To NCAA '11...and Good Friends!

I'm addicted to EA Sports' College Football game. I've been playing some version of it since it was Bill Walsh's Football back in the early 90's. I usually get the new addition as soon as it's available, but not this year. Oddly, I've been putting it off, but my friends came through in a major way (again) this past weekend. While we were out celebrating Jinx's birthday, I got surprised with an early birthday gift of my own: this year's NCAA football. I want to say thanks again; I truly have some of the best friends in the world.

Now, I dedicate a great deal of my free time to this game. I dropped off a bit from '05 - '08, but for '09, I tracked my individual dynasty here on FTS and updated the online dynasties I played with several friends. Last year, Create-A-School, a feature I love, returned and spent a lot of time creating teams in the buildup to the game's release. The result? I took the Coyotes of Anderson University from a lowly cupcake Sunbelt program to a national powerhouse and perennial SEC contender in a shade under 20 seasons.

This year, I will once again be tracking my Dynasty right here on FTS. The dynasty will feature a coach, Ace Journeyman (clever, huh?), and his career-long quest to become one of the greatest coaches of all time. Ace's first job is at struggling Eastern Michigan. Does he have what it takes to turn the Eagles around? Will he one day move on to a bigger program, win national titles and become a legend? Or, will he fail to rebuild a poor program, and fade away into anonymity? I guess we'll have to wait and see...

As far as the game is concerned, it seems a little tougher than before. I'm playing on All-American, and the defense seems better able to adjust to play style and predict play calls than I've seen. Throw in nine dropped passes in one of my first games and it's been rough going, offensively anyway. Defensively, things seem OK - my first taste of action was a UGA win over Akron, 27-0. I hope it's just a slow start because I'm getting used to the new tweaks, but right now, I'm dreading what's to come trying to get any output from the cellar-dwelling Eagles of Ypsilanti.