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My NFL Power Rankings as of September 28th, 2022.
Alright. This wacky year of NFL where no one is safe continues. Giants and Lions sat outside my top 10 last week and each choked away games they probably should have won. The Chiefs and Bills lost but that was nothing compared to what the Cardinals and Chargers went through. Here’s my Top 10 heading into week 4.
#10 Jaguars- Boy, oh boy. Jaguars were a popular dark horse heading into the year. T-Law was expected to make the leap in his sophomore season behind a new coaching staff. I get that. What I didn’t see happening was two fold. A. Them to blow the Colts and Chargers out. B. For the AFC South to be awful like this. Colts and Titans were suppose to be competing all season for that division. The Titans were the #1 seed last year and the Colts were a mistake free QB away from the wildcard. All this while the Jags were the worst franchise in the NFL last year. What a difference one year makes.
#9 Buccaneers- This defense might keep them in the top 10 long enough to get their offensive playmakers back. I do believe a healthy Buccaneers team will be one of the ten best teams at the end of the season. However, there is no denying that this team is extremely beatable in the meantime. The Bucs play the Chiefs next week. If that game gets ugly, Buccaneers could be out next week. Brady and this defense are going to try to keep the cannons firing though.
#8 Packers- This was a big win for the Packers. There’s no denying that. Both teams entered banged up and the Packers escaped with the W. This puts them firmly ahead of the Bucs for now, while slightly behind the Vikings. At the end of the day though, there’s not too much more to add. Like the Bucs and Chargers (and I’m sure a few more teams), they need to get it together and get healthy by post season.
#7 Vikings– Things were dicey there for 3 and half quarters, but the Vikes avoided being the Yikes. Week 1’s thrashing of the Packers seems like a whole season ago at this point. As they followed that victory up with getting embarrassed by the Eagles on Monday night. Than again, by trailing the rebuilding Lions for 80% of the game. There are definitely some 2-1 teams getting better each week that are nipping at a top 10 spot (such as Cleveland), that would love for 1 more uninspired game. All that said, they are worthy of the 7 spot. They beat fellow top 10 team in the Packers, and extinguished the Lions fire, who was America’s sweetheart. Their only lose was to the Eagles who are out here stomping everyone.
#6 Rams- Standing right outside the top 5 are the Rams. They had one of the better wins pulling away from the Cardinals. Which is good as they have looked Superbowl hung over prior to this weekend. They play the 49ers, which could be a statement game. With the Bill’s and Ravens facing each other this weekend, The Rams could jump in the top 5 with a clean victory.
#5 Ravens- Well, the Ravens have as good an argument for #1 as about any team on this list. People seemed to forgive the loss to the Dolphins due to defensive injuries. This is the NFL though. Last year, the Ravens were beating people with their 3rd string QB. They were a defensive meltdown away from being the number one team in the league. I can’t make excuses either because you have Lamar, everybody’s MVP favorite right now. Run the clock and get out of there. Lamar continued to shine against the Patriots. If he destroys the Bills, the Ravens could have a claim as the number 1 next week. Remember, win and all is forgiven.
#4 Chiefs– I told you guys with a loss they wouldn’t fall out of the top 5. Now, if they lose at the Buccaneers this weekend it could be a different story. I’m still not sure how you lose to the Colts, but I’m gonna say that was there one stinker and they get right this weekend. Otherwise we will see how far they fall. As, in hindsight, their close win against the Chargers might have been more telling then we realized.
#3 Bills- For two weeks in a row, people disrespect the Dolphins. Again, I’m not making excuses for the losing team here. The Bill’s had the ball for 40 minutes and even got a safety. I continue to hear that the Dolphins beat another banged up secondary. Which has some merit, but why couldn’t this Bills high powered offense score more than 19? The Dolphins only scored 21. Josh Allen should get 22 on a bad day. The Bill’s and Ravens are set to square off in the Excuse Bowl next week. The winner moves into top 3 if not higher. Should be an awesome game.
