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THE SPORTS JOURNAL | NEWS FILE |
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The Thrill of the Game
Moss | Thursday, March 11 2004 Vince Carter drives the lane, soars through the air, and tries to throw the ball down with authority. Only standing in his way was Ben Wallace. Big Ben leaped up and sent Carter and the ball flying backwards from whence they came. This was the play of the game, and it had me out of my chair screaming and jumping and acting like a child on his birthday. The block gave the Pistons a two-point victory and gave the Pistons their tenth win in a row. The win also cemented the Piston’s status as the elite team in the NBA. Home court advantage was all but locked up, and Big Ben had the MVP award in his grasp.
Of course the above account is not describing any real NBA season, and we all know that Ben Wallace would never be able to reject Air Canada. Ben Wallace is sending me a letter as we speak. The account I gave you above was the fictional account of a game that many people play every single day. In fact, millions of adults, teens, and children experience the thrill of going to the playoffs and winning with a last second shot. This is the marvel of video games. They give regular citizens with absolutely no athletic ability whatsoever to do unimaginable things. Video games allow us to experience sports’ ups and downs. Video games allow us to be the legend, and also allow us to be the GM and coach of our favorite team.
The Wins and Losses
Admit it, you get furious when the AI comes back on you with fifty-yard strikes in Madden. Furious you get when the AI continuously knocks down three pointers to erase that twenty-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Aggravated you are when you’re sixty-nine game winning streak is snapped because Tony Womack decides he finally has power and crushes the game-winning grand slam. Yes the downs in the gaming world are heart breaking. How dare we lose against a stupid machine. How dare we lose against someone who doesn’t know the first thing about sports on the Internet. After such defeats game controllers fly, and curses flow from the mouths of otherwise calm individuals.
The downs or low points in gaming are short lived, so short lived that they make any celebrity marriage seem like a millennia. After that crushing defeat, or numbskull play there is always the next game or next play. There are also those difficulty settings and sliders that you can tweak at will. Set the difficulty level to rookie and any Viking fan can crush the Packers and have bragging rights no one can take away. There is also relief in the fact that after that one loss you finish the season 15-1 and of course win your twelfth Super Bowl in a row. Winning is almost always certain in video games if you want it that way, but even then a loss comes along that breaks your heart. Just like the UCLA dynasty of the seventies.
Legend at your Fingertips
Golf is a game few can master, and even fewer ever garner the talent to hit a ball three hundred plus yards. That is no longer the case for many gamers. Pick up the latest edition in the Tiger Woods golf game series and you will be on your way to hitting those three hundred yard drives. If that doesn’t satisfy you, you will also be able to put, chip, and scramble like the pros. Video games allow us to be the athlete we were never able to be. They put Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Ray Lewis into the palm of our hands. We control how they play defense, what shots they take, and how hard they hit.
When watching the T-Wolves game the other night, it dawned on me that Kevin Garnett was too passive in his shot selection. He took too few shots, and played defense like a Golden Retriever instead of a bulldog. I booted up my PC, put in NBA Live 2004, and tried to prove that KG really wasn’t as bad as he looked. I reenacted the game I had just watched, irritated that we had lost. Sure enough, I won the game on Live. In fact I won by forty points and instead of a passive performance like in real life, Kevin had forty points and twenty rebounds. For good measure he added five blocks and six assists. I took the legend, and beat him at his own game.
Being the Coach
We all love to second guess and harass the hundreds of coaches we come in contact with every year. He should have done this or should have done that. If he had pulled Martinez out of the game they would be in the World Series. Which is an opinion many Boston fans still hold true. As fans we believe that we are always right, and if we were the coach or GM our team would win the championship every year. Cubs and Sox fans know what I’m talking about. They say put me in at coach for eighty years, and I will win at least one World Series. Put me at GM and we’ll win at least two.
There is relief for those die-hard fans of the Sox and Cubs. Salvation for them comes in the form of an XBox, PS2, or PC. It comes in the form of MVP Baseball, ESPN Baseball, or All-Star Baseball. The franchise mode allows fans to take their beloved team and fight their way towards that elusive crown. It allows fans to make the big trade, sign the big free agent, and build the brand new ballpark. Players caught taking steroids? You have the power to cut that player from your team, and banish him from the game for life. Of course as a last resort and if all goes wrong, there is always the delete franchise button followed by the start new franchise button.
Video games allow us to venture into the fictional world, a world of our making. Sports games are a place where we can take out our frustrations and gain new frustrations. We bask in the glory of defeating our greatest rival, and sulk in the dismay of being beaten by that same rival. We can take our many beloved teams to the championship and help our star player win the MVP. In some respects the gaming world is better than the real world. No umpires or refs, not nagging commissioners, and no Major League Baseball Player’s Union. Games include just great graphics, great atmosphere, and hours of fun and entertainment.
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