More blogging about basketball. Purdue and Siena played an entertaining game today in the NCAA first rounds. Purdue was fortunate to come away with the win. I was fortunate to be able to watch it all at work--thanks to the work environment and March Madness on Demand. I didn't care if people got a bit upset when I had something to say, because well, they were babbling all morning.
My experience up to the game helped give a lot of new reasons for various truisms, or it made stuff obvious that should've been.
First, the whole being grateful for whatever comes your way. That's what sports fandom should be about, because you have no control over what your favorite team does, and you need to recognize that. Purdue's had twelve first-round wins in a row, and I remember when they exited early. I didn't picture such a run back during their last loss ('93, Rhode Island.)
Second, people are people, and talking heads try to grab the news. I had more fun reading Siena fans' perspectives than national news outlets. Both sets of fans had dreams for how their team would do, and nobody played the underdog role too much. Reading how perhaps Siena's best basketball class ended with a first-round loss is sad. But it'd've been wrong for either side to worry about the other team's fans.
Third, there was even a lesson about not letting people, or yourself, feel sorry for you--President Obama said as much while choosing his bracketology, and Lewis Jackson, Purdue's point guard, said Purdue didn't want or need that. I, as an Obama voter, agree. I hope to follow this example, of people younger than myself.
So my irrational faith in people I never met has paid off with the inspiration to put speculation aside. An NCAA win is something special, whether you're the underdogs or a team with the talent and work ethic to expect a win. It's made me feel grateful in a way that being told to be grateful for my brains/opportunities/etc never could.
Sunday, Purdue faces another Texas A&M, another team disappointed by a very unfortunate injury. It's apparently harder for neutrals to watch than Robbie Hummel's was. I have no desire to. The cliche about how it would be nice for both teams to go through is just silly, of course. Part of what makes the tourney great is that there are no participation ribbons, but after the shock of losing, teams and their fans can take the good bits and remember them.
Even if losing in each successive round can potentially feel worse. Perhaps the winner will only be fodder next round for Duke, whom I confess I dislike. That doesn't matter right now, though.
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LordKarnov42 - March 20, 2010 (11:19 PM) This is completely unbasketballrelated, but I'm not sure how this site works, and if it informs you of replies to posts from a year ago or not. I replied to your glut of reviews that included Super Black Onyx with the following: ------------------------------------------------- Regarding Super Black Onyx, you said: "Few games combine complexity and ease of play so effortlessly, and if someone just made another game with the same engine and a different map, I'd gladly pretend it was totally original." Well, lucky you, BPS did just that a year after they originally released The Black Onyx on the NEC PC-8801 in 1983. The sequel was called The Fire Crystal, and.. well, I haven't played The Black Onyx enough to notice any engine changes.. but the title's different, and I >think< you start in the same town/area. I will throw links at you! http://refugee2005.sakura.ne.jp//library/1984/ONYX04.gif http://refugee2005.sakura.ne.jp//library/1984/ONYX03.gif http://refugee2005.sakura.ne.jp//library/1984/ONYX_1.gif http://refugee2005.sakura.ne.jp//library/1984/ONYX_2.gif http://refugee2005.sakura.ne.jp//library/1984/FIREC04.gif http://refugee2005.sakura.ne.jp//library/1984/FIREC.gif http://refugee2005.sakura.ne.jp//library/1984/FIREC01.gif I'm not sure if it was as widely ported as The Black Onyx was [I know a fan-translation of the Sega SG-1000 version of The Black Onyx was recently released.] But there you are. ------------------------------------------------- EDIT: I am Cheetos. I also do not know why I am Cheetos. EDIT 2: I'll be uploading video footage of The Black Onyx and The Fire Crystal eventually to my YouTube channel, once I get around to playing them enough to not embarrass myself on video. http://www.youtube.com/user/LordKarnov42 And the homepage of the giant database of PC-88 games is: http://refugee2005.sakura.ne.jp//library/frame1.htm |
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aschultz - March 21, 2010 (05:08 PM) Whoah. This is big news. Thanks so much. To change your avatar, go to your settings. "Specify the online location of a 100x100 icon for your posts (including 'http://'):" (HG has about 800 and if you post to the forum and click your avatar, you can get links to a lot of different pictures.) |
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LordKarnov42 - March 21, 2010 (09:13 PM) While looking for a map of the Town area in The Black Onyx [I have mapped it on graph paper, but I can't seem to figure out what I'm supposed to do at all] I seem to have come across ANOTHER Black Onyx sequel, this one for the Fujitsu FM-7 computer.. It definitely uses an updated engine, but I can't tell if it's still a first-person dungeon crawler from the screenshots I found. I'm hoping a PC-88 or PC-98 version exists, because they're a lot more well emulated... but I will report back with my findings! EDIT: Oh, right, link. http://retropc.net/fm-7/museum/softhouse/bps/510190200.html EDIT2: Well, it looks like it was never finished for any platform. It looked awesome too, oh well. EDIT3: Barring further information, I'll assume the entire series is: The Black Onyx [PC88, and many more] The Fire Crystal [PC88, X1, FM-7, MSX] Super Black Onyx [FAM] The Black Onyx [GBC] And the two aborted sequels: The Moon Stone [PC88, FM-7, PC98] The Black Onyx Arena [PC88, FM-7] EDIT ... 4!: Yes, all three games were going to take place in the same city. The Black Onyx was a quest through the underground labyrinth entered through the ruins, The Fire Crystal was a quest through the Temple dungeons, and The Moon Stone was going to be a quest through the gates of the town to the outside world. |
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