Madison Tecmo VII Championship

Francis "Mort" Buennagle takes the Cowboys against Jim "Air" Bontempo's Phoenix Cardinals in the Championship of the 7th Annual Madison Tecmo Tournament.

This includes post game interviews with the finalists.

Actual Championship footage: http://www.tecmomadison.com/

Tecmo VII Hoss Whisperer Madison, WI Tournament

Ok. I have had a week to recuperate. I guess I will post my story for my weekend in Madison. I went out with my wife. We flew out of Indy on Thursday morning. One of my wife’s best friends lives in downtown Madison. On the first day we drove around downtown and also went to the Cave of the Mounds. Never been in a cave like that before. It was a trip. Thursday night we got some real Wisconsin food at a place called Old Fashioned. Cheese and Bratwurst. Good stuff. On Friday we went to the National Mustard Museum (yes there is such a place). Played some practice Tecmo with some guys on Friday night. Good times.

Saturday morning I walked to the tournament sporting my Wayne Haddix jersey, and watched some games, as I was in the afternoon session. When my pool play started I was nervous. Knowing I was fully capable of making the tournament, I had my doubts thinking back to Chicago in October.

My first game was against John D. from Madison. I was really nervous and played one of my worst games in this one. He picked a DAL/K.C. matchup. I went with Okoye and used my juice to win. On one play I juiced and popped nearly the entire defense for about 60 yards. The play of the game was late in the third quarter when he decided to punt the ball away from his own 20 on 4th and 1. I took advantage and closed him out on defense to win the game 14-7. Nightmare ran for 180 yards.

With the pressure off my back I felt at ease in the next two games. My second game was against Cody H. from Cedar Falls, Iowa. I picked a MIN/DET match up. He went with the Vikings. I came out throwing with Peete as he was picking runs the whole time. I slowly incorporated Barry. Defense played solid. I was up 3-21 early in the fourth quarter and went for it on 4th and 1 from the 1. The picked play resulted in a long MIN drive and FG. Final score was 6-21.

Being 2-0 in pool play I was really loose and was starting to feel confident. Next game I picked a CIN/S.D. matchup. I was playing Kevin H. from Madison. He picked the Bengals. I threw with B.J. and B.J. wasn’t B.J. I slowly incorporated Butts. Butts had some crazy jukes and long runs. Defense was stout really only getting beat on one ridiculous pass play threw the hands of a jumping Byrd and diving Eddie Brown. Final score was 31-14.

Brett P. and me

So I go 3-0 in pool play and I was placed as a 5 seed in the 64-man bracket. The opening round game was against Brett P. from Lake Mills, WI. I picked a S.D./DEN matchup. He took the Chargers and this time B.J. was B.J. He threw 2 picks early. Pickle came in and threw 2 of his own. Bronco’s defense was all over the place as I picked pass 95% of the time knowing this guy was a passer after the first quarter. I juiced with B. Hump and got out of bounds nearly every time. I was patient with Elway running when nothing was fo sho. Final score was 37-14.

In the round of 32 I played John B. (qb_browns). Dude put me out with a 50 yarder in Cincy back in July in a SEA/CLE matchup. Every game with him is solid. Plus he is one of the coolest people at the tournament. I go DET/S.D. matchup and he takes the Lions. I wasn’t going to give B.J. a chance to eff this up. Butts goes for 269 on 15 carries. Quinn Early got the only longer completion of the game. I might have had 3 completions the whole game. Barry ran 8 for 87 yards. I thought he would have been used more. Game was back and forth the entire time. If I remember correctly there were no picks? Final score was 21-14 Chargers.

