Last week I made a nice little run into the Semi's with the Steelers. It was the first bit of relative “success” that I had for a couple weeks. So, what did I do last night? I decided to switch things up a little and use a team that I don't think I've ever used in Madden, the Buffalo Bills. Actually, I decided to switch things up a bit because after a couple weeks at the new place, I've started to play guys a couple of time and the new “regulars” of the Madden tourney have begun to surface. So now I think I can start experimenting with new teams and strategies that I started to do before they moved the tournament to Malarkey's. I didn't fare as well this week, but I got to play a couple solid games of football and I didn't have to deal with one bit of cheese. My details might be a little hazy today, though. For whatever reason, I decided to order the 35 oz. (or whatever they were) Blue guys. I have no idea why, I just felt like it was a good idea. Anyway, let's get to the games.

Round 1: Bills vs. Colts

This game was a rematch from two weeks ago when I lost twice. This matchup was against one of the two brothers that completely handcuffed my offense while mustering up just enough offense to win the game. I was expecting much of the same and I didn't think I was going to make it out of this round due to the fact that the Bills O-line is shoddy at best.

Anyway, I came out of the gate receiving the ball and proceeded to not to a damn thing on offense. I wasn't getting the all out blitz' from a couple weeks ago and he was actually mixing his D up quite well. I wasn't too worried about the high-octane offense of the Colts, I seemed to have that under control and the Bills D was stingy. Nothing really to exciting went down in the first quarter, but things started to pick up in the second. After getting the ball back on a punt, JP Losman hit Eric Moulds on a buttonhook and Moulds almost took it to the house. After a couple more plays, I find myself with 1 st and goal inside the 10-yard line. I think I tried a couple of run plays with Willis McGahee to no avail, so I had to get creative on third down. JP Losman decided to call his own number on a bootleg and found the end zone with about 30 seconds left to go in the half. The Colts were getting the ball back after halftime and all I needed to do was keep them from scoring any points or I would be in trouble. So, what happens? Marvin Harrison torches my secondary for a TD! But lucky for me, Vanderjaggot missed the PAT and we take a 7-6 lead going into the second half. Not much really happened in the second half, however. I had the usual missed FG and both defenses were playing at the top of their games. I pretty much rendered Harrison useless for the rest of the game and my offense didn't really do much either. The final score stayed 7-6 and it was on to the next round for the Beefalo Bills.

Round 2: Bills vs. Eagles

This game was a rematch from last week. My secondary came up large against the Eagles last week and I eeked out the win. This week was a different story, though. It's in these situations where it helps to use a team that you're comfortable with, but I was sticking to my guns and I stuck with the Bills. Before the game started the gentleman that was using the Eagles was saying how he had a gamelan and he was sticking to it. I found that admirable, but my Read ‘n React gameplan stays the same every week.

Again, it was quite a defensive battle as the two teams were slugging it out. The Eagles gameplan for the week seemed to be sticking with 2 WR sets and work the middle of the field. TO really wasn't going off, but LJ Smith was. Well, he didn't “go off” per se, but he did manage to catch a pass for a lengthy gain in the second quarter, which set up a TD. I really didn't have an answer to that TD until the 4 th quarter. After working my receiving tandem of Moulds and Evans, I found myself with a 1 st and Goal on the 5-yard line with less than a minute to play in the game and 1 Time Out to left. I tried to punch the ball in with McGahee, but that went nowhere. Then I tried to pass the ball, but Losman overthrew the TE in the corner of the End Zone. 3 rd down brought up another passing play, but again the Eagles D came up huge and sacked Losman, so now it's 4 th and goal to tie the game. Well, I could've probably just typed that last sentence over again because, once again, Losman was eating turf, only this time the game was over and the Bills were bounce from the tournament. Yep, I was shutout, zero points. Game over.

There it is. Another early exit for me on a Thursday night, but there were some good things that came out of the evening. As I mentioned before, I'm starting to see a new group of Madden “regulars” show up on a weekly basis. And the good thing is that most of them play solid football. Well, as solid as can be while playing 2-minute quarters. There was a little controversy again last night when a guy decided to turn of the Vision Cone, but he wasn't playing me and I think he lost anyway. I don't get that. I mean, why play with the Vision Cone off? Why not just pop in Madden 2005 if the cone is going to be turned off? Oh well, it was fun anyway. And I think I found my backup team just in case someone wants to roll with the Steelers against me. Fortunately, I know where the weakness lies with the Steelers D; it's just a matter of being able to exploit it. That's all I have today, I'm having a bit of a rough morning. So, this is about all I can put together at his point. Until next week…

“I'll have a bloody Mary, a steak sandwich and a...steak sandwich.”

