held in high regard as being a legendary match up, the Chamberlain / Russell Light.


However, if you actually watch the game and I have, own it to on DVD, this was such a poor contest. Bird had a poor night shooting, despite having a great tournament. Johnson was the star of the game, but he had some help. Greg Kelser, his downlow play and some razzle dazzle from Johnson helped destroy an out matched Sycamore team.

I'm not going to bore you with stats from the game, but Indiana State played a tight game early on, but it quick slipped away from them. By the second half, the Sycamores tried to reduce the Spartan lead, but the closest they got was six and it was well over.

Though, luckily our technology has allowed us to start mass producing old games, so I can watch them. It is interesting because when I bought it, I had my heart set on a great game. Boy was I wrong. Michigan State was just dominant and it really goes to prove that, if we reviewed these games, I think we'd get an appreciation for the games.

I see that one of my favorite stores, Distant Replays, now sells DVD's. I urge you to consider buying some of the old games, it would give you a real perspective on legendary match ups and the heroes of the game. For instance, you can understand how overrated Howard Cosell is, especially if you don't live in a YES Network region and can't watch Game 5 of the 1976 ALCS.

Sal Says: Buy the 1979 Final, check out the Gumbel mini afro.