maddening

hey, its mid-August. that means its time once again for ...

yes, this is aside from the Prospectus from the Schatzter and the boys, which i've been reading on the train despite it weighing like 50 pounds.

since i haven't played Madden in a while (like 4 months?), i just jumped in without worrying about settings. so who do i beat up first?

i'm playing the Chargers, of course.

doesn't take long for LDT to get to the endzone. 21-0, first quarter.


look out, there's Quentin Jammer for the home run!

the Tony Romo these Cowboys rolled out must've been the one they got right after the playoffs ... he couldn't elude my defenders, whether in the pocket or scrambling. and they got backed up right in their endzone more than once. thanks, Mike Scifres. by the way, the Cowboys coach eerily looks like the now-departed (and slightly slimmer) Bill Parcells (sure wasn't Norv Turner). strange, since Parcells and reknowned grump Bill Belichick are the only coaches whose likenesses are not licensed with Madden. trying to be sneaky, EA? (or maybe Wade Phillips looks like Parcells - i gotta check).

and that was the score just before dinner.


in the second half, there were a couple of scares - Tomlinson got injured on a pass play (he wasn't the receiver), lending credence to Gus Ramsey's observation that the game had an injury bug to the Chargers' star (i was listening to the BS Report podcast on the way home from work), and i forgot to call a fair catch and muffed a punt after backing the 'Boys again, giving them great field position. then after scoring a touchdown, i even botched the extra point. the 'Boys even scored on the last minute - either i was careless or the programming wouldn't allow shutouts.

look! there's LDT again!


final score: 55-7. then i checked and the difficulty was only set to "Pro". booooooooooo.

of course, by this time, the hardcore Madden Nation has probably won the SuperBowl (more than half of its members already lost their significant others, if they even had one). they also probably found those half-human tackling dummies a little creepy, just like i did.

with the NFL season barely a month away ... its time to push the buttons again. 21-Z Alpha Cross Left Out!

(yeah, that didn't even sound like a made-up play)