Oh, I forgot to mention the other controversial moment of the tournament. Host Mike Valenti battled his way through the tournament to make it to the Finals against the gentlemen who was running with the Steelers. The funny thing about the guy using the Steelers was that he employed the 4-3 defense throughout the tourney and it looked to be really effective, but this is Madden we're talking about and we all know how dodgy the AI can be. That's not the controversy, though. The controversy is that before the two were scheduled to play, the EB Games employee packed up the systems, so they couldn't get the Championship game in. So, while Mike wants to claim the Championship for the week, the game was never played and I think it would've been a toss-up between the two combatants. Now, we all know that he wouldn't have gotten to that point if he was in my bracket, but that's a story for another day. It should also be noted that when Mike wins the tourney he doesn't take the prizes because he's the host.

After a brutal showing last week, I came into last nights tourney a little more prepared. I actually had a chance to get a couple of games in this week and even had a nice victory over QC's Raiduhs in the process. Needless to say, I was feeling good about my chances and I was prepared to at least get out of the first round and not lose twice. So, here's how the evening went.

Round 1: Steelers vs. Falcons

My first round matchup ended being me vs. one of the hosts of the Sports Inferno, Mike Valenti, who also happened to be last weeks champ. During the course of the weekly tourney, we have been talking about getting a game in because, like us on here, he likes to play actual football when playing Madden. So, it was going to be an interesting matchup in the first round and we had the added bonus of playing on 2-minute quarters for this week's tournament.

(I'm the one in the red on the right playing Mike Valenti, Sports Inferno host)

I hate to say it, but there really isn't much to go into in this game. It was basically a defensive game while both of us were basically feeling each other's game out. That being said, the game didn't lack a little excitement here and here. After about 3 quarters of absolutely nothing happening for either team, I was able to get a bit of a spark from Chris Gardocki, of all people, in the 4th quarter. He was able to lay down a nice punt inside the Falcons 5 yard line while giving Michael Vick very little room to work. After a run play on first down that went nowhere, Valenti tries to throw the ball on 2 nd down. I brought the typical Steelers Zone Blitz from the left side and I was able to get to Vick in the End Zone for a Safety. On the ensuing possession I couldn't get much done while trying to run out the clock and I had to punt the ball away with ample time left for the Falcons to get into field goal range. After a not so good defensive series, the Falcons get within field goal range and have an opportunity to kick the game winning FG. Well, needless to say, the kick goes wide right and the Steelers dodge a huge bullet to get out of the first round this week. Final score 2-0. Phew!

I want to also add that this was probably one of the more enjoyable games that I've played thus far. I didn't have to worry about holes in the AI and I didn't have to worry about Bump ‘n Run and all out blitzes every play. It was mentioned after the 1 st quarter that the game was shaping up to be a classic, and in part it was. I just wish it didn't come down to a safety, that's kind of a weak way to win. But a win's a win and I had another game to play.

Round 2: Steelers vs. Eagles

After I was done with the Falcons game, I was immediately whisked away to play my Round 2 game. We actually got to play on 4 TV's this week, but one of them was a 13” TV resting on a karaoke TV stand and that was the one that my next game was on. I think it should be noted that of all the flat screen TV's that I've played on over at Malarkey's, the 13” standard TV was my favorite one to play on. On the flat panel ones, the controls don't seem to be as responsive and the game tends to lag a bit. I have no idea why that is, but that's just how it is. Anyway, back to the game.

