A new game I have been playing online recently is called Trophy Hockey. If you like management games, especially sports management, then this game will hold some interest for you even if you don’t know anything about, or don’t particularly care for hockey.

You start off has the general manager of an open franchise of your choosing, with the option to change the name/city later on. You draft the players, set the lineup and advance in your career has a general manager. Pick up free agents, train your young prospects, pick a long term strategy, game-time strategies etc.

The game is by Trophy Games, who also make the great online football franchise simulation Trophymanager. So, like it’s soccer predecessor, Trophy Hockey is a sleek, well designed online game with no download, the emphasis on sports management obviously.

It’s easy to play and easy to get started, – sign-up for Trophy Hockey. The goal like in Trophymanager is to eventually advance your club season after season up through the divisions and eventually into the major league. Trophy Hockey is different though because in your career has a general manager, you yourself gain stats and reputation and can switch clubs if you want. It’s a fun easy to play game that any sports strategy nut will have fun playing.

]]> http://edtajchman.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/new-online-sports-strategy-game-from-trophy-games-trophy-hockey/feed/ 0 Ed T. http://edtajchman.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/goodbye-tony-gonzalez-kc-will-miss-you/ http://edtajchman.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/goodbye-tony-gonzalez-kc-will-miss-you/#comments Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:06:05 +0000 Ed http://edtajchman.wordpress.com/?p=423 ]]>

As a child growing up in the Kansas city metro area in the 80’s and 90’s there was one sports hero who always stood above all others for me, – Tony Gonzalez. This week he was traded to the Atlanta Falcons.

So goodbye Tony G., goodbye to the greatest player that ever happened to this organization, and I know we won a Super Bowl with Len Dawson.  On Sundays in KC for the past 10 years one thing was certain, Tony catches the ball,  and he does it surrounded by three guys every time, right in the middle of the field. Week after week after week plugging away, the greatest warrior you could want is Tony Gonzalez. You’re my one true sports hero growing up Tony, so I just want you to know,…. good luck man, thanks for your hard work and  Kansas City will miss you…

Recently, I have been playing the massively multiplayer online game Trophy Manager. If you like football (soccer), strategy games, sports simulation, and/or fantasy sports games, than you should at least give the game a try.

If you’ve played other football simulations like Hattrick for example, Trophy Manager is like Hattrick 2.0; there are more league games a week, more options for friendly matches and the whole thing moves quicker. It’s a fast-paced, well designed fun football game.

Trophy Manager signup

Own your own football club, buy and sell players on the transfer market, pick a training strategy, develop your own youth academy and lots more. Climb the ranks through the divisions season by season as your team progresses. Compete in your own country and with tens of thousands of other players worldwide. The forums are really friendly with plenty of people to give you advice and strategy tips.

It’s free to sign up, free to play and easy to get started—> Trophy Manager Signup. There is an option to pay a small fee that enables some extra features, but it’s not necessary. If you like strategy and sports games and haven’t played Trophy Manager, then you absolutely should.

Sign up for American Football MMORPG: Goal Line Blitz

What is Goal Line Blitz?
Goal Line Blitz is a web-based American Football MMORPG. We’ve written a custom football simulation engine to provide you with the ultimate football experience on the web.

Do you love fantasy football? Ever wished you could play with the pros? Join other football fans from around the world in building the player and team of your dreams, right here.

Player Management

* Create a custom player, at any position on the football field, and assign any name you want
* Train your player from the ground up to be the type of player you want
* Gain experience from playing games to improve your player’s abilities
* Sign with teams from around the world and negotiate your contract
* Create custom signature equipment
* And much more!

Own a Team

* Manage every aspect of a football team
* Set ticket and concession prices
* Improve your stadium with new seats, sections, and amenities
* Sign, cut, and trade players
* Set game-by-game strategy
* Play to win the league championship
* And much more

Sign up here: Goal Line Blitz

Best Fantasy Book Series List at Rateitall.com

Just a quick post here to illustrate the national media and sports writer bias AGAINST the Big 12. And Let’s not get into the fact that the Big 12 has more teams in the running for the NCAA football championship game than anyone else, let’s talk Jayhawk Basketball. Kansas is 4 – 1, Florida is 5 – 1, Kansas beat Washington by 19 points, Florida beat Washington by 2. Kansas lost to Syracuse in overtime, Florida lost to Syracuse in regulation after being behind the ENTIRE GAME. Kansas dropped out of the top 25 while Florida is hovering around 19 – 22 depending on the poll. So let’s make this very clear, the SEC is given a free pass in every sport and is sometimes the sole focus of ESPN  and their college coverage. No ifs ands or buts about it, the Big 12 gets the shaft and everyone knows it. All you sportswriters and analysts out there need to pull your head out of your ass and read some statistics; you know, the thing that separates idiot columnists and commentators from actual sports analysts?

I remember the days in the 80’s when the Chiefs were horrible, when I had to listen to them on the radio because the games were blacked out on television; but this team is far worse than any of those teams.  I also remember the reigns of Dick Vermeil and Marty Schottenheimer as the head coaches of the Kansas City Chiefs. Game-day at Arrowhead was packed, with a roaring and insanely loud crowd every time the opposing team had the ball. They would look at each other in confusion because they couldn’t hear the play-call and they would self-destruct. That’s how it USED to be at Arrowhead anyways, not recently though, not in the last 2 – 1/2 to three years at least. Today Arrowhead was fairly empty; half empty by the 2nd quarter, 4/5th empty by the 4th quarter. We got embarrassed by the Buffalo Bills, not just embarrassed but humiliated at home. By giving up 54 points today, the Chiefs set yet another infamous team record during Herm’s reign, last held by the 1983 Chiefs.