In the sweet 16, I played Seth B. from St. Louis, MO. After the game I later found out that this was Tecmo Virtuoso. I have played him some online (http://www.sois.com/tpc/matchup.php?player=tecmopsycho&opponent=TecmoVirtuoso).
He picked a RAI/HOU matchup. I was so successful running the ball all day long, all I could think about was Bo, Bo, Bo. I even made the comment, “I’ll give you the better team.” What an idiot. I lost this game before the opening kickoff. I also forgot that WR in the RB2 spot could run the ball (Drew Hill). So banking on fumbles wasn’t going to happen. He scored at the end of the first on a called run/wide open receivers pass. I drive to his 25 or 30 and opt to not kick the FG. Mistake #2. Called play stuffed me without points. My second possession on second play from scrimmage, Shredder gets JJ picked at my own 40. He drives and gets another score going up 14-0. On my next drive I go to his 40, but fumble with Fernandez. Thankfully I recover and take it to the house with a lineman. On his first possession of the second half he sucked my defender in with a threatening Moon making dump off after dump off pass when I covered deep. He then went deep when I came to cover short. He goes up 21-7. Next possession, Shredder is benched for Beuerlein and he gets JJ picked by Johnson. I force a punt on his next drive and take a BAD Bo down the field for another score making it 21-14. I can’t remember how I got the ball back, but I did have the ball with a chance to tie. The entire second half and especially on this drive he called my play. Without exaggeration he picked me at least once every series and it seemed like 2-3 every series. For that alone he deserved to win the game. Didn’t help that Bo was in BAD the entire second half either. Seemed like he was a 44 MS back, and that sucks when you are using RAI and getting your pass plays picked. Going for it on 4th and like 7 I turned the ball over with a minute and change left. I was disgusted and can’t remember if he scored a garbage TD at the end (he probably did). Odell was right. I deserve to be hassled. I disagree with the overall showing. I was happy with what I did and how far I made it. On a side note, Indiana went 13-3 (9-0 in pool play) in the tournament.

regulator088, ones11fahzu, and tecmopsycho (Indiana)

I stayed and watched the rest of the tournament. Great games. Bgboud and Mort played a heart stopper. Mort and Skunker had a good one as well. Seth B. did go to the final four against Mort. I just would like to play him again with the reverse matchup just to see the outcome. I have video of the crowd and finals competitors. When I get a free moment I will upload. Fun time in Madison. I will be back in 2012.

me, qb_browns, and Rod Woodson

WTF 2004 Season Recap: Cleveland Browns

WTF 2004 Browns Season Recap from Tecmo Psycho on Vimeo.

Highlights and statistics from the Browns 2004 WTF season.

1st Annual Chicago Tecmo Super Bowl Tournament

I better write this up before I forget. Woke up late and left Naptown about 10:30 AM (EST). Got into Chicago about 1:00 PM (CST). Got to meet some of the guys I see online all of the time: Rico, Knobbe, Odell, and Toph. I also saw Louis, Mort, Josh, Chet, Bailey, the Elkart brothers, and averagetsbplayer. Bar set up was pretty cool. Games were played on nice flat screens throughout. I was set up for the 3:30 time slot. I was in Pool I. It consisted of Kevin Miller, myself, Ryan Daniels, and Paul Leffler. We were seeded in that order.

My first game was with Ryan Daniels and the Tecmo gods. He won the flip and picked a Dallas-Cleveland match up. I absolutely despise Dallas on TSB so I went Browns. Figured I could throw short completions and run with Mack and Metcalf. Yeah right. For one, this dude called at least 40% of my plays. Out of 4 downs, I swear there was 2 picked plays nearly every time. QB Browns was throwing on his heels the entire game. Mr. PC ended with a 38% completion rate and 1 INT. The 2 fumbles which resulted in Dallas TDs didn't help either. The Dallas drone DLs were possessed sacking me on 4th and long from what seemed like 5 yards away every time. Final score was Dallas 24 and Cleveland 7. Yuck... And what is frustrating is I know I can out play that guy. He was the better team that game. He did play pretty good defense and did pick my play nearly every time, but I know I am a better overall player... this would turn out to be the game to screw me.

My second game was against Paul Leffler. He wins the toss and picks a Chiefs-Bengals match up. I chose the Chiefs on the sole basis that Derrick Thomas could eff up FGs (4th man down WAS allowed). The first half was slow. Just 3 total possessions. He had 2 and I had 1. Halftime score was 7-7. In the second half, Deberg was patient and found the open receivers. I steadily pulled away and won 21-7.