#2 Dolphins- I’ll be the one person to give Tua and the Dolphins some darn respect. They beat arguably the two best teams in the league. Sure there were injuries and its still early in the season. But for ranking purposes, we have to respect the results. They do not look as dominant as the Eagles, but their wins are easily the best of anyone this season. I know if they lose the press will come after them, so I’m going to let them enjoy it while it last. Fins up, baby.
#1 Eagles- I wish the Eagles and Dolphins could play each other this week to settle things. This was a hotly contested argument in my head. I almost went Dolphins, again off of their wins. Everyone I have talked to says Eagles for #1. At the end of the day, if they did play tomorrow, I would go Eagles. The Eagles really need to start facing some tough opponents though. This matchup against Jacksonville should give up a better picture.
My New Comic Picks Ups September 21st, 2022.
Hey guys, Jessica and I picked up 9 comics this week. Let’s take a look at em.
The comics are as followed: Vanish, Teen Titans Bloodpact, Usagi Yojimbo, Harley Quinn 30th Anniversary Special Artgerm Variant, Edge of Spider-Verse #4, DC Vs Vampires All Out War, Titans United: Blood Pact Chew Variant, Poison Ivy 4 Frison Variant and Radiant Black.
DC provided many good cover buys this week while one of my favorite characters, Usagi Yojimbo, continues his adventure. Two new number 1s hit shelves this week in Teen Titans and Vanish.
So, by all accounts, this was another awesome week in comics, guys. What all did you guys pick up and what are you reading? Let me know in the comments. Thanks so much for reading guys!
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My AP Top 10 Today! College Football Predictions!
For some reason this post never published. I’m going to publish it, then immediately start working on this weeks, September 18th, 2022.
Week 2 is in the books. This means it’s time for my top 10. Now I say predictions, but I would be surprised if this is exactly how it shakes out. Truthfully, this is just how I feel about things. Be sure to check the actual AP website for the official Top 25.
#1 Georgia- Through 2 weeks Georgia appears to be the clear favorite. They landed the signature win over previously number #11 Oregon. They then followed that up by cruising past Samson with a shutout.
#2 Ohio State- On one hand, OSUs slow start against Notre Dame looks worse considering Notre Dame went out and wet the bed. However, they did pull away in the end, which is more than Alabama can say about Texas.
#3 Alabama- For once in recent memory, Alabama looked very flustered. A lot of that was that Texas home field advantage. I lost count of how many penalties Alabama got. They did manage to win by 1 point, which was beyond close when you factor in that Alabama escaped a would be safety and Texas missed a close up field goal. The good news is the West looks down this year.
#4 Michigan- Michigan has looked in total control this year. They’ve stomped both opponent’s handily, but they haven’t played anyone of substance, which the top 3 can all say they’ve had a tougher schedule up to this point. With that said, they look like a top 4 team so far.
#5 Clemson- Clemson is suffering the same fate as Michigan, only they haven’t looked nearly as dominant yet. Still 2-0 counts for something after how brutal last week was.
#6 USC- We will see if the hype in South California is real as the season goes on. For now, they look like a potential candidate for best offense this season. An impressive showing in back to back weeks and a bevy of upsets allow the Trojans to keep jumping in the rankings.
#7 Oklahoma- We all expected a slow down from the offense this year, but the defense seems to be improving. Still it will be hard to guage where this team truly is until conference play. Suddenly Baylor looks worse while Texas looks infinitely better than anyone could have guessed.
#8 Oklahoma State- Oklahoma State found themselves in a shoot out last week, which hurt their perception. Still, they tightened that side of the ball up and got a nice 34-17 win this weekend.
#9 Michigan State- Number 9 is where I start to get less confident in my picks. There is a mountain of bodies this week with 3 top 10 teams, and at least 1 more of ahead of MSU, all losing this week. Nevertheless, I’m putting Michigan State here for their dominant performance this weekend.
