The Day the Madden Ended...

Well its happened. My Madden Season - the all-offense, play-every-single-game one I started in Iraq as a way to kill time while dodging incoming mortar fire - is over.

Hard to believe.

It took almost a year to complete. More than a year if you count that fact that I was seven weeks in initially when the original memory card crapped out. That happened right when I got back from the desert. But, with a resolute sigh of dedication, I started anew sometime in November 2006 and did it all again. Seventeen regular season weeks, plus playoffs, and the Super Bowl. All offense, all the time. Time to punt? Just switch to the other team before the return. Throw a pick? Immediately hit start and switch to the other team (changes take effect on the next play; if you're not fast enough, you might have to suffer a play on defense). Score a TD? Kick the extra point and then switch for the return.

It started out as an experiment. After years of going 16-0 on All-Madden with the Giants and building unbeatable dynasties in the franchise mode, the game became too easy. I needed a challenge, or at least a way to change it up a little. So I thought of this idea and went with it. Turned out to be a pretty fun way to go.

I did it on 6-minute quarters in the All-Madden setting. Passing Cones ON. There was definitely an adjustment period in the early going as I realized it was going to be hard to throw into the super-hero All-Madden secondaries (every defensive back is like Spider-Man in an All Madden zone defense) with the likes of Charlie Frye and a young Alex Smith, or God forbid Chad Pennington and his noodle arm. And remember, this was the 2007 Madden, which features the 2006 rosters - and the early season rosters at that. Donte Stallworth? Still a Saint. Deion Branch? Still a Patriot. And so on. So the rosters were slightly askew but I got re-used to them as I went.

On the flip side, I got to play with everybody, which means the good as well as the bad. It was definitely fun to play with the running quarterbacks, Vick and Young, who totally change an offensive approach. I think both had over 1200 yards rushing. And then there are the all encompassing mega-vision-cones of Manning (Peyton, mostly) and Tom Brady. They see all. Tomlinson? A blast. It was even fun to see the difference in the kickers.

One of the best things was that all the stats were generated in game, so it was neat to see how all that shook out, who led the league in what, as well as the race for the Pro Bowl spots (normally dominated by my franchise Giants), the league MVP (turned out to be Peyton Manning), rookie of the year, etc.

I averaged about a game a day, and only infrequently played more than one game a day. But I was consistent and barring travel I played about a game a day just about every day. One game with six minute quarters lasts about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. So over the course of many months the season progressed and eventually there was a playoff race. Injuries happened and changed things. Some people over-performed, and some under-performed. I learned to love some of the team playbooks and hate others (Seattle especially), and was somewhat surprised by the variety between them. My main goal in each game was to do whatever it took to win with whatever offense I had at that time. Sometimes this meant going no-huddle all the time. Often this meant running the ball out to protect a lead, which was boring as hell but I did it.

In the end, the AFC playoff teams were Jacksonville, Indy, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New England, and Kansas City. The NFC playoff teams were Philly, Dallas, Chicago, Carolina, Arizona (!), and St. Louis. (Sadly, the Giants porous defense prevented them from getting in, though they were close). Wildcard Pittsburgh knocked off Baltimore, Jacksonville, and then Indy to get to the Super Bowl. In the NFC, Chicago (the number 2 seed - bad division) outlasted Dallas and then Carolina to be the NFC representative. (Which means I was actually VERY close to having the actual Indy vs. Chicago super bowl occur).

In the end, Pittsburgh staged a late fourth quarter drive and a go ahead touchdown to secure a "repeat" championship.

I realized this is all way too much information for anyone reading this, but there it is. (I write this mostly so I can look back on it a few years hence and laugh at myself in remembrance.) At the end of the season, it felt kind of weird to be done. After so many days of routinely playing a game of Madden, I had nothing to do for that hour. I even played the Pro Bowl out for one last game (AFC won). Some sort of weight had been lifted.

For the time being, and with my current real football obsession (obsessive football watching into the wee hours of the night on Sundays, four fantasy teams, multiple betting pools, pick 'em pools, salary cap pools, and survivor pools), I've decided to step away from the game of Madden for a while. Clearly there is enough football in my life right now. (Or is there? Can there ever be enough? Sweet, sweet football....)

Not sure how long I'll hold out. This would be a great time to start spending an extra hour a day catching up on reading, or improving my German. Likely though, it will just mean a different video game. (I've already started God of War - good game).


At the very least, my blogging should improve. My normal post-work day routine was come home, eat, play Madden, and then be too tired to do much of anything else except check email (and rarely reply) and surf the net a little.

Now, who knows?