how the mind does shout for rest

Never let it be said I don't listen to my readers. All six or seven of you.

What to say about last week's Bengals loss? They look like the mediocre team their 4-4 record says they are. Yes, we all know that deep down the Bengals are more talented than they are playing, but so what? It doesn't matter how much talent you have, in the end all that matters is whether you have a "W" or an "L". The offense looks sloppy, the defense couldn't stop a team of girl scouts, and the roster is riddled with injuries. Emotions are running too high right now: everyone from Rudi to Willie to T.J. to Carson is getting frustrated and upset. The team needs to mature and step up when the game is on the line, because we're about to go 4-5 when the Chargers come to town this weekend.

Yes, we should have had a pass interference call on that play near the end, but by now it has become apparent that those critical calls are not going to go our way. Poor officiating cost us the game in Tampa Bay and possibly in Baltimore as well. So yes, without the terrible calls (or lack of) we should be 5-3 or 6-2, but we should never have been in those situations in the first place. If the team was playing up to their potential, Tampa Bay would never have been that close that late in the game, and we would not have been trying to dig our way out of a 14 point hole after five minutes in Baltimore. NFL referees are terrible, but the Bengals need to not let the game get in a position where the refs are going to make or break it. Now as we all saw in the Super Bowl, sometimes the officials will be so terrible that it doesn't matter what you do, but poor performance by the Bengals has been as much of a culprit as bad calls.

Now on to the Wii... I'm not sure what else to say about it, Kel. I certainly think it will be the victor of the next generation console wars, with the Xbox 360 in second and the PS3 flopping and taking Sony down with it. The price tag is much more consumer friendly; I think Nintendo made the right choice in focusing on affordability and gameplay over the most technologically advanced system with cutting-edge graphics. Yes, Gears of War looks absolutely amazing, but I don't want to pay twice the cost of the Wii to get a 360 in order to play it. That said, I'm not one of the people lining up the buy the Wii when it comes out. I intend to wait and see how the games are that will be coming out for it (like Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Red Steel), and most importantly, how I like the Wii-mote controller before I'll think about buying it. Since Craig is getting one I'll get to try it hands on for awhile before I make any decision.

I desperately need to fix some things with my PC. First of all I need to replace this crappy default Dell case. Why you would ever design a case that opens up like a book is beside me. To open up the case you have to unplug everything connecting to it, pick it up, lay it on its side, and pull it open. That makes it far too much of a chore to take a look inside the PC, when on most cases all you need to do is pop open the side. I also need a new cooling fan; my current one keeps sputtering and sounds like it will croak at any moment. Figuring out why my excellent Zonet wireless adapter won't reinstall is also gaining in priority. The Belkin one I'm using now is nice as a backup, but the signal is weak and it cuts out far too often.