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In the spirit of Neel Krishnaswami's recent post on sports games, today's mashup is Hoosiers. It could be any sports movie, but I happen to like basketball a lot. I guess if you're a football fan or something it's OK to break away from the pack and do Any Given Sunday; the Mashup Ninjas will not pay you a visit. This once only.

Hoosiers is a nice simple story. Washed up coach comes to small town with a basketball team and teaches them how to win a championship. (Mostly discipline.) He alienates people with his fancy coaching ways but it turns out that in Indiana, winning is more important than anything else. He also finds love and redeems the town drunk.

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Hey! Cool Icons!

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Someday I want to read a book on what exactly happened in Iraq last week.

The Iraqi Governing Council chose a Prime Minister, ignoring the UN envoy and the US. Or maybe the US pushed the IGC into doing its bidding. But then the IGC forced the issue and chose a President over the objections of the US and the UN. Adnan Pachachi was offered the Presidency, but turned it down. And now the IGC has dissolved itself a month early.

I think I'm glad in the abstract that Iraqis are asserting themselves, but I don't know enough about the people involved to have an opinion on whether the decisions they've made will lead to greater freedom in Iraq.

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The antepentultimate WISH asks:

What are three games or settings that you've bought or seen recently (in stores or previews) that you'd really like to try? What interests you about them and why?

Nocturnals from Green Ronin; I like the unique genre niche carved out by the creepy heros, and the sourcebook gives me so many details to play with. Just -- cool. Pacific Northwest-feeling monsterpunk.

Dogs in the Vineyard, because I dig the clerical harshness of it all. I've played a lot of clerics and I usually enjoy it even though I never do it by choice. Religion in gaming fascinates me.

Hm, and I kind of want to play something really heroic -- doesn't have to be superheroes, could be heroic fantasy or heroic transhuman or whatever. But there's nothing out there that's grabbing me. HeroQuest, but that's not a new release. Charnel Gods (which Rob will be running soon), but that's not a new release either. Big heroes. Larger than life heroes. Maybe Fireborn? FFG is doing such good setting work these days.

Oh, speaking of which, honorable mention to the Horizon series. Grimm and Spellslinger whet my appetite for gaming something fierce.