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22 September 2005
I was gearing up all week to avenge my early exit at last week's Madden tourney. I was starting to figure out the other contestants strategies as the weeks went by, and I was getting comfortable enough to where I was going to start tinkering with different teams and using different strategies. I really thought things were on the up and up for myself, and then the announcement came that they were moving the event to a different location on the complete opposite side of town. So, instead of the event being at Doc's Sports Retreat in Livonia, MI, it's now being held at Malarkey's in Southgate, MI. It's a bit better for me since it's closer to my house and all, but I really thought the tournament at Doc's was shaping up to be really solid. Sure, there was a guy or two that would have “questionable” playcalling, but most of the people played as straight as could be while playing 1-minute quarters. But I was concerned going into this week because it was being held at a new location with a whole new set of contestants. I figured there were going to be more people and I also new that Malarkey's was rather far away from the regulars that would show up to Doc's, which means I would have to start all over again. All I was hoping for was some semi-straight football and I really wasn't quite sure what to expect last night.
Well….
My first game was against the lone Doc's regular who showed up, he was also in the Finals last week. At the Doc's tourney's he would do nothing but throw to the TE on a flag route with either the Chiefs or the Chargers. Then if you lined up to stop that he would audible to the run. I wasn't feeling very sharp last night and those first couple of beers started getting to me early. I really wasn't expecting to make it past this round, but then he threw me for a loop. Instead of using the Chiefs or Chargers, he picked the Vikings, and I used the Steelers. I won the coin toss and elected to kick the ball to start the game. Upon his kick return, Mewelde Moore fumbled the ball and Troy Polamalu recovered at around his 25-yard line. A couple of runs by The Bus and The Bust (Staley) here, a pass to Cedric “The Entertainer” there, and the Steelers go up 7-0. Next possession, Culpepper couldn't get the offense rolling. He suffered a sack, an intentional grounding penalty, the running game went nowhere, and I got the ball back on a punt. His punt, evidently, went out of bounds at my 40-yard line and Robanger was feeling a bit frisky. So, what does he do? He launches a 60-yard strike to Ward for the TD on the first play of the possession. The Vikes get the ball back and immediately hit Williamson deep to close the gap to 7 points. We still had a 2-minute half of football left to play and I was getting the ball to start the half.
Upon receiving the kickoff to start the Third Quarter, The Bus and The Bust do their thing and I complete some passes to Wilson, Randle El, and Ward. I end up scoring a TD while eating some clock, to put me up 21-7. The Vikes come back and put a quick score on the board on another deep ball to Williamson, I think. The Vikes try an onside kick and recover, but the ball didn't go ten yards and the Steelers start off with good field position. I try to run the two-headed monster to eat some more clock, but there was no room to be had and I had to punt with 16 seconds left, I believe. Time ran out on the Vikes after they completed a strike to Burleson at my 40, but he stayed inbounds with only two seconds left in the game and I escaped with a victory. Phew, I thought I was gonna blow that game.
The next round has me matched up against none other than the New England Patriots, which is good, and this is where the tourney starts to go downhill a bit.
I really wanted to get a little preview of what I was going to experience this weekend and I did, sort of. I watched this guy play his first round game and it was nothing but I Form Big all game long with runs by Dillon and passes to TE's. So, I picked the Steelers and got ready to eat a bit of cheese. I won the toss and kicked, obviously. I gotta say that I really don't remember to many of the intricate details of this game. I got the I Form Big deal, but that went nowhere, and I was able to put up 10 on the Pats and that was pretty much it. Nothing too dramatic happened and the Pats got a steady dose of the Steelers running game. Once I scored my TD I was just trying to keep the clock running and move on to the next round. I won the game 10-0 and I don't think the Pats had positive yards on offense, but I could be wrong. I was just ready to move on to the next round and I needed another beer, or did I??
Like I said earlier, the tournament playcalling started to go downhill with my last opponent and it didn't get any better in Semi-Final's either.
This round had the Steelers slated against the Kansas City Chiefs. Upon starting the game, my opponent had to set his audibles and adjust his depth charts. He was adjusting his depth chart so fast that I didn't know whom he was putting in and where. So, after he got done making his adjustments, I decided to be an ass and check out what he did. While I was looking at his depth chart he asked me if I meant to adjust the Steelers chart, and of course he got a big “nope” out of me. While perusing his adjustments I saw that he had LB William friggin' Bartee at STRONG SAFETY! I knew where this game was heading, and man it was cheddariffic. He won the toss, elected to kick, and I started the game at my 25. I played a ball control offense while he called his same 4-3 or dime defense while jamming my WR's at the line of scrimmage. The Bus and The Bust ran the ball a bunch of times and I was able to complete some short passes. I got into field goal range and Reed contributed 3 points with his leg. The good thing about the drive was that it took up the entire first half, but was getting the ball to start the Third Quarter. The Chiefs got the ball and proceeded with the TE flag routes to Gonzalez and several audibles at the line of scrimmage, which got him a TD. Since I was forced to pass, he called the same Dime D and it was the typical Bump ‘n Run for the rest of the game. He also had Bartee on the same side as Surtain and that pretty much rendered that side of the field useless. I couldn't do crap and ended up losing 7-3 in a non-football game, but my day wasn't over. There was a prize for Third place, so I had to play a consolation game.
In this round, my opponent won the coin toss and he elected to use the Eagles (big surprise), while I deviated from using the Steelers and selected the Raiders. Why? I have no idea; I already had quite a few in me at this point. Anyway, I was up against another one trick pony as he called the same offensive play all game long while glitching his way to victory. Basically, he would come out in shotgun and immediately call about 4 or 5 audibles right out of the huddle. Then he would put Westbrook in motion to be a WR right next to TO and every time he did that, Westbrook would set a pick my DB's and TO would be wide open. I tried manually covering him, but it didn't work, and sometimes he would move T.O. to the other side of the field and run him on a flag route. Needless to say I was very un-impressed with his skills, or lack thereof, and his playcalling. On the other hand, I didn't play very well and he whooped my behind 21-0 and my night was over. It would've been nice to win because I think they were giving away Madden on XBOX and if I would've won that game, it would've been nice to have it for a giveaway or something for the site.
From what I can tell from Week 1 at Malarkey's, I can tell that I'm going to have to deal with some seriously, um, questionable playcalling and tactics. I would say that I want to set up some practices against QC and have him try some of those “questionable” tactics, but I don't want to even have those kinds of plays in my repertoire. I would rather go down playing real football than trying to cheese my way to victories. Don't get me wrong, when prizes are on the line, and seeing as how we're playing on 1-minute quarters, I know you have to have a “whatever it takes to win” attitude. I'm totally fine with that, but I have a little more pride in my game and if I can take the whole enchilada one of these weeks while playing NFL football, it will be even more enjoyable. Until then, it looks like I'm gonna have to deal with some “different” playcalling and “out of the box” schemes. Next week I'm gonna have to lay of the cold guys a bit. Oh wait, it's my birthday next Thursday, like that's gonna happen.
So, until next week…
“Thank you for stopping by San Diego”
On a side note, what do you guys think of the business card/flyers that I made, that's featured at the top of this article?? Not bad for a rookie graphics guy, huh??
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