The Game That Went Into Tomorrow

Notre Dame tops Louisville in biggest thriller of the Men’s Basketball season.

It took five overtimes for something to finally give between Louisville and Notre Dame. When everything was said and done, the date was the 10th, and not the 9th it began on. As is with all games in all sports that go into tomorrow, this match-up will be remembered for its intensity, heart, and thrilling finishes.

In perhaps the most thrilling game in men’s basketball this year, Notre Dame and Louisville took it to five overtimes before ND finally came out on top. 101-104.  For Notre Dame, it was a big win to move up in the rankings. For Louisville, it was a hard lesson in closing out games, which is something they’ve struggled with all year.

With 40 seconds to go, and a lead of 7, victory was nearly assured. However poor defense, and suddenly cold hands allowed ND to come back and force the first improbable OT. What transpired since was a back and forth game fought tooth and nail, with neither leading by more than three down the stretch. Each overtime ended with nail biting plays. Every basket was answered in kind. This was the kind of game we hope to see every night. It’s just too bad we left without the win.

Media Bias in Sports

ESPN ran this photo and its story on the NBA front page for over 24 hours.

Media bias is nothing new. We’ve seen it every day of our lives. and have generally come to either accept it, or ignore it. Like any business, the media is out for traffic, revenue generating traffic. They seek this out by writing stories about the most popular subjects within their spheres, but when does it enter the range of absurd? I think ESPN has shown us by running its story about Pau Gasol’s injury for over 24 hours.

Two nights ago, the Lakers won a nail biter after Gasol went down with an injury that required an MRI. Since then, the image of him on the ground in pain has been on their front page until finally, this morning, when they decided to run a fluff piece on the Heat.

To run this story on its NBA front page for so long is ridiculous. This isn’t exactly something new. In fact, this is probably Gasol’s third injury this season alone, as it’s become evident that age is catching up with him. It’s also even less of a shock to the Lakers, who’ve been suffering injury woes since the season began with three of its stars being out for extended periods of time. There really was nothing that warranted this story to take center stage while 13 NBA games were played last night. What, you wanted to see what was going on during actual play? Too bad, here’s Gasol’s face of pain.

No matter the reason, bias, traffic seeking, or just plain laziness, ESPN should really be ashamed for doing something so insulting to the very idea of news delivery.

Square Enix Can Make the Ultimate Dream

Yes, thanks to Disney, all this can be in one game.

Square Enix and Disney have a long standing deal to make a series of games with the name Kingdom Hearts. Back when it was first announced, I remember cringing and wondering what kind of magical mushrooms SE ate to make such a deal. Disney and Final Fantasy in the same game? What? It sounded like some kind of joke at the time, but now it’s one of the hottest franchises in Japan, and a growing fan base world wide. There’s just been one problem, Kingdom Hearts 2 came out eight years ago, and there’s no sign of Kingdom Hearts 3.

KH3 will happen. SE has said as much, and the game’s mastermind, Tetsuya Nomura has also said so. A lot has changed with SE and Disney since then. Back when KH2 hit, it was simply Disney and SE, and SE had infact neglected any Enix side of their company for the game. Now, SE owns Eidos, the studio behind Deus Ex and Tomb Raider. Disney owns Marvel and now Lucas Films. Let me put it into perspective here, Ironman vs Darth Vader, Lara Croft vs Indiana Jones, Jack Sparrow vs Han Solo, Thor vs Dark Force Lightning, Luke Skywalker vs Cloud Strife, Tron bikes vs Air Speeders. All of that awesomeness can be put into one game. All of it, and more.

The world is still waiting for any Kingdom Hearts 3 announcements, but when it happens, Disney and SE could bring childhood bliss into reality like no one ever thought possible.