Clarification of Last Lionheart Series Post

First off let me say that I have completely enjoyed the racing in the iRacing Verizon Lionheart Series. Whether some non admin or non member racers kind of rubbed me a little wrong or I was just not in a great mood when I wrote it, after rereading it I realize I left out the whole purpose of the title. What the title meant was that the reason that we have practice races is to work out the kinks and issues that would come up during a official race. That way the Admin Team can get the kinks worked out and procedure protocals in place. Also to be able to work on the setup to get it so that it is not only stable but also competitive. So as far as any setup issues I said, I of course knew that this time is just a research and develop phase for the setup and its setting before the official race on July 2nd. I was just giving my personal opinion because that is what blogs are for. It is my blog so it is my personal opinion. I don't have to take anyone elses feelings or opinions in to account. I am going to be honest not brutal but honest. If my blog post came across as negative to the race series, that is not the case at all and far from it. I understand that all of the issues that I experience where: 1. it is practice and practice only. No championship points at stake, wins or loses matter. So people are going to be trying and testing what and where they can place the car. I completely understand and I understand that during the official racing series it won't or I am going to say hopefully isn't going to be like that. And the reason I say hopefully is cause we won't know who can and can't drive well. That is not a slam or bust on anyone, just a fact of any skill level sport. 2: the chatter during the practice races is not going to be what it will be during a race (again I hope). I have been in official races on iRacing and have had 2 people talk about other races and series the whole race. So I am guessing that it won't happen during the race. One thing I know for sure because of the great admin team that they have on hand, if there is unnecessary chatter during the race they will not allow it at all. However that being said, if what I said in the previous blog post hit close to home, you might need to reevaluate your use of the radio.

So I am ending this one by saying a couple of things again. This is a great group of admins that have a huge undertaking on their hands. Like I said in the previous post, I know on hand how big of an undertaking it is. Again just with real life, not everyone is going to get along with everyone. So far almost all the people that have joined the practice servers have been great. Now the ones that I have had an issue with or just their personallity did not mesh with mine could have not even been a member of the league so I can't say if they are or are not. But we are adults (or I sure say hopefully we are all older and not kids) and we will be able to race cleanly regardless. Once the season gets started the races will be password protected so that will keep non members out of the races. And let me say again and again, the previous post had somewhat of a negative feeling to it and that was not my intention at all. I am very happy with the admin, the series and the racers that are in the practice races so far.

HOWEVER AGAIN THIS IS MY PERSONAL BLOG WHICH I TALK ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS THAT I AM DOING AND ENJOY. EVERY POST IS FROM MY PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE AND THAT WILL NOT CHANGE. CAUSE THAT IS WHAT BLOGS ARE ALL ABOUT!!

Spawn trap: how to play with no skill COD:Ghost.

Yes this is another rant about players (not gamers) in COD Ghost. I have recently started switching up my game type from drop zone to try some tactics at Blitz. Having watched the top 8 teams in the country play at XGames in Austin Tx, I have seen many games of Blitz to think to myself I can incorporate my defensive style of gaming to help out the people score while I clear out our base and try and hold them back from scoring. So as I always have done, I think about each map that you can play Blitz on and try and come up with load outs that would be best for different situations.  So a very in your face map to a map that is wide open. Which perks will a person defending a base do best with? They won't sprint a lot but will need to be fast to cover the different lanes. Which lethal or tactical equipment would be best? Which killstreaks etc? So after building what I think it the best loadouts for 5 different scenarios.  Here we go! First game start out at Warhawk. Not bad go even. Drop a perk that didn't really do anything add one that might help. Next whiteout, trade 1 for 1 re spawn take 2 steps killed. Re spawn take 4 steps get killed. I think to myself game is spawning me real close to the other team for some reason. That game I go a little negative. Next map Sovereign. Defend is a good little distance away. Sprint, lay out lethals, start covering corners take out 2 then die. Re spawn no steps killed,  re spawn killed,  re spawn killed. Think to myself where is everyone else oh wait I respawned with someone both killed instantly.  What the cap is going on. Then I check to see how bad my kill ratio is in game.  It is only me on my team. I am not a quitter! 6 kills 41 deaths later. Never taking more than 2 steps after respawning. I think to myself how does a team that can lock down all the spawn points and just shoot people when they spawn say they have skill? How can that be fun for them? I look at this game as a game of skill and tactics not padding your K/D ratio. That again is why I still feel like the K/D ratio is not a good way to judge someone's skill. You need to go for the caps in Blitz but you also need someone to defend.  So if you spawn trap and go 41 and 6 that is almost an 8.00 K/D but put them in SnD and see how they do!! Oh and don't even try to play on Freefall and the other players (I don't say gamers cause a gamer plays with the intention of playing with skill not padding stats) have the spawn trap. I have always said "I would not just leave in the middle of a match if we were losing" even though I don't know the people I am playing with I still look as it as a team and you don't leave your team. But once I realize the non skill players have trapped the spawns I am out cause it isn't fun anymore. And how can it be fun for the other team? It takes no skill what so ever to do that.  Just run straight to the points and start shooting. I stuck it out and had some really great games just playing defense. Usually because of kills, killstreaks, and defense bonus I finish in the middle while letting others get the glory for caps. So I have stuck it out, still hoping for the day when I get with 4 other people that play seriously on a regular basis. Till that day comes, I will stick with the way I want to play. To play in a way that could make it on a competitive team.