I came out of the gate kicking the ball to start the game. Upon the return, Roderick Hood fumbled the ball and I recovered with excellent field position. After a couple of Duce Staley runs and Benny Robanger passes, we found ourselves finding the End Zone to take a 7-0 lead. On the next possession McNabb ends up throwing an INT to Deshea Townsend and the Steelers are on the move yet again with good field position. After a couple moderate gains by Staley and Robanger, we ended up with a Jeff Reed FG to go up 10-0. That's pretty much how the game stayed until I gave up a TD in the bottom half 4 th quarter to put the Eagles within arms reach of taking over the game. After the Eagles TD, they attempt the onside kick, which I recover, but the Eagles had a full rack of Time Out's and the Eagles defense tightened up in the second half. This is when the Eagles got a heavy dose of the Bus and Duce and, boy howdy, did they run hard. After barely getting a couple of First Downs, the Eagles were forced to use up their Time Outs and the game was basically over at the point.

On to the Semi's….

Semi-Finals: Steelers vs. Giants

I knew this game was going to be a mess before I even picked up the controller. The guy I was playing was the same guy who has done nothing but throw to the TE on flag routes every play. He was motivated to win the tournament this week because he was gearing up for the Madden Challenge and he was going to bust out his “real” team at Malarkey's, which is the Giants. I watched him play his first round game and let me say that it was rather classless. I mean, he was up huge in the 4 th quarter, like 28-0 or something like that, and he's calling Time Out's when his opponent has the ball because he was upset that this guy was still running plays trying to score points. WTF?? So, going into the game, I knew I had to deal with some crap, and I was sort of right. His substitutions were rather “unique” as he put his #2 TE at FB and his backup LT at #2 TE because, you know, they do that all the time in the NFL.

Anyway….

I start the game of receiving the ball and didn't really do a damn thing with it and I have to punt. On the Giants first possession the Steelers D came up large with a Troy Polamalu INT and Robanger and Co. were back on the field. Although, it wasn't all that great as I had to punt the ball yet again, but so far the game was still tied at 0-0 and there were signs of life for the Steelers. The Giants come back out and run nothing but hurry up offense and double TE sets and he runs the same flag routes to Burress and Shockey who are triple covered, yet they are still able to get some catches. He got to about my 20-yard line and I was able to stop him 3 straight plays, which brings up 4th and 10 in the second quarter. So, one would think that any true football gamer would sack up and kick the FG…..wrong! He goes back to his same flag route to a triple covered Shockey who comes down with the ball in the End Zone for a TD to make the score 7-0 G-Men. I was rather ticked off at the playcalling, but I wasn't out of the game. I got the ball back on the ensuing kickoff and Robanger hit Miller a couple times, C. Wilson a couple times, and Randle El a couple times while marching the the Steelers down for a TD just before halftime! Jeff Reed must've had the jitters, though, because he missed the PAT. Actually, I missed it because I was back on the flat screen TV with the lag and the kicking meter was slower on it, I don't get it, but that's what happened. Anyway, the G-men got the ball to start the Second Half and the rest is history. Hurry up offense, Flag routes, and catches in triple coverage. But he did start to run the ball with Barber with much success, but that was because he had an extra TE and an extra OT in the game because of his pre-game substitutions. Needless to say, I lost the game 21-6 and was just victimized by some more cheddar. That's fine, like I've said before, I would rather lose games playing real football than win games on holes in the AI. But the best part is the guy that beat me got his ass handed to him by the Vikings in the Finals. Heh.

So, there it is. Another week, another loss in the Semi's. One of these days I'm going to get past that point, but as long as the cheddar is being thrown around that place, the less likely I'm going to win. But it's not all about winning and losing, it's about respect and trying to find similar gamers like us out there that just enjoy matching wits on the gridiron. So far, there are a couple guys that I've seen that play a good game of football, so there is still some hope out there.

This week the Madden tourney came a day early due to the fact that the Sports Inferno guys had some other obligations this week. The Michgan-Michigan State game is this weekend and they are all over the place during the week. So, the turnout was a little lighter last night, the prize was an autographed Jerry Rice magazine, and it appeared that my chances of winning were looking good. That was until I actually picked up the controller and started playing.

