Just when I think I'm out...

The PLAN was to start the regular season tonight against Dallas. My Monday night hoops game was over early tonight -- Monday is 18 and over night which always runs me absolutely ragged. Tuesday is old man 30 and over night. Much more my speed.

Anwyay, we won the Bears game 21-19 -- the backups did nada with the ball in the 2nd half.

After the game it said "10 days until week 1" or something like that. I figured no problem...I'll zip through the week and then play my game. Well, no. As I am beginning to learn about this game, stuff just pops up during the week.

Well, first off, Josh Cribbs, my special teams demon, busted his head diving off the high dive at his house. It was one of those head slapping moments of, "Are you kidding me?"

Then a new screen pops up telling me how many Preseason goals I failed at accomplishing. Doh. I was supposed to get certain player's Knowledge lvl (the playbook...) to a certain % and I failed to do that. My approval rating starts to tumble.

Then I get to upgrade my staff! This is like a skill tree in your basic RPG. Sorta like upgrading skills in World of WarCraft or Diablo. You can *really* customize your coach. Not only that your assistants earn skill points, too, all the way down to the damn Trainer. So that took a while doing the upgrades.

Then I get new goals! The owner wants me to re-sign Jamal Lewis and Sean Jones. Easy enough. The fans HATE my GM. I find that awesome. I can get a fan approval boost by firing him. But...doing that before week 1...pass. The fans also really want me to "crush Pittsburgh" in week 2 and to beat the Giants on Monday Night Football. Good lord did they not WATCH that preseason game?

I then have to promise my boss (the owner) what we'll do this year. I tell him "Playoffs, baby!" I'm already listed as being "on the hot seat" so I think if the Browns screw up -- my life as an NFL Head Coach will be a done deal.

Then the damn media chimes in. They want us to finish in the top 10 in offense. I guess having the media on your side is a good thing, unless you are, well, most NFL coaches.

Ok 3 more days til Dallas! Let's go!

Nope. Not yet. Adam ..whatever his name is, the dude from the NFL Network pops on the screen talking about players in the upcoming draft -- his Top 5 players. I was curious how the game would handle that, seeing as we're now in the realm of fictional players. Adam rattles off names, positions and schools and then gives the AP Top 5 teams. No Buckeyes. Game is obviously broken.

Ok he's done talking --then the Draft Preview screen pops up with potential sleepers and busts along with a star grade for the depth of each position in the draft! The 2009 draft is apparently very weak at CB (0 stars) but loaded at DT and Wide Outs (both 5 star). How cool is that?

By now it's been well over an hour. I need to go to bed. Dallas will have to wait.