Again thanks again, if you feel the same way please let me know. If you think I am crying or complaining,  I might have hit a nerve. If this is how you play, I would bet you have C4 in your loadouts as well.

KEEP GRINDING ON!!

Final part 3: COD GHOST at XGames/Why Evil Geniuses is still the team to beat.

The last part of the weekend was glued to my phone watching MLG.tv stream of the COD Ghost invitational at the XGames. I am not going to cover each team just the ones that stuck with me or struck a nerve with me.

It was great seeing Team Kailber make it to the final medal round. Like they said you don't see them much up at the very top.  They played well together and really celebrated as a team when there was a victory and when there was a defeat. It was the first time I have watched them play and I will be looking to watch them again to play again on MLG.tv.

Team Envy was very calm and collected and played some very good plays in the tournament.  It shows why they are always in the top tier of the major tournaments.  I will watch them as well when I see them on MLG.tv.

My boys of Evil Geniuses! Did they win, no. Did everyone think they would?  People thought they would be in the finals but here is where it gets crazy. Who people thought would win came down to just popularity not skill but more on that later. @EGCrimsix @EGDKarma @EGTeep @EGAchespp still are the destiny that they have created.  You don't win one tournament and you become the best.....oh wait you do if it is the COD Championship which Evil Geniuses did. They should not hang their heads in shame or defeat. They will still be the ones to beat at Anaheim. I think that when you are on the top for so long that it takes a little coming down to earth to get the fire going to take your game to an even higher level. I will still support EVIL GENIUSES!

And finally Team Optic, The Green wall or wall of unwarranted arrogance. Yeah they were predicted to win cause they are the favorite team cause they are always on MLG.tv playing some COD, Mine craft, Mario kart etc. They have figured out how to make the world of eSport into a popularity contest overlooking skill for likes. If it took you 4 yrs to win a tournament there is a reason.  Everyone will have a bad tournament,  if the planets align and you have your best tournament while everyone else had bad tournaments then you will leave. Now let's see if they back it up with another win this year. I am hoping and predict they won't. 

For me it is back to the grind. Drop Zone,  increasing my K/D ratio but playing for the objective. I still feel like if you take 4 people and come up with sound tactics that you practice and practice over and over you can compete competitively against the top teams. I am just looking for that group of people willing to take on the challenge.  Thinking of maybe incorporating some Blitz into my gaming. I think with the way I play Base Defense would be best. So I will be trying out different load outs while playing Blitz and only play cover for my base.

Why I subscribed to EGCrimsix/iRacing at Brands Hatch in Skippy/COD:Ghost

If you look at my other post EGCrimsix shows why he is on the World Championship Team Evil Geniuses!  http://40yroldgamingtriathlete.blogspot.com/2014/06/egcrimsix-shows-why-he-is-on-world.html, you can see that I am very impressed with Ian and his interaction with his followers on Twitch and Twitter. I have been watching his stream on Twitch now for a couple of days. Great content,  again interaction with his fans and he is dedicated to constantly improving his gaming skill. Last night was 2 days away from the XGames in Austin and while Ian and Evil Geniuses where trying to get a Scrim games going for some practice (which they couldn't which tells me other teams are not practicing) another team was streaming the new Mario Kart game. So it is that kind of dedication to improving the teams skill that also has me impressed.  And people wonder why EG is the reigning Champions. I watched and liked about 5 YouTube videos that he has on his YouTube channel. They were very informative and i can't wait to get home tonight and add what i learned to my practice. Please stop by there and subscribe to it. And go to his Twitch channel and support him with a monthly subscription like I did. You will not be disappointed at all. Can not wait till tomorrow and the live streaming of the first time ever COD:GHOST will be at a major non eSport Sporting event like XGames.

