The Man Known as Dan

I would legitimately love it if they just go all in on Keith Lee and have him take all the belts of the Era himself.

Imagine the horror for that cameraman in that split second.

So! ME2 is done, and I said I’d do loyalty quest rankings. So here we go. 1. Tali. The mission that earned the Left Trigger the nickname “The Hug Tali Button”. This mission is, IMO, a masterpiece. Sets up a third of Mass Effect 3 masterfully, introduced you to all the major players of the Quarian race, even gives you false flag on who you think is the guy you want to align with in ME3. Also, a legitimate way to fail the mission, as well as a way to pass the mission in the best possible way WITHOUT using your paragon or renegade score. Also, great challenging combat. This mission is possibly the best single mission in the series. 2. Mordin. This mission isn’t quite as effective at setting up the Krogan Genophage cure as the previous one was at setting up the Quarian/Geth war, but it still does a damn fine job. And man, Mordin is such a great character, and this mission is basically what sets everything about him forward. Arguably my favorite individual line of dialogue from Shepard in the series also takes place in this mission: “Look at the dead woman Mordin, it doesn’t look like you saved her.” Such a great cut straight to the point line. Another of the missions I think about when I think of what the series did best. 3. Jack. The Purgatory didn’t work for me, it was basically just “look at how badass Jack is!” and then never seeing her get to use powers like that again. This mission however humanizes Jack in juuuust the right ways. It explains her character perfectly while setting her up to grow more down the line. This is grit done well in a video game, imo. 4. Kasumi. Maybe it’s because I’ve played this one less then the others, but I kinda love the feel of this one, it feels completely different from every other type of mission in the series. Hock is the type of asshole you feel great fucking over too. So yeah, damn good mission. 5. Samara: Being honest ranking from here gets difficult. But luring in Morinth always stood out a lot to me, though that might once more be more about how much I love Samara. The nightclub setting and just doing what you want there is a good time, as well. Also, one of only 2 loyalty missions you don’t fire a shot. 6. Legion. The first real look into the Geth is a damn good one. It offers a legitimately intriguing moral question, and Legion’s dialogue in this mission is awesome 7. Grunt. Is it basic? Yes. Does it involve me killing a Thresher Maw on foot and also head butting a Krogan to get him to shut up? Also yes. Good enough for me. 8. Jacob. It’s a damn good mission, even if I care about Jacobs involvement less then I do others. The horror of what they put there people through is brutal. Even though I always play mostly Paragon, I always end up leaving Captain Taylor to deal with his people himself. 9. Thane. You only technically take a shot in this one in a cut scene, so I’ll count it with Samaras. The interrogation run is fun. The stealth “following your target” run... felt like a missed opportunity? Still good though. 10. Miranda. Both this one and the next one feel like they should be higher, but it’s a tough list to crack. Miranda becoming relatable is fun, it’s got one of my favorite renegade interrupts, it’s a good time. It’s just not... unique, which hurts it. Also, Niket is the most confusing character in the game because of how little his connection with Miranda makes sense to me. 11. Garrus. Like, there’s nothing wrong with this mission, but the Arcangel one completely over shadows it. The Harkin element is kinda cool but doesn’t make it stand out tons. The one thing it does have is the dialogue thing trying to save Sidonis. But this still feels like a step below the rest. 12. Zaeed. I appreciate them giving you alternating paths. I appreciate a legit chance to not gain his loyalty. But this mission just doesn’t stand out in any real way to me. Pretty big letdown overall.

Well, nice of them to push me over into canceling my subscription.

I was really hoping for some of the Omni Thanksgiving Tag tournaments, boooo.

Larry Walker is by fWAR the best Right Fielder of the last half century. If having a legitimate argument for best player at your position over a 50 year stretch isn’t good enough to make the hall and the only real argument of substance against him is “Well, home/road splits” then yeah, I don’t buy your get better players argument at all.

My hypothetical ballot Jeter Bonds Clemens Walker Jones Rolen Ramirez Wagner Sheffield Sosa All of Schilling, Pettitte, Kent, Helton, and even Abreu all merit deeper thought from me. But these 10 I already know I’m a yes on. Abreu will fall off the ballot this year, and I get that one more then Berkman last year

Biggest flaw with Becky as a worker is she doesn’t have any real big crowd popping spots. I know she is a good wrestler, but her expertise was always in things like chain wrestling, which flat out doesn’t pop crowds in 2019. Worth noting I’m totally taking that talking point from PWO, who were talking about and nailing this point on Sunday.

God, remember when wrestling forums were used to talk about wrestling instead of personal dramas between two atrocious announcers? Like, it’s not a shot at anyone here, because anywhere involving wrestling is talking about it and can’t be avoided, it’s just a general frustration of mine. I’m so completely over the “let’s talk about athletes and/or performers real life drama over the actual thing they do” bullshit which dominated culture now a days. It was a big part of why I zoned out from the NBA, and it’s pushing me so far into old wrestling tapes because there I can just acknowledge “yeah, most of the guys in these are probably awful people” and be over it. Social media has gotten everyone closer to the performers, when al it’s revealed is they are just as petty or flawed as anyone else. Shock of shocks. Mini-Rant over, once I’m off work I’m gonna go watch some 84 AWA.

Homicide.

My main takeaways from this weekend. Ripley and Lee fucking rule. Adam Cole fucking sucks.

I’m apparently the outsider in thinking the main was dog shit, but I resent the War Games match being “watch us do spots!” Instead of “watch us settle an issue between people who despise each other. Women’s War Games basically exposed the Men’s as nothing more then a spot fest, which is a waste of Lee, Roderick, O’Reilly, and Owens. Match felt like it took for god damned ever to me.

Or they just thought the gif or image was fun and we could talk about the moment. Like, maybe tone it down a bit?

Fun fact: The Brewers put up a combined 2 runs in 22 innings against Darvish last year. The only bright side of this entire fiasco is public support flying back to Darvish after realizing his bad series in 17 might not have been his fault.

Minnesota what is you doin?