The first game pitted the Colts against the Steelers. I won the coin toss and kicked. I figured that I would be able to eat up the Colts D with some nice runs up the gut and use up some of the clock. Well, the Colts came out and took forever to call plays and got absolutely nothing going on offense and ended up having to punt. Upon receiving the punt Randle El decides to drop the damn ball and the Colts recover inside Steelers territory. The Steelers defense held tight, though, and kept the Colts from scoring any points and just like that, the first half was over. I receive the 3 rd Quarter kickoff and bring it out to about the 25-yard line or so and I am ready for Robanger and Co. to get this offense going against the putrid Colts D. Well, this guy did nothing but bring the house on every play and for some reason, I couldn't do a thing about it. If I ran, I was stuffed, if I dropped back to pass, I was sacked, and the sad part is that I knew where it was coming from. The CB covering my slot receiver was coming leaving Randle El or Ward wide open, but I couldn't get the ball to them, I didn't have the time. So, after a couple of dismal possessions, Manning hits Harrison on some deep route (typical Steelers DB play) and gets to within FG range. Vanderjagt splits the uprights and that was pretty much it for me for the night. First round KO for Coach Bangpow and the Steelers, or was it??

Since the tournament wasn't on it's regular night, there wasn't a full rack of players. Now there happened to be a second round Bye for one of the brackets because they were two people short. So, I went to report the results of my game to the guy that keeps track of the brackets and he tells me about this Bye and says, “You lost already? Well, get ready because your playing again”, or something to that effect. I was put into the second round to play the guy who was supposed to have the Bye.

New life for the Steelers!

For this game it was the Steelers vs. the Falcons. I let the guy chose his team first because he actually won his first round game and he picked the Falcons. Going into the game I was thinking about using Vick and Co. because the Steelers weren't getting it done, but he got to pick first and the rest is history. Another interesting side note on this game, the guy using the Falcons happened to be the brother of the guy I lost to in the first round. So, guess what I saw in this game?? The Falcons bringing the house while I couldn't do a damn thing about it. Yay! So, after both offenses don't do a damn thing, the game goes into OT and this where things get interesting. Right after we start OT, the guy overseeing the tournament tells us that if we are still tied at then end of the game, the person with the most total yards wins the game. So, I pause the game and see that my offensive yards are greater than the Falcons so I proceed to just pound the rock and run the clock down. Well, that turned out to be a bad idea. I was winning the game on OFFENSIVE yards, but the game was decided on TOTAL YARDS, which includes penalties and special teams. That being said, I lost the game based on a 5-yard Delay of Game penalty and a kick return! Friggin' sweet! What's even better is that I saw the guy in the bathroom that made up the rule and he told me that what he really meant was that the team with the most OFEENSIVE yards wins the game, but he said TOTAL yards and had to stand by what came out of his mouth. I understood, though, and it really shouldn't have come down to that, I should've played better and technically I shouldn't have been playing that second game anyway. I finished 0-2 in the tournament and quite frankly, I suck!

I did get a little enjoyment last night, though. One of the hosts of the Sports Inferno, Mike Valenti, has started competing in the tournament for the last couple of weeks. If I would've beaten the Falcons, I would've had to play him. Mike seems to be a lot like us on here, likes to play straight up ‘ball, likes to scheme his way to victories, and likes to counter cheese with real football, but you can only do so much playing on 1-minute quarters. Anyway, last night he came up against the guy that likes run the hurry up and throw to Gates on the flag route all day long. I've noticed that he only really runs the hurry up when he plays Mike; he's done it before against him and ended up beating Mike a couple weeks back. So, last night was a little rematch from the prior ass whoopin' that Mike had received. But this time it was in the Finals and both competitors were battle tested and battle ready. So, it was the Chargers vs. the Patriots for this one. And let me say that the Chargers seemed a bit off for this game. Brees was getting the ball a little too late to Gates and the ball was either knocked away or Gates would catch the ball out of bounds. Then, if he tried throwing underneath to LT, he would be out of bounds, too. Plus, I'm sure it didn't hurt that the Patriots were on the other side of the ball. It was a back and forth game, while every possession was of the utmost importance. It was a story of hard yards for that game, my friends, and both competitors were heated. But when the dust settled and when it was all said and done, the host of the show won the whole dang thing, beating the Chargers while stopping their one play. He didn't keep the prize or anything, he just game to the guy he beat. Although, next week I expect a different strategy out of both of those guys.

All I gotta say that last night was an aberration on many levels and I know that I better show up a little more prepared than I was last night. I mean, we can't have the host of the show coming in and showing us up!

Welp, until next week, I leave you with this quote by yours truly…

“Championship teams lose games once in awhile…and sometimes two in a row!”