Category Archives: Archive

Ku-Biak to the Future by Jesse Schaffer

Posted on by

I spent the last week trying to make sense of everything that has happened. Last Sunday, the Broncos were primed to make another run at the Super Bowl. The roster was much healthier and supposedly more talented than the one from the year before, providing plenty of incentive to feel hopeful about our chances. Then the game started and all of that optimism disappeared on the horizon as quickly as a winter sunset. Not only did the Broncos get outplayed by an inferior Colts team, but the coaching staff did little to adjust when things went awry and the players went out without so much as a whimper.

This was completely unacceptable, or as John Elway put it so bluntly, if the Broncos were going to lose then they needed to go down “kicking and screaming.” They didn’t, seemingly content with a fourth-straight AFC West title and yet another one and done showing in the playoffs. On a team whose expectations were sky high heading into the season, someone had to pay for such a lackluster, uninspired effort in the first game of the 2014 campaign that truly mattered. That someone turned out to be John Fox.

Flash forward to today and Elway has made the parameters of his revised “Plan A” abundantly clear; in order to claim more Super Bowl titles in the future, the Broncos are going to re-embrace their past. Enter Gary Kubiak, returning to Denver after nine years in a quest for that elusive third Lombardi trophy. It just feels oh so right.

Continue reading →

“Mass Effect” Review by Jesse Schaffer

Posted on by

My name is Vigil. You are are safe here for the moment, but that is likely to change. Soon nowhere will be safe.

When I purchased my first Xbox 360 back in 2007, I did so mainly because I wanted Halo 3. I owned the first two on the original Xbox and so for me it was an easy decision to make. However, I’ve never been much of an online gamer so once I breezed through Halo 3’s disappointingly short campaign (oh yes, we will get to that in a future post), I was left looking for something else to sink my teeth into.  Then one day I was at a friend’s house and he was playing this little game called Mass Effect. I wasn’t necessarily a stranger to the game. After all, BioWare was the developer behind Mass Effect and they just happened to also create Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which is quite possibly my favorite game ever. For whatever reason, I just hadn’t stayed up to date on Mass Effect but knowing that BioWare was behind it and seeing it in action for myself, I made a mental note to buy my own copy when I had the chance. Then my fucking 360 broke.

Ah yes, all you 360 owners out there know what I’m talking about: the three rings of death, the ultimate middle finger to anyone who dropped $300 or more on a faulty product. Being a poor college student who was paying rent, it took me about a year to replace the damn thing, but when I did the first game I picked up was Mass Effect. I was relieved to be back on my digital saddle and excited to finally play it for myself, but little did I know that I was about to embark on the beginning of my all-time favorite video game trilogy.

Continue reading →

Survivor: What Did We Learn?

Posted on by

Survivor: San Juan Del Sur: Blood vs Water 2 has come and gone. At times the season felt as painful and as long as it’s title. But in the end everything worked out just as it should have.

Like everything in life, Survivor is full of lessons. What did we learn this season? We learned that Jeff Probst’s life is fine, that Drew is basically a badass and that Alec collects meat. We learned that Reed is a good actor, that Keith is not and that you don’t call Josh a girl. We learned that Natalie is smarter than she looks, you don’t tell Missy how to raise her daughter and that Wes has seen Probst naked. Oh and don’t challenge him to a chicken nugget eatin’ contest.

Most importantly we learned that Survivor doesn’t always hit a home run. After a strong three and a half season run (I enjoyed the second half of Caramoan, sue me) we were bound for disappointment. In reality this might be the most important season of Survivor if they apply lessons learned to future seasons.

Continue reading →

“Gears of War” Review by Jesse Schaffer

Posted on by

Cut off the head of the snake, and the body dies. We will win this war. It’s only a matter of time. 

One of the things I wanted to do when Kevin and I started Pegboard was to incorporate video game reviews into our content. Not necessarily because I am an expert on the subject and am out to enlighten people, but rather that I just really admire games these days and think they are worth talking about. When I approached Kevin about the idea, I was convinced that he would share my enthusiasm for the project. “Yeah, you should take that,” he said. “It’s not really my thing.” Well then. So much for that.

However, you shouldn’t judge him based on that one exchange. The dude is halfway around the world right now, living the celebrity life and handing out his autograph everywhere he goes (no, I’m serious, ask him). He has more pressing matters at hand than to embrace his inner geek for the enjoyment of our beloved followers. I, on the other hand, have far more free time than a 24-year old man should and am happy to fill in the gap while Kevin is away. And now that the Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Wii U are fully entrenched as the current-gen consoles, I think it’s an opportune time to look back at some of my favorite games from the previous cycle and cherish the hundreds upon thousands of hours I spent playing them by myself while dating absolutely no one.

So here we go, come join me on this digital trip down memory lane. First up: Gears of War. 

Continue reading →

Broncos Lack a Championship Mindset by Jesse Schaffer

Posted on by

Sunday’s game against the Rams was a lot like your classic schoolyard fight, featuring the quiet pipsqueak vs the bully who beats up every kid who crosses him. No one gives the pipsqueak a chance, because well, he’s a pipsqueak. He has no business winning the fight and everyone expects another massacre, but then the fight starts and the pipsqueak walks right up to the bully and punches him in the nose. The bully is shocked, the other kids are shocked and even the pipsqueak can’t believe it, but that’s just the beginning. He keeps coming at the bully with lefts and rights and eventually the bully gives up, not because he is physically unable to win at that point, but because he is mentally psyched out.

