Warren Buffett, the world's fourth-richest person, is offering a $1 billion prize to anyone who can accurately predict the outcome of every game in this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, though statisticians estimate even the most knowledgeable fan only has a one-in-a-billion chance of filling out a perfect bracket. What do you think?
The Seattle Seahawks lowered the Legion of Boom on the Denver Broncos, easily rolling to a 43-8 victory in Super Bowl 2014.
The Seahawks' menacingly-nicknamed defense was dominant, holding the Broncos without a first down for the first 19 1/2 minutes of the game, and Seattle made Denver pay for its sloppy play.
It was the first Super Bowl championship for the Seattle franchise.
The Seahawks struck quickly in each half, scoring points at the 12-second mark in each. They scored a safety on the game's first play from scrimmage when Denver's snap went over quarterback Peyton Manning's head and the Broncos fell on the ball in the end zone.
Percy Harvin returned the second-half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown to give Seattle at 29-0 lead. Seattle had taken a 22-0 halftime lead fuelled by that stellar defense and shaky Bronco plays.
Seattle intercepted two Manning passes in the half. Manning's second interception -- on a wobbly pass after his arm was hit by Seattle defensive end Cliff Avril -- was returned 69 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Malcolm Smith. Denver's only touchdown came of the last play of the third quarter when Manning hit wide receiver Demaryius Thomas with a 14-yard scoring pass and the two-point conversion made it 36-8.
Check below to view real-time updates on the game plus all its attendant highlights.
FIFE – He made the game-winning play to push the Seahawks into the Super
Bowl. After the game,
cornerback Richard Sherman’s comments about opposing
players caused a lot of controversy.
Sherman continues to be the Seahawk everyone is focusing on leading into the
Super Bowl. But a lot of people in the northwest are now focusing on a billboard
in the Seattle-Tacoma area that takes a major shot at Sherman. It’s a digital
billboard of Sherman and the words “Zero class.”
“It is absolutely inappropriate,” said Rosie Tomyn, one of several Seahawks
fan, who took issue with the billboard.
“They zeroed in on one player and one specific moment and put ‘zero class,’”
said Tomyn. “I think that’s where they crossed the line and I don’t see that as
being OK.”
Emerald Outdoor Advertising, the Spokane company that owns the billboard, has
been flooded with complaints. It’s manager, Tom Townsend, says he’s a Seahawk
fan and likes Richard Sherman, but this is business.
“The person who bought the board has the right to put his opinion up,” said
Townsend. “He paid $7,200 dollars for that ad.”
A group of 49er fans in San Francisco is behind the ad. They first tweaked
Hawks fans with a billboard showcasing the five Super Bowl trophy’s won by the
49ers. And those same 49er fans who put up the billboard, have also, along with
several Seahawks fans, raised more than $30,000 for Seattle Children’s
Hospital. “If I have to take a little heat and the Children’s Hospital makes some
money, I guess that’s my sacrifice and I’ll take it.”
Late Thursday afternoon, however, the billboard’s owner relented and took the
Sherman sign down. Working with the 49er fans, he put up a sign showing 49er
player Navorro Bowman, who suffered a brutal knee injury in the NFC
Championship. The sign says he should be defensive player of the year.
The fan group is still hoping to raise $50,000 for Children’s
Hospital
PASADENA, Calif. -- Most of the news from Wednesday's BCS meetings about dates and sites for the new College
Football Playoff was a formality -- but that doesn't make it any less confusing. Here, now, a brief attempt to explain how the postseason will look beginning with the 2014 season.
The Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-fil-A Bowls were formally announced Wednesday as the other three bowls that will host playoff semifinal games four times over 12 years. They join the previously announced Rose, Sugar and Orange.
The Rose and Sugar will host the first-ever semifinals, followed by the Orange and Cotton in Year 2 and the Fiesta and Chick-fil-A in Year 3. The rotation then repeats itself every three years.
The six games will be split into consecutive triple-headers on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 (except when one of those dates fall on a Sunday, moving them to Dec. 30 or Jan. 2). The Rose and Sugar will always be played on New Year's Day -- the Rose in its traditional 4:30 p.m ET time slot, the Sugar at 8:30 p.m. -- which means that in eight of the 12 years, the semifinals will be played on New Year's Eve. So, for the first season, it's the Chick-fil-A, Orange and Fiesta on Dec. 31, 2014, followed by the Cotton, Rose and Sugar on Jan. 1.
