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One Second...   -- Primis     2-27-01,  9:20PM Toronto Maple Leafs forward Bryan Berard formally announced his retirement from pro hockey today due to an accidental eye injury he recieved almost a year ago.  Berard still can only make out shapes in his right eye, and nothing more.  In a sport and league where injury isn't just accepted, but expected on a daily basis (and one where players in the old days ocassionally even died on the ice during play), Berard's is a particularly heart-breaking story.  The injury was sustained in a fluke instance when Berard was accidentally hit in the eye by an opposing player's stick.  Berard had been hoping to make a comeback though, even with limited vision in his eye, but it now appears that will never happen. Berard is not the only victim in this story though.  The Ottawa Senators player whose stick (and again I stress "accidentally") caused Berard's injury, Marian Hossa, hasn't really been the same since either.  While his play on the ice finally regained form this year, he still feels seriosu guilt for Berard's injury, even though he has spoken with Berard several times since and has been told it wasn't his fault.  But he still feels it. Two young men, forever frozen in a freak split-second of time where both their lives changed, with no one at fault.  We often say "it's just a game", and while this is true, it's a game played be human beings, whose lives can be changed in an instant like you or I, and who often-times bear more than just physical scars from it.  My personal best wishes to both Berard and Hossa, who are finding themselves both in difficult and, quite frankly, unfair situations. New Digs -- Same Old Excuses.   -- Primis     2-25-01,  8:45PM For those wondering why the site hasn't been updated in a while, Prìomh.com's headquarters has relocated to downtown Toledo, Ohio. That and a myriad of other things all popped up at once.   Well, and quite frankly not much worthy has been happening, and what has been going on as mostly escaped my attention. A little into March and I should be up and running once again with new high-speed bandwidth and god-only-knows what else.  For now, the updates will roll along though, even if they aren't uploaded right away. Something Old-School in the Modern Age.   -- Primis     2-6-01,  12:55PM The other day a friend and I were wandering around Toys-R-Us killing time and goofing around with clearance stuff (toy stores with clearance sales rock!).  While gawking at board games (and trying to unsuccessfully convince said friend that he needed to spend $40 and buy the Collector's Edition of the classic Risk just to get the die-cast game pieces that come with it), I stumbled upon the lone copy of a game from the makers of Risk (Parker Brothers) called Lionheart, and for only $9 I saw it and knew I had to own it.  It's a two-player game based on tactical medieval combat, minus all the magic and RPG-associated crap that normally gets thrown into such things for no real reason.  It's simple tactical combat, similar to chess, but better and with more customization.   The game is simple enough to learn, but can take a lot of time to master (in the tradition of Othello and chess).  It's also vaguely reminiscent of the classic Stratego, except with more free space to work with.  If you're a wargaming fan and love board games (and what true grognard doesn't?), I'd highly reccommend picking up a copy of this game.  It's fairly open-ended so you can even customize battles, armies,  and styles of play, including capture-the-flag variants, and the game pieces are quality. If you like abstract wargames, you'll love this game.  The game is not perfect, but its faults are easily overcome with a little creative ingenuity on the part of the players.  Lionheart is a lot of fun and unlike great games like Axis & Allies doesn't take a year and forever to play.  It's maybe not Warhammer, but in some peoples' minds that can be a good thing.  ;-) You Heard it Here First -- Nothingface   -- Primis     2-6-01,  12:50PM While they've just hit most of the ActiveRock charts around North America, I doubt you've heard of the band Nothingface yet.  Once you have you'll not likely forget it.  Combining metal sensibilities with percussionist tendencies that sometimes remind one of Slipknot, this band is for real.  Their first single from their album Violence, "Bleeder", is already slipping onto radio airtime here and there and I would reccommend you give a listen to it.  It's metal and rock at its most brutal while still not losing the core concepts of hooks and melody.  I've already heard about half the album at this point (ah the wonders of MP3), and Nothingface is not a one-trick pony.  These guys can do a variety of things musically while still making it brutal metal.  I'd also recommend listening to "The Sick" sometime if you get a chance.  If you liked Full Devil Jacket, you'll absolutely love Nothingface. I think these guys are about to blow up big if radio doesn't snub them because they get scared off.  Remember you heard it here first. XFL Debut   -- Primis     2-3-01,  11:20PM The XFL made its debut today on NBC and I was struck with several immediate reactions to it. First of all, they're going to have a bit of a time learning just what people actually want to see.  Way too many shots of the crowd, and the "cheerleaders".  But there's plenty more to the league... supposedly... THE GOOD:  The on-field camera *rocks*, as does the on-field audio most of the time.  The men-in-motion rules (similar ot the CFL and AFL) are somethig the NFL needs to adopt (and I've said so for years.  Eliminating the PAT kick in favor of having to run or pass the ball in is also a good idea  The highly-touted "no fair catches" rule has proved to be less-than-stellar due to overhype (and because of their 5-yard safe halo for the reciever before the catch) but really is still exciting.  And finally, the shorter play clock is a great idea except nobody seems to have adjusted to it yet. THE BAD:  The level of play is at times unbearable to watch.  Hopefully it's just because this whole thing is new, and will take some getting used to (especially the afformentioned play clock).  But even then, there are just some painful-to-watch things.  QB's throwing to triple-covered recievers, running backs failing to pick up blitzes, etc.  A lot of the little things that make or break the level of play.  The on-field audio is also a mixed blessing -- there is sometimes excessive censoring of it to the point of where you wonder at its usefulness, because it's not a one- or two-second bleep, but cuts out an entire 5-seconds of audio.  String a couple things togetehr, and you can get 10- or 15-second chunks of audio completely muted at a time.  Doesn't make for very good watching. THE UGLY:  Everyone worried earlier about Matt Vasgersian on play-by-play with Jesse Ventura doing color.  If they only had known who the play-by-play team for the OTHER game would be.  JR and Jerry were *awful* for the Orlando/Chicago game.  More specifically Jerry.  JR actually did a respectable job considering the circumstances I guess, especially once he got comfortable.  But get Jerry out of there.  He literally adds nothing to the telecast and is painful to listen to. OVERALL:  Exactly what I figured on.  Way too much to swallow so far.  If someone gets the idea that a little less is a lot more, and implements it that way, this could actually be something though... the game itself and the pace of it is not unlike a Division I college football game -- something even the NFL can't match.  We'll check back in later on in the season and see if they're going to get this right, or blow it... 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