If you have the stones to do so, go back and watch that game and that’s exactly what you’ll see. The Rams open up the first quarter as the aggressor; they take shots down the field in the passing game, pound the Broncos’ defense with their running game and relentlessly assault Peyton Manning with creative blitz packages. They take the lead, receive a huge boost in confidence and never let up for a second. Meanwhile, the Broncos do little to adjust and seem to believe that just because they are more talented, they will prevail in the end. What we have here is a severe oversight by the Broncos and a lesson that they should have already known – on any given Sunday, any shrimp can kick your ass if you don’t match his intensity.

Continue reading →

Mo’ Playmakers Mo’ Problems

Posted on by

Sports fans sure have changed. Before all fans did was cheer on the guys in their favorite team’s jerseys. These days though, it seems that everybody is an armchair GM. It is honestly my favorite part of being a fan. I love to imagine the decisions I would make if it were my team.

Of course being a fan I only have a limited amount of knowledge. I don’t pretend to completely understand all of the workings of the salary cap. And I am no expert when it comes to understanding all of the intricacies of building a roster. But I can pretend and that is what I am going to do here today.

Continue reading →

The State of the Broncos’ Backfield

Posted on by

Disclaimer: Kevin actually had this finished before training camp began, so his analysis has nothing to do with the practice reports from Dove Valley or who had the most carries in the scrimmage today. 

As a kid of the 90’s and early 00’s I grew up wanting to be a running back.  These were the days of Terrell Davis, Ladainian Tomlinson , Marshall Faulk and many, many more stud running backs. Teams revolved around their running back. Broadcast commentators taught us the importance of developing a running game. We then witnessed the importance first hand when we watched Jerome Bettis bulldoze his way into the end zone. Or when we watched in awe as Barry Sanders juked his defenders out of their shoes.

Every year I bought the new Madden game I would start in the training camp mode. I would work until I could dominate all of the running back drills and then I would boot up a new Broncos season and work towards a 2,000 yard rushing season. That is how I knew football. (And that probably explains why I am so horrible at passing in Madden to this day.)

Continue reading →

NFL Mock Draft Revisit

Posted on by

We meant to get this up much sooner than we did (like sometime close to the end of the draft). Hopefully this will be the beginning of a streak of high activity here at Pegboard, but I’ve made that promise in the past and I don’t want to put my foot in my mouth once more. That happens enough on its own, anyway. In this piece, Kevin and I revisit our mock draft and comment on who was actually picked. Most of this stuff actually happened. Mostly.

1. Houston Texans-

Real Pick: Jadeveon Clowney, DE South Carolina

Our Prediction: Jadeveon Clowney, DE South Carolina

Kevin: This is how the draft started, the Texans picked Clowney and Jesse jumped up on the table and exclaimed, “I AM THE KING OF MOCK DRAFTS! BOW DOWN TO ME!” While he popped open a bottle of champagne and sprayed it all over his basement. True story. We then spent the next 8 minutes attempting to pronounce Jadeveon.

Jesse: Only ESPN, the TMZ of sports, could’ve spewed out enough b.s. to make the Texans passing on Clowney seem like a realistic possibility. If Clowney lives up to the hype, the Texans are going to make life miserable for opposing quarterbacks. And I will always refer to him as Clowney, because Jadeveon is just too difficult to pronounce.

Continue reading →

Pegboard’s Second Annual NFL Mock Draft

Posted on by

Welcome to our second annual mock draft. Enjoy our lame jokes and infinitely lamer picks. As last year, Kevin and I take on the role of playing GM for all 32 teams and take turns making selections. Kevin had the honor of choosing between the top two tackles in last year’s draft as the Chiefs, so I get to go first this year as the Texans.

1. Houston Texans- Jadeveon Clowney, DE South Carolina:

Jesse: Media pundits and talking heads have been trying to convince us all week that the Texans won’t be taking Clowney here. Don’t buy it. Clowney will join forces with J.J. Watt, causing Andrew Luck to crap his pants and Jake Locker to consider another profession so he doesn’t get killed.

2. St Louis Rams- Greg Robinson, OT Auburn:

Kevin: It sure seems like the Rams really want to get out of this spot. It’s like they don’t want the attention or pressure of picking number 2. Are the Rams insecure and bashful? Are the Rams the team that constantly post pictures of themselves on Facebook tagged with, “OMG we are so bad”, hoping that another NFL team will comfort them and explain that they are just in a tough division and things will get better? Its okay Rams, you are loved.

Continue reading →

The Champ of an Era by Jesse Schaffer

Posted on by

I had been prepping this post for a few days. With free agency starting, I knew that a decision on Champ Bailey was coming and that there was no way that he would be retained with his $10 million salary. Originally, I was going to discuss the avenues the Broncos could take in order to keep Champ around for a while longer and decrease the cap hit that he would have. There were ramifications for all of these options, but I was confident that the two sides could find common ground and reach a compromise. But the Broncos weren’t waiting for my opinion. They weren’t waiting for anybody, and in the end, they pulled the trigger and cut ties with one of the most accomplished players in franchise history.

Continue reading →