#10 Arkansas- Arkansas took care of a fellow SEC team, South Carolina. Admittedly my eyes were glued to Texas/Alabama in this time slot, but they did manage to pull out a double digit win, which counts for something.
I’m very interested to see where some teams lands following one of the craziest week 2s of recent memory. Notre Dame is probably out of my top 25, even if the AP Poll leaves them in. Texas A and M could slide to #10, a move I believe is likely if Miami slides in the top 10. This is to ensure a top 10 match up for next week. I don’t think Utah should move in the top 10 considering they have that 1 loss. And that loss was to Florida, who turned around and also lost. I know Tennessee and Kentucky will be big movers, but I’m not sure they will crack the top 10. BYU will also move into the top 15 if I had to guess.
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Manga Monday! August 22nd, 2022!
Today, we have a themed Manga Monday. Each manga is a volume from one franchise. That franchise is The Legend of Zelda!
If you follow the blog or the Youtube channel, you know I love the Legend of Zelda. So when I stumbled across a store that doesn’t really sell mangas, I could not pass them up! Check out this sweet haul!
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So to recap, we scored:
Ocarina of Time Volume #1.
Ocarina of Time Volume #2.
Four Swords Volume #1
Four Swords Volume #2
Oracle of Seasons
Oracle of Ages
Phantom Hourglass
Majora’s Mask
And Minish Cap
Want any of these mangas in your collection? Pick them up on Amazon here!
These are some of my favorite video games from the franchise, so they were welcomed additions to my manga collection.
So what Mangas have yall read or bought here recently?
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My Five Favorite Super Mario Power Ups!
A month ago or so The Completionist put out a video ranking every Super Mario Power Up. If you haven’t seen his video, make sure to watch it here! Now I am not that ambitious, nor have I played every Super Mario game. Thus, I am not qualified to speak on every power up. With that in mind, I will be writing about my five favorite power ups. This isn’t the five most iconic or powerful power ups. It’s MY favorite. As a result, you might disagree with my picks. That’s fine. Leave your five favorite in the comments below.
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#5 Super Leaf (Super Mario 3D Land)
Tanooki Mario kicks off the list. Admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of the 2D side scroller Mario games. 3D Land marked a change for me. This was the first game I got for my 3DS. Naturally, I played this game out and got pretty addicted to it. The takooni suit definitely played a role. It checks a lot of boxes for me. It granted an additional point of health, which, to be fair, most Mario power ups do as well. It gave Mario an additional attack with his tail. It helped exploration, but not to the same extent the other power ups on the list do. It gave Mario the ability to sort of flutter. This eased his fall allowing more precise landing. Not quite as game breaking as other power ups, but certainly welcomed!
Don’t have Super Mario 3D Land? purchase it here!
#4 Ice Flower (Super Mario Galaxy)
The Ice Flower in the 3D games was a welcomed addition. It truly added a layer of complexity to your standard world traversing and platforming. This is in thanks to how it granted Mario the ability to interact with water. he was now able to run across water surfaces as well as wall jump off waterfalls. Yes, these seem pretty simple and straightforward compared to the dynamic of something like Cappy. Nonetheless, it gave Super Mario Galaxy some welcomed layers, making the exploration of it’s galaxy all the more fun.
Don’t have Super Mario Galaxy? Purchase it here!
#3 Super Star (Super Mario Bros.)
The original Super Mario Bros did give us plenty of iconic power ups from the Mushroom to the Flower Fire. Most of these power ups were insanely powerful in the original game. However, most, if not all, of those OG power ups have been power crept. The classic super star is no exception. Plenty of the newer games give insane invincibility effects such as the Leaf and Bell. Still, I am giving the Super Star the nod for being so darn iconic. After all, the Super Star would go to become the games measuring stick for progress in most of the 3D adventures. As in Super Mario 64, the more stars you had, the more doors you could unlock. With all these factors in play, I believe it is worthy of the number 3 spot.