Let me tell you about iRacing. Me and my teammate Jon Carrigan did some more practice and then qualified at 9:45 pm so we would have a time for the 10:15 pm race. Got the 4th fastest time in my division so far so I am very happy with my time. Had 2 other people that were higher division than me and qualified a little faster than I did. I watched one of the drivers laps to learn from that was just .3 secs faster than me. So into the 10:15pm race, the 2 guys that were faster than me and my teammate from qualifying were ahead of me. I started 3rd with Jon starting 4th and behind Jon was someone that we know is overseas so has a terrible ping and has run up the back of a couple of drivers a few times and doesn't get any damage from doing it while taking the driver he runs all over out. So get the start fighting for 2nd coming out of 2nd, I was generous and gave way for turn 3 going into turn 4, gave him some room behind him. Now I watched at least 5 laps of his from qualifying and he took turn 4 very smoothly, how ever this time he decided to get hit the brakes in the middle of the turn which he never did before and the first place guy didn't even slow down. Very interesting and convient since it made me have to slam on the brakes which caused me to spin. Can you say brake check? So I spin Jon has to slow down, then here comes Mr. Drive all over you. He slams into the back of Jon and just destroys his car. And the damage to the rammer......NOTHING! I HATE HIGH PING DRIVERS! All of them use to as an unfair advantage. So I get towed and fixed and back out 1 lap down.  Out of 11 I finished 8th. And ironically stayed ahead of the second place driver who brake checked me in turn 4 and actually pulled away from him. So ironic if you ask me. Oh well put him down on the studied list and move on. Some people race with honor someone people have to drive dirty to overcome lack of skill.

Didn't get to the gym yesterday, wasn't the greatest day for me so just wanted to move my workout 1 day just to relax and chill out. But will definitely get to the gym tonight. It is a missing feeling when I do something like that. I am getting my cycle zones to out into my MIO Link. Stay tuned for more to come.

Evil Geniuses at XGAMES Austin/New job/MIO GLOBAL LINK/X^2 Performance/ COD:Ghost

So yesterday was my first day at my new job. Bilingual IT Service Desk using my French maybe 26 times a month.  Doing level 1 IT helps for Meritor. Good group of people. Such a different group of people. Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish and me French speaking people. The Service Desk will be running 24/7 and I have the M-F 5 am to 2 pm shift. Yesterday was just day one and going over how tickets are handled and clocking in etc. Real basic information. We won't actually start taking calls till July 26th. So have a long time of training.

So the day finally came!! My Mio Global Link came in the mail yesterday. Huge thanks to Mio. I can't wait to start using it tonight. It was charged out of the box but just made sure it was fully charged. Fit great, so light on the wrist. Downloaded MIO GO from Google Play Store. So quick found the Link right away. I will be using it to go over all my training and even using it first thing in the morning to monitor my recovery.  They are such an amazing company with forward thinking product and mentally.  Stay tuned for a daily update and training sessions using the LINK.

X^2 Performance signed Dave Scott to their team and had a great webcast Q&A. There was an issue and X^2 gave everyone who signed up a free shirt and samples.  This has been a supplement that I have been wanting to try and it came in the mail yesterday as well and I can wait to give it a try tonight before training. Mid distance ride tonight. Going to give my left foot another week to heal. It is so much better, but I am dying to start running.  Updates to come on how this product is to take a few hours before going to bed.

So jumped into some Ghost last night as well. Had some great games, it is almost like a switch was turned on and started to get several games positive while still playing Drop Zone Objectives.  But when I start getting tired or my thumbs start hurting it goes downhill from there. It is true what people say, to get good at these games it really is just practice practice practice. And it comes out of the blue too. All of a sudden you are playing better and faster. Was a really good gaming session.

Don't forget to pull for Evil Geniuses this weekend at X Games Austin!!!!

EGCrimsix shows why he is on the World Championship Team Evil Geniuses!

I will start this out by saying, This isn't about Kill Death Ratio, It is about respect for those that allow you to do what you have passion for and Yes I am old enough to be most of the Pro Gamers father. And yes I am just now practicing on getting better on Ghost and Black Ops 2. Why are 40 years old have I started to play these games?  Cause my kids that I get every other weekend love playing them and they love that I play with them and can talk about maps, and B-Dom, and Caps lol. So me being the competitive person that I am decided to pick a eSport team that they liked which was Optic Gaming. My oldest told me about a guy on the team that I should subscribe to his YouTube so I did.  I watched many of his videos and tweeted to him "your video really helps this old guy out". And got back a great response.....silence. Okay so he has a ton of followers maybe he missed it.  Started this blog.  Tagged him, his team and his team's owner in many of my post.  Have shout outs about him and his team.  Did this on Twitter, Facebook and Google +. And got......cricket's chripping in return. Do they not realize if it wasn't for us the fans.... The fans with money, he wouldn't be doing this?  I have had people 3 times as many followers as him in the Nascar world, movies, and real celebrities respond to my tweets. AND NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH YOU PLAY MINECRAFT! So I took a gamble before just writing off a Pro Team. Late last night, watched Ian Porter from about 12am to 4am.

