News of the day, 2/23

Hey everyone. I stopped by to pass along a non-Auburn piece of information. I'm planning to work on some Auburn-related stuff later in the days, so check back this afternoon for that.

I passed along some comments from Pat Dye on the blog yesterday. Here is the full column I wrote for Saturday's editions.
I watched basketball signee Frankie Sullivan play twice during the past week. He's in his sixth season as a varsity guy for R.C. Hatch High and is aiming for a fifth state championship. Isn't that nuts?

Here are his lines from the week:
Game 1 vs. Lanett: 26 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks in 22 minutes
Game 2 vs. Pickens: 23 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 steals in 32 minutes

I watched the Pickens game with Auburn assistant coach Brandon Johnson, who was there to show support or whatever college assistants do when they go to see their signees. He acknowledged that Sullivan, who is 6-foot-1 has the body of a point guard but a skill set that ideally works better at shooting guard.

Not that Johnson cares. He said teams these days don't necessarily need a ball-handling specialist at point guard. He cited Florida as an example of a team that succeeds without a true point guard.

Do you buy it? They sure do.

Anyway, I asked head coach Jeff Lebo about Sullivan on Friday morning. Here's what he said:

We are very excited about Frankie Sullivan Frankie brings a lot of different things to the table. One thing that he brings is athleticism. He brings the ability to score in the backcourt. He can shoot it and get to the rim. He has gotten stronger. The one great thing I like about him is that he's a winner. He is used to winning and used to playing in big games. He has some leadership qualities that I like. He can play (point) and he can play (shooting guard) for us. I'm really excited about the season he's having. He has to do a lot for his team. I have yet to see him have a bad night when I watched him play. He finds a way to help his team in any way and that is the sign of a good player. I'd like to see him be able to play -- because of his size defensively -- a scoring point for us. He'll also have a chance to play at (shooting guard) because of his ability to shoot."

I concur with most of Lebo's assessments. Sullivan, though, will need some serious work on defensive positioning and shot selection. With that said, the kid is a scorer, a very intuitive passer and someone who has the moxie you'd expect from a big-time prospect.

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OK. So you know I'm a Guitar Hero buff. Our friends who play GH3 on Wii have been bitter for months now because the game only plays in mono. Bummer. After months of dodgy behavior from Activision regarding this issue, the company dropped a mea culpa yesterday.

We are committed to providing our customers with quality game experiences and apologize for any audio output issues you may have experienced with the Wii version of Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock. Activision has worked with Nintendo to re-master the game and provide a replacement disc to consumers with Dolby digital surround sound and other consumers experiencing audio issues. If you wish to receive a full refund on your purchase price instead of a replacement disc, please click here and download the refund form, which outlines our refund requirements.

So you can either get a new disc that will play the game in Dolby surround or just trade the game in for full credit.

Hey, that's somewhat ballsy. I give Activision credit for that one.

*In a somewhat related note, my lovely wife snagged a box full o' Rock Band yesterday at Target. It was on sale for $149. That's a lot better than the $189 price at launch. So I'll be knocking out some RB this weekend. I'll be getting some downloadable content, too, from Rush and Metallica.

When I was a kid, man, I soooo wanted to be Lars Ulrich playing anything from ...And Justice For All. Now I get to live the dream. Sort of.