"This will be must-watch TV for two days in a row," said executive director Bill Hancock. "...The whole cultural nature of New Year's Eve is going to change in this country. People are going to stay home from their parties to watch these games."
We pause now for a quick refresher on who's playing in these games (besides the four playoff teams). In years they're not hosting a semifinal, the Rose Bowl will still be Big Ten-Pac-12, while the Sugar will host SEC-Big 12, and the Orange gets the ACC vs. either the SEC, Big Ten or Notre Dame. The other three bowls are open and will get either a "displaced" champion whose contract bowl is hosting a semifinal that year; the highest-ranked Group of Five champion (American, Mountain West, C-USA, etc.); or an at-large team picked by the selection committee. Geography will partially dictate those matchups.
Also Wednesday, as was long expected, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex., was awarded the first College Football Championship Game (that's what it will be called), to be played Jan. 12, 2015. Tampa was the only other bidder. "The stadium was the determiner," Hancock said of Jerry Jones' palace. "It's still 'The Stadium' with a capital T." The next two championship sites will likely be announced in September.
Unlike the current system, the championship game is NOT considered a bowl game. While Cotton Bowl organizers are part of a local non-profit collective staging the game, it's NOT the Cotton Bowl. "We couldn't be more excited about bringing college football's biggest game to Cowboys Stadium," said Jones. This despite the fact the city/franchise will collect no direct revenue from the event. All will be distributed to the conferences, said Hancock. "They'll get the economic impact," he said of the winning city.
Speaking of economics, the BCS's much groused about ticket guarantees -- in which participating schools/conferences eat the cost of their unsold allotment -- are not going away in the new system, just getting a little bit smaller. Those guarantees will drop from 17,500 to 12,500 per school.
Organizers anticipate the semifinal games will continue to be treated as traditional bowl weeks, with teams arriving a week or so in advance and participating in various team and media activities. The championship game, on the other hand, will be more like a conference title game. "Teams might arrive on Friday for a Monday game," said Hancock.
And remember, you still have until Monday to help pick the new College Football Playoff logo, though the contest was temporarily derailed Wednesday by a nefarious ballot-stuffer in Austin, Texas.
Having nailed down those details (and having previously negotiated a $7 billion television deal), the commissioners will now turn their attention primarily to the aforementioned selection committee. In conversations with Hancock and several commissioners, it appears they've agreed on almost no specifics so far, and might not even name the first members until this fall.
"I think we'll be able to turn more focus and attention to it now," said Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott. "They don't go to work until the fall of 2014."
In Depth Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox One do battle with eight-core AMD technology
Now that both the Xbox One and PS4 have had their respective launch events and subsequent press conferences at E3, we're in a position to compare what they offer.
The two consoles certainly look a lot like each other. Both have angular shapes, black colouring and a combination of matte and gloss finishing.
We're not particularly sold on either design, but they do both hold more than a passing resemblance to the Sony PS2 - the best selling console of all time.
Let's take a look at the specs, features, services and peripherals of both consoles...
Always online
Next gen reviews Hands on: PlayStation 4 review
We've fondled the hardware and we've played the games. Check out what we think of the PS4 so far...
The Xbox One requires gamers to maintain a constant internet connection. If your Xbox One is disconnected for longer than 24 hours, your games will cease to function. You'll still be able to watch TV, use Blu-rays and surf the web, but your games will be off limit. This has made a lot of gamers very mad, so it's surely a huge advantage for Sony that the PS4 has no such limitations.
Unless you're playing online, streaming games or downloading, your PS4 does not need to be connected to the internet. Games will always work regardless.
Pre-owned titles
Another huge win for Sony comes in the realm of used games. Where Microsoft is allowing publishers the right to set their own rules with regards to allowing them to be re-sold, Sony is doing no such thing.
Pre-owned games will work on the PS4 just as they do with the PS3 and the PS2. You can lend a game to a friend simply by handing them the disc.
Next gen reviews Hands on: Xbox One review
Our first impressions of Microsoft's new Kinect-powered games machine.
However, with Xbox One, you can only lend a game to a person you've had in your Xbox live friends list for longer than 30 days, and you can only do it once. This could lead to reduced availability and/or increased prices for pre-owned titles, though it's hard to predict how it will all shake down when the consoles and games finally go on sale.