Before I even started watching his Twitch feed, I tweeted could Evil Geniuses and EGCrimsix be my new eSport team? Right away a favorite on Twitter from Ian. I was SHOCKED. After months of trying to get responses from teams here is one that is right there.  So I watched it for 4 hours.  Was it his team playing? No it was him, a member of Denial, Faze,  Vexx and another playing together! What??? And playing Ghost. Never saw that before with that other team. At the end of watching,  I sent another Tweet just saying great stream hope you are interactive and if you are you have a new fan. Instantly a response of a Favorite and a thanks dude! Amazed is beyond words. Let me tell you if I was Ian's parents I would be proud of what a gentleman they raised. Evil Geniuses and Ian "EGCrimsix" Porter, Patrick "EGACHESpp" Price, Tyler "EGTeep" Polchow and Damon "EGDKarma" B, you have a new fan just from responding to some Tweets. How hard was that Wall of Envy Green. Such a shame!

Wayne Taylor Racing/Long cycle ride/COD GHOST

Sitting here on the couch watching a great finish to the United Sportscar Championship, great win by Wayne Taylor Racing. Love watching Jordan and Ricky Taylor racing.

Yesterday TRI training was my longest one so far. While I have been on non running status, I have added 5 miles to all my cycle rides. So 75 minutes plus 5 miles or 1.41:00 on the bike. Since I am still just beginning and not wanted to get injuries and just getting the seat time in, keeping cadence at 83 plus or minus a few. So 19 miles done then the brutal ab workout afterward. Again can't say enough about Prime Nutrition EAA and Glutamine. Loaded up my big water bottle with Gatorade and Prime Nutrition EAA. Finished the ride not dehydrated at all. Then when I got home, instantly go with Gatorade plus Prime Nutrition Glutamine and ALR industries HumaPro for instant protein uptake. No leg soreness this morning at all. Can tell that I pushed my legs the farthest they have been. They feel a little heavy is the best way to describe what it feels like the next day when you work your legs past their comfort zone with good nutrition and supplementation. Woke up this morning and didn't even think about my left foot. So healing is coming along well. Again Plantar Fascittis doesn't go away you just manage it. So fingers crossed for Monday running after my bike.

As far as racing and gaming yesterday, was suppose to do League Indy 500 last night. Went to the gym early in order to be able to get in. Was told the wrong time and could not get in to the server. So that is 2 Indy 500 races where something outside of my control caused me not to be able to race it which blows! So did a Skip Barber race at Mazda Laguna. Started from the pole first time this year, had a second lead by turn 4. CHARTER INTERNET GOES OUT AND DISCONNECTED!!!! SO PISSED!! If I make a mistake that causes me places or the race, I learn and move on but to go out cause of something that I can't control, kills me. Internet came back, log back in, join dead last 2 laps down. I was so much faster than most cars I pasted 7 cars by the end of the race and and looking at the time would have finished 2nd if wonderful Charter didn't go out.  Took a beating in IR points. Was so mad just decided to regroup and go again today. So jumped on COD Ghost cause it is Double XP weekend.

Still learning FPS and Ghost maps, so I am not a running and gunning player.  I pre aim and crouch walk around every corner. While everyone goes for the Drop Zone (all I am playing right now) it always go very wide and try and take out the opposition from the flanks to help my players holding the Drop Zone. From watching all the footage of Pro Gamers playing on MLG, I have seen what I thought was all the maps on Drop Zone. Then COD throws in one I have never been on. And oh boy how sucky can I be!! I feel like if you get on a team and work together you can play just as good as the pros. Good tactics and working together can beat anyone. Now it pains me to say this but I do feel like a Scuf controller or modify your controller to be like one is a must now. Which I am giving Scuf a little more time just to respond to a slowly going away fan of theirs even not buying one yet. The ability to jump, shoot and crouch in one motion is huge. I am still plugging along. I feel like when I go positive or even I have won. I am a cautious gamer and will always be like that. I feel like quickscopping and C4, is such a weak player mode. They way they aim assist and hit boxes in the game works. You just have to have the player in the circle of the scope and the game makes the hit. Then C4 what can you say. People take KD  (kill to death ratio) as the be all of how to judge someone. Have you seen pros play against each other. More times than not they don't go positive cause they play for the objective.

One last thing, Indy racing is on right now at Belle Isle. And I will honestly say. Will Power is the dirtiest driver and race control protects him so much. Just dirty and knows he will get away with stuff. Stay tuned for more rants, workout and thoughts from me and thank you again for reading this blog.