7 Sports Game Moments
I’ve been playing sports video games for a long time. I remember playing roughly 10,000 hours of Baseball Stars on the NES. I played Madden ‘94 on SEGA religiously right up until the day I got Madden ‘98. And, just recently, I shattered the single-season home run record with Albert Pujols in MLB 2k9. It may not be the real thing, but it can feel like it sometimes. The thrill of fake victory and the agony of fake defeat certainly make for some memorable moments. Here are 7 of my most memorable sports game moments, listed in chronological order.
1. RICE TO THE RESCUE (Madden ‘94, SEGA Genesis)
I used to play my uncle in this game all the time, and more often than not he would beat me and talk a lot of shit while he was doing it. I always played with the 49ers, because when you have the chance to play with Steve Young and Jerry Rice you take it. At the end of this particular game I was losing and standing at my own 20 yard line with very little time left and no timeouts. As my uncle’s insults rained down upon me, I threw the deep ball to Rice, who was all alone with only one defender. At the last second the defender tipped it, and it went up in the air and down the field another 5 yards, where Rice caught it in stride and ran it in for like an 80 yard TD with less than 10 seconds left. Needless to say I did not take the high road and threw out a barrage of insults. The lesson? Never leave your cornerback on an island with Jerry Rice.
2. FEDOROV DEAD (NHL ‘95, SEGA Genesis)
Awesome pun title by me on this one, even if nobody gets it. Anyway, I played a ton of NHL ‘95 back in the day. That game basically taught me everything I know about hockey, and to this day Mike Modano is one of my favorite players because of his performance on my SEGA. My brother and me were in a season with the Detroit Red Wings, who were a juggernaut back then. We cruised through the regular season and reached playoffs. Things weren’t so smooth then. We ended up in a game 7, playing for a spot in the finals. Our best player was Sergei Fedorov, who was ridiculous in that game, and we’d feed him the puck as much as possible. Fast forward to the final seconds of the 3rd period and the game is tied. Our goalie stops a shot and we try to clear it, but instead our go-to guy, Fedorov, slaps it into our own net. I could not have felt more betrayed if he had literally stabbed me in the back with a steak knife.
3. “THE JET” TAKES OFF (NBA LIVE ‘95, Super Nintendo)
NBA Live ‘95 had a way of making mediocre players look like All-Stars. BJ Armstrong would turn into Larry Bird down the stretch. Vlade Divac might as well have been Wilt Chamberlain. The most insane example was when my brother and me were playing as the Houston Rockets and Kenny Smith scored the first 30 points of the game for us. He wasn’t good in any other game of our season, but for that one night he was on fire. We just kept feeding him out by the top of the key and he drained every one. You may know him as the know-it-all douche from TNT’s coverage of the Slam Dunk Contest, but for one night on Super Nintendo we knew Kenny “The Jet” Smith as “Jesus of the Jump Shot.”
4. LAST MAN STANDING (WWF Royal Rumble, Dreamcast)
Unlike the Smackdown games, which offer many different types of matches to choose from, this game only had two modes: regular match and Royal Rumble. The regular matches were boring, so really the only thing to do for fun was start the Royal Rumble as the first person in and try to survive the whole thing while personally eliminating every other competitor. Many attempts were made, and they were all failures. Until the night I tossed 29 guys over the ropes with Edge. It had been boiled down to a science at that point: grab the guy, whip him into the ropes so he gets caught on them, then drop kick him out. Clockwork. It was made all the sweeter by accomplishing it with Edge, who back then was one of the lesser known fighters in a game littered with the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H. I used to have a lot of wrestling games, dating back to Super Nintendo, but this moment beats any of my other wrestling feats just because it took so damn long.
5. LOVEABLE LOSERS (World Series Baseball 2k3, PS2)
I’ve played entire hockey seasons, basketball seasons, and football seasons in video games. But playing an entire 162 game baseball season is a different animal. That’s a lot of fucking games. I’ve tried, though. Thing is, I’ve been cursed by baseball games. I’ve played 30+ games many times, with each season being cut short by a corrupted file or some other disaster. I got to 103 games with the Phillies before my PS2 broke and the file was destroyed. That was a heartbreaker. When I got my PS2 working, I vowed to go for it again. This time I was the Cubs, the loveable losers of Major League Baseball. I figured I’d end their losing streak and avenge the death of my Phillies season all at once. I played about 80 games, and was in first place by a mile, when my PS2 started acting up again. Realizing I might not have much time, I simulated the rest of the season and started the playoffs. My team had been dominant all year, both on offense and on the mound. Yet when I met the Braves in the first round, my squad completely collapsed. I couldn’t hit anything or get anyone out. As I lost the 3rd game in Atlanta, completing the sweep, I simply hung my head. The Cubs couldn’t pull it off, just like real life. That was the last season I played in WSB 2k3, as my PS2 broke for good within 2 days of the sweep. I like to think it took its own life because it was so depressed about my baseball game curse.
6. SCOTT NORWOOD PART II (Madden 06, PS2)
I made it to the Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, and the game was tied. I drove down the field with Jake “The Snake” Plummer and called a timeout with 2 seconds left and sent out Jason Elam to kick the game-winning field goal from about 40 yards out. It’s up… and it barely reaches the end zone. I filled the meter up all the way and the game is being played indoors in Detroit so there was no wind. Mind you, Elam once tied the NFL record by kicking a 63 yarder. Unbelievable. So the game goes into overtime, and once again it comes down to Jason Elam kicking a field goal with 2 seconds on the clock from about the same distance. Short. Fuck you, Madden. I have a guy who kicked a 63 yard field goal and he can’t reach from inside 45 yards? Give me a break. I went on to lose the game in double overtime, and it still stings. Somebody owes Jake Plummer a ring.
7. ALL TOO REAL (NHL 09, Xbox 360)
Last year, for some reason, me and my friend decided to play an entire 82 game season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was rough at times, but we managed to find our rhythm and ended up making it to the Stanley Cup finals against the Flyers. We’d cruised through the early rounds, but Philly gave us some problems. We found ourselves down 2-1 in the series and losing by a goal in game 4. We were just firing up bad shots and not playing the style that had gotten us to the finals in the first place. We barely spoke a word for the entire 4th game until the 3rd period when my friend said something like “Well this was a waste of time” and I paused the game and launched into a speech straight out of a made-for-TV movie. Things like “We’re not playing our game” and “We’ve got to keep it together.” We resumed the game and scored on a give and go within 2 minutes. We went on to take the game and Lord Stanley’s cup, but paid with our dignity. Probably the biggest dork move ever, taking a real-life timeout during a hockey video game. Hey, whatever it takes to win.
Good times. Sports games are all about the little moments. I don’t care how many times you beat Call of Duty, it won’t top laughing harder and harder as Kenny Smith single-handedly outscores an entire NBA team. And I don’t care what you say, there is not a lower point in gaming then losing the Super Bowl in double OT. If you have any great sports game memories of your own, feel free to share them in the comments.
- Poser
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