#2 Cloud Flower (Super Mario Galaxy 2)
Truthfully, this is arguably one of my favorite power ups in any game. This power up is so perfect for a 3D Platformer. If you are unfamiliar with the Cloud Flower, here’s how it works. When Mario gains the power of the clouds, he is able to create 3 cloud based platforms. If you thought I gushed about the Ice Flower, that was nothing compared to the Cloud Flower. I absolutely loved the way Mario was able to create a revolutionary power up while keeping it within the Mario charm. This powerful ability feels balanced by only allowing Mario to create 3 platforms, yet this still grants a lot dynamics to exploring the levels. Now you will want to start seeing where you can now go. I just think this power up is extremely interesting. Whenever Mario returns to more traditional power ups, this is one I definitely hope makes a return.
Don’t have Super Mario Galaxy 2? Purchase it here!
#1 Super Bell (Super Mario 3D World)
Cat Mario was a true game changer. In my opinion it did everything you want a power up to do. It makes you better. It grants an extra hit to Mario’s health. Which, in a Mario game is huge. It also makes you more powerful by granting Mario a new attack. With this ability he can lunge his newly gained claws towards enemies. And finally, it mixes up exploration. Now, Mario has the ability to climb walls. This grants Mario access to new locations, higher areas and short cuts. It was a tight race between Cloud Flower and Super Bell for me. However, I feel like Cat Mario just providers a wider dynamic change for the game. Where Cloud Flower really only aids in exploration, Super Bell does that as well as makes Mario actually stronger. It’s for that reason I give the slight nod to Super Bell.
Don’t have Super Mario 3D World? Purchase it here!
So, there you have it. Those are my favorite power ups. Which ones are yours? Let me know down below!
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Continued Reading:
Ranking The Bob-Omb Battlefield Stars!
Video Game Grail? (A Response to the MetalJesusRocks Facebook Page)
Life Update 8/17/2022
Life Update
I haven’t been able to post a lot lately. You may be thinking it has something to do with my newborn daughter. You’d be right, to an extent anyway.
My daughter has a weird sleep schedule. She sleeps from 3am to some time in the afternoon. Not straight, though. As she’ll wake up every so often to breastfeed. As a result. She’s often asleep when I’m home in the morning. I work 12-9pm. Factor in the 45 minute commute and the only time I see her, awake anyway, is when I get home around 10pm.
It use to be I’d get home and work on blogs or videos or whatever needed to be done. Now I get home, eat dinner and suddenly it’s 11 and I’m just now able to play with my daughter. So, naturally, that cuts into time I put into videos and blogs.
I work a pretty stress free job. I had some down time and could work on blogs at work and turn them into videos at home. Recently I got a $4 raise for added responsibility. As a result, a lot of my down time at work has gotten used up by my time in other departments.
I have videos and streams planned, I just need to get my time management back right. As priorities and necessities have evolved and changed over the last four months.
But I like to make these life update post every now and then, so here we are.
I will say, one my favorite new hobbies is investing. Now, I work a very modest pay rate. And since Jessica and I just had our daughter, we are a single income family. As a result, we don’t have tens of thousands of dollars lying around. My boss invest and he got me to start. So, I’ll leave my Robinhood referral link below. With it, you can start investing and we can both get a free stock!
https://join.robinhood.com/wesleyh-69f6fa
So, I’ve got some video game pick ups, TCG unboxings, and some top fives planned. So please stick around as I try to get back in the groove!
Thank you anyone who read or will read these post
Ranking The Bob-Omb Battlefield Stars!
Welcome to a new series here. I will be ranking each star from each course of Super Mario 64! I will be arriving at my rankings based off how fun, challenging and engaging each star is. Lets start with Bob-Omb Battlefield!
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#7 Shoot to the Island in the Sky- This star is just simply boring. There’s not a lot to it. You get Mario to blast up to the floating island and then you snag the star. It can be fun, but its just underwhelming.
