I originally had no plans of attending this tournament with it being so close to Madison, the financials, and impending worst winter on record. I did agree to make the tournament logo and flyer for the tournament though. As the date of the tournament grew closer, I found myself receiving the stipend bonus at school that weekend before, my mother-in-law was able to come watch the kids, and weather report was holding off until that Sunday. So with a few days before the tournament I threw my name into the ring. I called regulator088 so I could catch a ride up to the motor City, which what cut my travel distance in half. I originally had plans to stay with him the night before, but I got a text saying that I'd be staying at his brother's (ones11fahzu) instead.
I left from school on Friday and made a journey up to Elkart, Indiana to crash at ones11fahzu's place before Tecmo Kumite II in Detroit. Once I arrived we talked for about two and a half hours before bed playing no warm-up games in the process. The next morning regulator088 picked us up and we embarked to Detroit. Once we arrived we made our way into the Bookies Bar and Grill carrying the televisions we brought. You did some meet and greets as the final televisions and systems were being set up for the tournament. Cubanrocks, ryan11p, Kevin C., and the Ultimate Weapon all made the trek from Ohio.
I played a warm-up game in a match up that I hard personally never played before, but saw on Mort's Tecmo 101 blog. Seemed intriguing. Regulator088 took the Cowboys and I rolled with the Broncos. Regulator088 had no problem running the ball behind the descent Dallas OL and the pathetic Bronco DL. Game was very back and forth and went into overtime with a 17-17 tie. With an EXCELLENT Emmitt Smith, the Cowboys sealed the deal 23-17 on the first drive. I felt like the match-up is fairly even and both could exploit things. Sounded like something I would try in the tournament.
Things kicked up with the opening ceremonies by tournament directors Eric "tecmodell42" O'Dell and Matt "LuckyTool" O'Toole. Directions were explained. Tournament was triple elimination with a random draw of opponent each round of the tournament from a bag of ping pong balls. the first ball drawn would be player 1 and call the match-up, while the second ball would get choice of team. Since there was an odd number of players there would be a bye each round. Very smooth way to run a tournament, a great concept, lots of excitement, and a guarantee of three games for the worst performances. Really hard to top that. I was signed up as ball #11. Let the games begin.
In the opening round I drew ones11fahzu. How ironic. I called the tried and new Broncos/Cowboys match-up. Thinking I play well with the Broncos and the Cowboys line should have the advantage as well as higher rated defensive MAN players I though I could not go wrong either way. Ones11fahzu took the Broncos. I was pretty disappointed on how things went in the game. First, ones11fahzu played a traditional ones11fahzu game. I only had three total offensive possession and didn't get my first until mid way through the second quarter.on top of that ones11hafzu played excellent of defense as usual. The Dallas offensive line that tore my Denver defensive game up in the warm-up against ones11fahzu's brother did not happen in our game. To top things off, Troy Aikman and Emmitt were in BAD for a majority of the game. I ended up dropping the first game of the tournament 0-10. The first and only time I have ever been shut out in MAN vs MAN Tecmo. Nice game Matt.
In the second round game I draw a much improved ryan11p of Columbus, Ohio.. I chose a Bengals/Lions match-up. He took the Lions. I set up the playbook to take out Cofer and balanced the play calls. The playbook I chose was really the difference in this game. I found myself up 21-0 at halftime. When he received the second half kick he fumbled and I scored. At tack on another score on a second fumble late in the third. In the fourth quarter I played pretty stiff defense. I punted back on first down twice in the fourth and the final remained 35-0.
In my third round game I played Jason T. from Toledo, Ohio. I called a Chargers/Lions match-up hoping for the Chargers. Wouldn't you know it. The jukes and juice-offs were a flowing. Byrd picked off the combo of Peete and Ware a total of five times in the game. I punted back on first down twice in the fourth being up 40-0. On the last play Barry broke past the line for maybe the third time all game. I put my control down and allowed the avoided shutout. Butts had 263 yards.
The fourth round put me up against Joe M. of Detroit. I called a Broncos/Chargers match-up. He took the Chargers. Things go crazy after I fumble away which he scores on. I then through an arrant pick on a mispress. He is up 0-14 in the blink of an eye. I was fortunate to make a good play on a Simon Fletcher INT, which set up a score before half making it 7-14. in second half a receive and score. I hold the Chargers on their next three possessions forcing punts before I tack on another score taking the lead 21-14 which would be the final.