In our house, the place where teams used to fear to tread, we got totally owned, embarrassed, humiliated. Now teams on losing streaks come here to get their confidence back. It used to be that even if we were having a bad year, at home we were still a fearsome place for opponents to play. But like I said, not anymore, now we’re a bye week on other team’s schedules.

No more excuses – no more of this ‘we’re young’, no more ‘we’re injured’; it’s enough already. We have young guys yes, but also 1/3 of our team are players released by other teams, not draft picks but castaways. What’s the excuse for that? Certainly not the salary cap, we are an NFL best mind you, 28 million dollars under the cap. I understand rookie draft picks, second, third year players, even more than a few  undrafted rookies and cut players, but having that many players picked up off the street? Something has got to change, and not at the end of the season, not the year after that; right now, right now something has to change if you want to have even any HOPE of regaining that Arrowhead swagger and the confidence of the fans.

I for one don’t see next year’s defense being much better than it is right now (worst in the NFL), that’s why I would start with firing Gunther Cunningham. The offense has been doing their job believe it or not, scoring 20 -30 points a game for the last 5 games. I would fire Gunther Cunningham right now, and see what another guy could do with this defense before the end of the year. This losing streak lies solely on the defense. And it’s no secret that players for years have said they do not like Cunningham’s coaching style, that is exactly why he got fired from being the head coach after Schottenheimer left.

The players say he is too loud, too in their faces, he yells too much, he is not a good motivator, and not a good communicator. He doesn’t change up the defense in the game either, when the opposing offense adjusts to our defense – that’s it, game over, Cunningham doesn’t know how to respond. That kind of old school, inflexible, in-your-face, adversarial style of coaching is a thing of the past, it’s why Art Shell failed in his return to the Raiders as head coach a few years ago (not everything is Al Davis’s fault).

FIRE GUNTHER CUNNINGHAM. If he doesn’t get fired, then fire Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards, the new coach and GM will bring in their own defensive coordinator. I like Herm Edwards I really do, but enough is enough. Twenty losses in 21 games? I don’t care if you’re the best talent scout and motivator the NFL as ever seen, 95% of owners would fire the guy. Coming from a lifelong Chiefs fan who supports the team and believes in them week in and week out no matter what, this humiliating performance, especially at home is not just embarrassing but degrading. I don’t care if it’s not the right thing to do or in hindsight it was a bad decision, to save the morale of the fans, SOMEONE needs to get fired, TODAY. Clark Hunt – You’re starting to lose the confidence of what used to be, the best fans in the game.

I don’t care who you are, where you’re driving, who’s around you or any other excuse you might give, if you don’t use your turn signal when driving your vehicle you make the roads a little bit less safe. On city and country roads – okay maybe you can have a little lea-way, but for gosh sake when driving on the highway, use your friggin’ turn signal!

I was driving on the highway today and noticed several cars zooming in and out of traffic at 80 – 90 mph with no turn signal usage. That’s a brilliant idea, lets take our thousand pound plus vehicles at high speeds in high traffic and NOT use our turn signal.  I don’t care if you want to go 120mph, just use your signal to let me know what the hell you’re doing.

One of the easiest things in the world to do is to use your turn signal, I have no sympathy for stupid drivers who are too lazy to use it, especially on the highway. So if you see someone flipping you off on the road, maybe it’s me because you forgot to do something as easy as tapping your finger on the turn signal.

What A Joke. Let me say it again – Joe Lieberman is a joke. What does he want in his recent meeting with senate leader Reid? After sitting next to McCain for months now, going to Palin rallies, hitting every major political television and radio show shouting back-handed insults at Clinton, at Obama, at everything that even remotely resembled a democrat. For months, for months he did this, shouted down democrats with not just lame but borderline hateful republican talking points. You can’t shake the devil’s hand and then expect to waltz back into heaven, after they lose the war. (Not that McCain is the devil it’s just a metaphor, relax people.) I don’t care if it means the dems have a majority in the senate if he votes our way. His political career should live and die with republicans now, period. Like it or not, for better or worse he is married to them now.

It’s the same way I feel about Bill Richardson, (a man who’s political career was made by Bill Clinton in the 90’s) who couldn’t wait until after the primaries were over to support Obama. You don’t give the middle finger (again a metaphor people) to the team that had a great helping hand in making you who you are today, it’s called having respect. Now of course I am an Obama supporter, but I, like many Hillary supporting democrats, (Al Gore) waited until the primaries were over to voice support for Obama. You don’t see Obama rushing to appoint Richardson to a cabinet post do you? No, and there is a reason for that, you can’t trust his political support, things like that reverberate, and Lieberman should go crawl back under the republican rock he was in.

Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States. Woot, we win, oh yeah. Did you hear his speech tonight? Amazing, really. I am a cynic of the highest nature sometimes and even I was like trying hard not to get wrapped up in the hope that Barack’s election gives us. It really does give us hope, that we can not only move forward has a unified people in America, but that the world’s view of America (as Barack said in his speech) is once again one of a place where dreams do come true and anything can happen. So coming from a self-apointed cynic – maybe it is time to start really believing in hope. Congratulations Barack Obama, the next president of the United States.