#6 Behind Chain Chomp’s Gate- This star is iconic in my opinion as it will probably be one of, if not the first star most people will get when playing Super Mario 64. However, outside of being iconic, there’s just not a lot going on here. You get the star very early and quickly. It doesn’t really showcase the level or encourage exploration. The neatest thing about it is it being the 6th star in the level, but you can get it first.
#5 The 100 Coin Star- Now, honestly, this is the worst star on this course, but it at least has you moving and playing the game. That is why it scores a bit higher then the previously listed stars. It ranks below Mario Wings to the Sky because you will need to get more coins then just the five special coins.
#4 Mario Wings in the Sky- I really don’t care for this star, however it did earn some bonus points for some cool things it did. For starters, its the first flying star (outside of the wing cap stage). I also believe it’s the first level to have secret, special coins. But the flying is not great and that hurts the fun factor. However, it definitely has the exploration side covered.
#3 Footrace with Koopa the Quick– This star introduces us to one of the few NPCs that isn’t a villain, per se, Koopa the Quick. Of course, there’s big exploration to this star, but it is literally a rehash of the previous star, Big Bom-Omb on the Summit. That stops it from being able to crack the top 2 spots.
#2 Big Bob-Omb on the Summit- This star is awesome! It is epic. Mario must make his trek up the summit to fight King Bob-Omb. Exploration is clearly a focal point of this star. You must do some platforming, kill some enemies, collect some coins and at the very end, a boss fight!
#1 Find the 8 Red Coins- I’m a sucker for these 8 red coin missions. Mainly because they are collect-a-thon in nature. They also heavily encourage you to check every inch of the level looking for the coins. The mission itself may or may not be more fun then the other stars, but I feel like they are always a fun representation of what it means to play Mario 64! For that, I will rank it as number 1!
So, that’s my opinion. I’m curious what you guys would rank the stars. Do leave your rankings below!
Looking for a copy yourself? Find it on Amazon here!
Thank you for reading! Have a great day!
Don’t Miss Out on an Awesome Pokemon Go Event! MEGA MOMENT!
Pokemon Go is increasing your chances of finding Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charmander in the wild. They are also introducing Mega Kangskhan into Pokemon Go. And they are allowing trainers to select a branching path mission where trainers will pick 1 of the 3 mega Kento Starters! There are other goodies, too, but those are the highlights
All pictures pulled from: https://www.google.com/amp/s/pokemongohub.net/post/event/a-mega-moment-complete-event-guide/amp/
Be sure to jump into Pokemon Go action! Thank you guys for reading! Have a great day!
Video Game Grail? (A Response to the MetalJesusRocks Facebook Page)
I saw this question on Facebook today. It really got me thinking. For those of you who don’t know, a grail was originally meant to be something impossible to find. Something really rare or expensive. Now a days, the word is tossed around too loosely. Now it basically equates to your most desired game that is also hard to find. In theory there should only be one grail game. But everybody has different opinions on what that should be. Thus, this question is born.
When I think of video game grails, the list begins and ends with Stadium Events. Now, sure the Atari has some rare cartridges, but no one really has a definitive list for Atari. Either way, I’m not a big 80s collector for video games. My collecting would start at SNES.
There’s two candidates here, Chrono Trigger and Pocky and Rocky 2. However, I’ve actually seen both of these games in person, believe it or not. So are they really rare enough to be considered grails? Chrono Trigger is the game that got me into retro collecting, so it would get the claim over Pocky and Rocky for me personally. Though I do believe I’ll probably see 5 more Chrono Triggers before I Pocky and Rocky 2 again.
Still, in my heart of hearts, I’m not really a SNES collector either. I mostly collect N64, Gamecube and Wii U. With that in mind, what would be my grail from those consoles? N64 had some rare titles thanks to Blockbuster exclusives. The rarest title being Sculptors Cut. But even then, to my understanding anyway, it’s just a base game with added content. And I don’t even care about the base game enough to buy it. On the Gamecube, it’s Pokemon Box. Now some people may think this has to be my grail. As a kid of the 90s whose childhood was wrapped around Pokemon, who wouldnt want this? You are sorta right. I do want it. But it’s hardly a game. It’s a glorified transfer machine. That definitely knocks some points off.
