If you want to keep players like Tom Brady playable offline you should make a backup before you download the new roster update. Simply load the online roster, then save it as another name. It’s most useful to name it with the current date.

For those people who are still confused on how to download the roster update please refer to my previous post: Madden 09: How to get Roster Update, Xbox 360.

For a detailed list of roster changes visit Pasta Padre’s Post.

After the Clippers solidified a verbal agreement from Baron Davis last week we all thought we’d see him playing along side of Elton Brand in the upcoming season. However, Brand shocked the Clippers by leaving for Philly after management made some moves to free up cap-space.

With the salary vacancy made by the exodus of Baron Davis the Warriors were able to get Corey Maggette in return.

In the end these 3 team rosters look will look very different when the season starts next year. The Clippers blame Brand for turning his head on the verbal agreement he made to re-sign with the Clippers if they were to lock up Baron Davis, but that’s the problem with verbal agreements. Instead of the Clippers getting a lot better during free agency the Sixers have risen into the middle of the Eastern Conference Playoff Standings.

Next we’ll see if the Clippers can lock up Josh Smith or Emeka Okafor who are both still free agents.

Probably the most talked about part of last nights game was Paul Pierce’s heroic return to the game. Battling a knee injury so severe that he had to be carried off the court, Pierce returns to nail two big three-pointers to ignite the crowd.

All I have to say is that it couldn’t be any better scripted for the NBA Finals. Seeing Pierce waltz down the tunnel ready to return to the court was a shocker. I thought he tore an ACL or something, but no. He gets back in the game with the crowd on his side and douses the Laker lead. I thought I was watching the WWE or something. It was like Pierce running down the ramp with the crowd going wild and hitting Kobe Bryant with a metal chair while the ref is distracted.

When you see a guy get carried off the court or field in any sport and you see the guy come back out walking on their own power you can only think the guy was trying to make it more dramatic than it really was. I was cheering for the Celtics last night but the drama really seemed staged. If David Stern is orchestrating the drama with the refs and players should we still call this a game, maybe calling it a performance is more fitting.

The foul that shook the series. I agree with the NBA that there definitely was a foul on the last play of Game 4 between the Lakers and the Spurs. The Lakers were in the penalty so this should be a two shot foul and not a three shot shooting foul since Brent Barry wasn’t in the act of shooting. The referee Joey Crawford should have called this but surprisingly there was no call. I also hated that Reggie Miller and Kenny Smith said Barry needed to flop to sell the foul. What kind of league is it where we encourage players to flop. Barry could have taken the shot through Fisher to draw the three shot foul but he didn’t and a two shot foul should have been called regardless of the situation. A lot of people also point that the Spurs coach and players were okay with the call after the game but that’s just the Spurs keeping it classy. I think they talked about what they were going to say before doing any interviews, its just the way they handle things. Not like Kobe Bryant who immediately says there was “No foul” before even watching a replay. He could have easily said he didn’t know, but no. His arrogance controls his mouth.

Not only did they miss the final call of the game but they also missed Tim Duncan’s travel that got himself a dunk, not to mention the play that didn’t reset the shot clock and forced Kobe Bryant into a desperation shot. All bad officiating.

So there were missed calls all over this game, and there are missed and phantom calls throughout the NBA playoffs. I’m starting to think the NBA needs to start rethinking how to officiate the game. If officiating is about getting every play right, I think they need to start using video replay a lot more and getting more angles on each play. Imagine an NBA game where the refs can replay every play from every angle using a hand held device. Yes this is wishful thinking but wouldn’t it greatly minimize the missed and phantom calls. I would even support having more officials at every game to get every angle. Just do something to improve the officiating.

Even in the Celtics and Pistons series we saw a PJ Brown flagrant foul and a Paul Pierce tackle that was called a legal foul. Pierce clearly did more damage than PJ Brown but somehow avoided the flagrant foul call. This also brings us to question whether certain players get more calls going their way than others. I’m not going to go there today.

I’ll wrap this up by bringing this back to the Lakers and Spurs who play Game 5 tonight. The Lakers won Game 4 because they played better. Manu Ginobli played horrible and Tim Duncan and Brent Barry carried their team. If this game ended cleanly it would have been fine but now its like the asterisk next to the New England Patriots. The NBA admits that the right call was not made during the game but why didn’t they see that in the replay before the players left the court, and why would they announce the missed call two days after. It’s like when a buzzer beating shot is made to win the game the players can’t leave the court until the video review is done.

The NBA needs to clean up the game starting with the officiating.

I bought a 26″ monitor with my stimulus check. I’m doing my part to stimulate the economy. I have to say even though I went with a cheap brand (Soyo) it’s looking pretty amazing. It’s almost too big for my little room.

I was awake for 22 hours. 4am Monday until 2am Tuesday. The hardest day of work in my entire life. I think I’m an insomniac.

Taking on design contracts isn’t as fun as making your own websites. It’s just like work. It is work, why would i want extra work. It’s money. It’s a shame how I allow money to control my life, I thought I was different. I’m embarrassed of you. But then I wouldn’t have these awesome toys… point taken.

The Hornets are eliminated meaning only the boring teams and Kobe are left. I think I’ll side with the boring teams. Go Detroit!

Today I’m going shopping for something a girl would like.

So I was listening to ESPN 710 while at work today and they started talking about sports advertising. What was interesting was that they said Kobe Bryant’s advertising career is the best come back by any athlete. They were of course talking about how his ad campaigns got dumped during the whole Colorado debacle. It is pretty interesting how people forgive and forget, and now he’s the MVP.

They also went on to talk about sports advertising that doesn’t work. What I enjoyed most about this segment was how they kept going back to Lebron James advertising for Windows Vista. Seriously, like Lebron James is going to make you want to change you Operating System. I don’t think I’d be taking any computer advice from him. Did Microsoft really think they would sell more copies of Vista using Lebron James?

Now if it were Gilbert Arenas who IS a blogger… it could work…

Realistically, the video game market has penetrated so deeply into American culture that the video game players are not just the nerdy kids anymore. Yes, they are the same people that watch the NBA playoffs. The older generation will still be watching the playoffs but look for the viewer counts to drop down a bit as more of our favorite teams get the boot (Phoenix Suns). I think we’ve already accepted that GTA will hurt movie releases so TV is the next big thing.

Additionally, if the NBA finals is anything like it was last year the league will be in trouble. Seeing the Cavs get swept in the finals is just depressing. I think I watched 30mins total in those four games, and that was before GTA IV came out.

This photo is hilarious! Just imagine hip-hop music in the background.

Yea I’m still a hater.

The rest of my “post-work” free time would best be used playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl because it’s a light hearted beat’m up. Great for stress relief. I just love cracking that Super Smash Ball and wreaking havoc on my roommates.

Of course there are non-video game related options for stress relief: Alcohol, Drugs, Sex, Sleep etc.

Looking into next year this team needs a few more pieces to adequately match up against teams like the Jazz who have fundamental role players. I compared them to the Clippers earlier but lets all hope they don’t really follow the Clippers by missing the playoffs next season.