The fifth round match-up was against Eric O'Dell. I called a Chiefs/Dolphins match-up where Eric took the Dolphins. Nothing went right in this game. DeBerg threw several passes out of bounds, Okoye lost two fumbles, the Miami OL was destroying my run defense, Okoye, Deberg, and Paige in BAD. To top it off there was a killer glare from the window in which neither Eric and I could see very well for almost an entire quarter. All I could see was a reflection of a #42 Detroit jersey in the middle of the screen. I was only able to muster a FG late in the third. What a disaster of a game.
In round six I got a bye, and in round seven I would square off against O'Dell again. During my bye round I spotted two match-ups that I rarely see. One was a Cardinals/Saints and the other was a Broncos/Lions. On the day I defeated the Lions twice already so I was thinking let's make it three if I was not to get them. If I got them I was going to try and gain the most rushing yards with Barry for the tournament so I could win the side-game prize of the Barry Sanders Starting Line-up action figure. I personally feel the Lions are the better team in this match-up, but I do play well with the Broncos and I felt O'Dell would take the hometown Lions. That was indeed the case. The game started off very back and forth as I turned over on downs and the Lions got first blood with a TD. I answered with a score of my own. The Lions then lost a fumble and the Broncos capitalized. The score was 14-7 at the half. The Lions received the second half kick, but are caught on the kickoff inside the five. After switching Barry to WR1, O'Dell was caught off guard by the Denver drones and was sacked for a safety giving the ball back to the Broncos with a 16-7 deficit. The Broncos capitalize with a score making it 23-7. A JJ to Barry deep tied it at 23-14. The Broncos were forced to punt and the Lions had several passing bomb opportunities to Barry, but on the third pass attempt the ball was picked off. Clock was run out and Psycho moves out of the Elite Eight and into a potential Final Four tie.
My next opponent was the enigma that is Magic Mort. This would be only the second time I had played Mort live, with the first being a scrimmage game the morning of the Tomczak Bowl. I called a Bucs/Falcons match-up. Mort took the Bucs. Both of us set up run plays at Haddix and at Deion. The game started out with the Bucs scoring easily on heavy running by Anderson. The Falcons come back to tie it with a good drive of their own. On the next possession the Bucs are forced to punt. The Falcons then get to midfield on a 3rd and 7. Right before I hike the ball my thumb and wrist lock out as it did in Madison the year before. As I lay the controller on my lap to stretch it and pull it back into place the A button hit my gut and the ball was hiked. Nine yard sack and 4th and 16; out of field goal range. Huge downer. I believe the game went into half tied at 7. In the second half the Bucs get a FG and Mort scored a TD. The score was 7-17 with 3 minutes to play. the Falcons score a FG making it 10-17 and then recover the onside attempt. Two chances with Rison before the final gun come up short.
After being eliminated I indulged in my second mass of meat. The first was a Brunch Burger (bacon, scrambled eggs, cheese, etc.) which was so greasy that the bun stuck to my fingers. The post tourney meal was the Carnivore (two 1/2 pound patties, smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, and a coronary). It was awesome. Both came with some of the best beer battered fries I have ever had. During this time I met O'Dell's wife who I might add may be the best Tecmo wife of all-time. She was in the bar the entire day running the computer, recording winners/losers, scores, etc. Eric you hit the jackpot my friend.
With bad weather arriving sooner than predicted, regualtor088, ones11fahzu, and myself needed to leave before the championship. Found out that Mort beat O'Toole in the championship and also had the highest run total with Barry on the day (243 if I remember correctly). I finished in the Final Four tied with regulator088, and Joe M. Ones11fahzu finished third.
Roads were crappy on the way back to Elkart and slowed us down pretty good. On the way back to Elkart the Millers had me download an app called Akinator. It is sort of like 20 questions. You choose someone sort of famous and the genie asks questions to get to the right answer. After it worked on Kyle and Matt I tried to think of something pretty tough. About 15 questions in that damn genie guessed Yoda from Star Wars and I about died. I tried to stump him again with James K. Polk and this time I succeeded (at least with the free database limited app version). I decided to crash at ones11fahzu's house again instead of driving straight through. Had a great time. Short weekend. Big thanks to o'dell and O'Toole throwing a fine tournament. Definitely worth the time and is a great warm-up for Madison in a month.
No comments:
Post a Comment