But all of these are games I don’t own. The question asks for one’s we now own. There’s two games that stand out for me.
My copy of Chibi Robo and my copy of Pokemon Soul Silver.
Probably the two games I wanted to own as a kid and never got to. I still remember walking into Gamestop and Soul Silver was 60 dollars. I said I’ll wait for it to go down ( it was loose after all.) It never did. It came into work last year and was about 100 dollars. This time it was complete. Still couldn’t do it. Finally, it came in loose and I just jumped on it. My Chibi Robo is also loose, but it is what it is.
So those would be games I never thought I’d own, but now I do. Thanks for reading. Be sure to follow Metal Jesus Facebook Page and subscribe to his channel
Games I’ve Played Recently Part #3
Hey guys! It’s been a minute since I’ve done an update to Games I’ve Played Recently, so let’s talk about a few games I’ve played recently.
Archvale- For those of you who don’t know, I am a big achievement junkie. Archvale helped reinvigorate that. As I got all 40 achievements and claimed that juicy 1000 Gamerscore, surprisingly only the 2nd game I’ve got 1000 G for (Borderlands 1 being the first). Anyway, back to the game. This is a top down, tile based action RPG. It plays enough like Zelda that Zelda fans will feel familiar with the gameplay. There’s dungeons with epic boss fights, heart containers to find, and similar combat. However, I would call it Zelda adjacent. Much like Forager or even maybe Stardew Valley are. Progression isn’t based on finding a new item, but more so improving your Armor, your damage output and your dodging skills. So the game will feel different enough, that if you are a Zelda fan looking for something a little different, this could be what you are looking for. There’s also a badge system very akin to Paper Mario that will help each playthrough feel unique. The story wasnt much to write home about, the gameplay was solid enough. I give it an 8 out of 10. *This game is included in Gamepass as of the writing of the blog, April 2nd, 2022*
Pupperazzi- That is not a typo. This is a game where you go around a handful of stages and take pictures of dogs. It is as awesome as it sounds. You can dress the dogs up in playful outfits, play with the pups using a variety of toys, and capture the dogs in just all around wacky poses and scenarios (such as dogs riding bikes, dogs being life guards, and dogs having picnics to name a few). The game gives you plenty of missions that require you to catch a dog doing something specific (like getting a close up of Tony Bark doing his signature trick on his skateboard). This game is not polished by any means, however I truly adore this game. I’m willingly to over look the flaws because they do not ruin the game by any means. So to me, this is a hidden gem. I give it a 9.5 out of 10. Not an April Fools, I just really enjoy how chaotic the dogs are! *This game is included in Gamepass as of the writing of the blog, April 2nd, 2022*
Donut County- Donut County is another wacky, charming game. Admittedly, I have a sweet spot for games like this. The writing helps the characters be more memorable. Which is impressive considering you play a hole. This game plays very similar to Katamari. You start off as a small hole. The more you consume, the bigger you grow. The camera does a good job of highlighting your size. In the early phases of a level, the camera is zoomed in and really boxes you in. As you grow, the camera panes out. This is used twofold. Obviously, the more it swings out, the easier it is to traverse the levels. But it also makes all the larger objects have a shrinking effect, as the hole now dwarves even the biggest rocks and tallest buildings. I’m currently, fighting the final boss, but this game is very enjoyable. It will only take a few hours to beat and 100%. Good for an afternoon. *This game is included in Gamepass as of the writing of the blog, April 2nd, 2022*
So, that’s all I have prepared for today. We have a baby shower to attend, so I can’t go over everything. I’ll try to write about Halo, Madden 22, and Kirby in a future post. Anyway, thanks for reading and have a great day!
I wrote this April 2nd but due to being busy with the baby, I didn’t notice it never published.
Da_Hubbz 