"We designed the Xbox One so game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers," said Microsoft on the Xbox site. "Microsoft does not charge a platform fee to retailers, publishers, or consumers for enabling transfer of these games."
The price
Both consoles will go on sale later this year - the Xbox One certainly in November, with no exact date confirmed for the PS4. We do have confirmed prices though, and again the Sony PS4 looks to be a more attractive prospect.
The PS4 will cost $399 in the US, £349 in the UK, €399 in Europe and $549 in Australia.
The Xbox One, meanwhile, will cost more - $499 in the US, £429 in the UK and $599 in Australia.
Price was always going to be a key battleground, and in these frugal times it will be interesting to see what percentage of gamers are willing to fork out the extra cash for the Xbox. You certainly wouldn't expect many to shift in Japan!
Agreeing on an AMD CPU
As much as the two warring systems are different, the heart of the Xbox One and the PS4 remain very similar.
That's because they're both running x86 octa-core CPUs, and these eight-core processors are built by the same chipmaker, AMD.
The use of AMD in the Xbox One and PS4 is certainly a switch for both companies.
Previously, Microsoft had used an IBM PowerPC processor, while Sony partnered with Toshiba and IBM on its own complicated Cell processor.
While the Xbox One will run a heavily modified eight-core AMD processor, PS4 will utilize a x86-64 "Jaguar" CPU.
PS4, while a no-show at the Sony event, has similar specs
AMD's Graphics Core Next
Both console makers are also relying on AMD to design their next graphics processors that will produce the next-generation visuals that differentiate console games from the emerging smartphone market.
The Xbox One marries its GPU to the CPU in a system-on-a-chip design, according to Wired, with Direct 11.1 support.
The single 40-nanometer SoC really contrasts with the two dedicated 90-nm chips found in the Xbox 360.
However, it only marginally contrasts with the PS4, which also combines its AMD CPU with the chip maker's GPU.
In the case of PS4, the graphics processor is described as semi-custom AMD Radeon that runs at 1.8 TFLOPS. Developers are really going to appreciate PS4's 8GB GDDR5 RAM
Sony scores with 8GB GDDR5 RAM
One of the most impressive things about the PS4 specs has been its use of 8GB GDDR5 RAM.
Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One to have 8GB RAM as well, but it's DDR3 memory variety.
That may mean more to game developers in the long run as opposed to gamers themselves right now, but it's still an interesting choice for the Xbox One.
Which has the better controller?
The Xbox One controller vs the PS4 DualShock 4 controller is a debate that won't be won anytime soon, mostly because gamers' already have a locked-in preference.
The reason for this is that neither Sony nor Microsoft have radically changed their respective controllers over the years - they're more like evolutions 2000 and 2001.
The DualShock 4 is a little bigger in the next-generation thanks to its unique front-and-center touchpad. Sony stuck with the dual analog sticks down in front, but at least have a central divot recess for easier gripping.
Microsoft also didn't mess with success, only slightly modifying its controller in the jump to the Xbox One. It's 40 design innovations are subtle, including the tweaked D-Pad on the bottom-left of the game pad.
Xbox One Kinect vs PS4 Eye
While Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will appeal to "core" gamers with mature launch titles, Microsoft and Sony are charging forward with motion-sensing devices.
The Xbox One Kinect was unveiled along with the system during the May 21 announcement, when Microsoft refered to to the advanced camera as "human control for a human experience."
Expanding on that motto, the packed-in 1080p Kinect 2.0 will be able to process 2GB of data per second, analyzing more joints, the slight rotation of a wrist or shoulder and your heartbeat.
Less is known about the PlayStation 4 Eye, but Sony did state that its similarly shaped camera bar contains two two 1280×800px cameras.
The PS4 DualShock 4 controller will come into play with the PS4 Eye thanks to its multi-colored light bar. It will also be compatible with those PS4 Move motion controllers that have gone unused.
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Seattle intercepted two Manning passes in the half. Manning's second interception -- on a wobbly pass after his arm was hit by Seattle defensive end Cliff Avril -- was returned 69 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Malcolm Smith. Denver's only touchdown came of the last play of the third quarter when Manning hit wide receiver Demaryius Thomas with a 14-yard scoring pass and the two-point conversion made it 36-8.
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