My third game was against the number 1 seed Kevin Miller. All day I was being told how solid he was. I was told he had mad tapping skills. I also watched 2 of his games. He is a master of the arrow trick as well. I knew I would have to play my best to win. I finally won a toss and picked a Lions-Chargers match up. He chose the Lions. This game was a shoot out. Both teams went to the air more than expected. The end of the game proved to be a Butts-Sanders war. The score was tied at 21 with about 10 seconds left so I elect to go for a FG at the 25 yard line on 4th and 3. The kick is up, online, and BLOCKED. OVERTIME. Of course I lose the toss. Barry eats up about 3 minutes and 40 seconds of quarter number 5 and punches it into the end zone. Very disappointed. No 4th man down and that game is over. I felt like I matched him in every facet of the game. This also put me at 1-2 in the pool and a very unlikely chance to make the field of 32. Kevin finished 3-0, Ryan went 2-1, and Paul was 0-3. All were good game except my game with Ryan. Good players and good games.

The top 2 from every pool made the single elimination tournament. There were 6 wild card spots for teams that did not make top two in their pool. People with the best point differential made those 6 spots. I was -9. When they drew out the bracket I was pulled as #32! This meant I was to play the #1 overall seed Josh Holzbauer. We started our game. He won the toss and deferred the match up to me. I chose a Chargers-Redskins match up and he took the Chargers. Defensive battle. Josh canned a FG early in the first quarter. I missed a FG late in the first. The half time score was 0-3. I got an INT about a minute or so into the 3rd. Started driving with Byner. About half way through the 3rd our game was stopped. There was a mathematical error on the differential for another player. This meant that I was not supposed to be in the 32 man field. Odell asked the other player if he would play a play-in game to see who would face Josh. He said no. Can't blame him. I would have said the same thing. So my tournament ride ended before it really got started. I decided not to stay. The 3 1/2 hour trip up was cake compared to the 5 1/4 home. WTF. Had fun. Can't wait until March.

2010 Midwest Tecmo Super Bowl Tournament

First of all I would like to apologize to Matt Knobbe for not getting any live coverage up at the tournament. I was under the impression that the location had wireless, but that was not the case. Only one spot in the entire room had "wireless" and that spot was very low connectivity, which would not even allow us to open up a browser. Tournament directors will do a better overall recap of the tournament, but I will recall some things from my perspective.

Tournament consisted of four person pool play. I am new to the game, but from the people I met and the people I play online it looked like the pools were pretty even. I mean there were no "STACKED" pools. Every person moved on from the pool despite records to a single elimination tournament.

My pool consisted of Chet Holzbauer (WI), Jimmy "Yimme_Ball" Davidson (OH), and God help me, some guy with a throwback Chris Johnson jersey on. He told me like 50 times his name and where he was from (OH), but I can't remember... sorry bud.

My first game was against Chet Holzbauer from Wisconsin. I believe I won the coin toss and deferred. Chet picked a Tampa Bay vs Dallas matchup. Since I despise the Cowboys on this game my decision was simple. Defensive war. Chet fumbled 4 times during the course of the game (2 were lost). Michael Haddix had a Superman Snatch on a TD pass attempt to keep the score 0-0 at half. I took a 3-0 lead in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Chet came back with a long TD pass after I switched to calling runs every single play. Most of you know I do have tapping talent, but this dude is truly THE MAD TAPPER. I did not win one the entire game. It took me out of my element. He had the ball for some time and there was not much I could do. I had the ball on the final drive running successfully with Anderson and corn Cobb. I lost a fumble in the red zone with 40 seconds to play. Not a bad game against the eventual 2010 Midwest Tecmo Super Bowl Champion. Final score was Tampa Bay 3 - Dallas 7. GG bro. Nice taps.

Second game was against Yimme. I had to pick the matchup. I went with Phoenix vs New York Jets. Yimme took the Jets and I took the Cards. Yimme had two big bombs to Al Toon early and played well in the first half. Repeated online play had both of us picking each other’s plays and brains early. Second half was all about Johnny “on-the-spot” Johnson. Lots of jukes and popping corn. Final score was Jets 10 - Cards 21. GG man.

Third game of pool play was against Chris (that’s what I’m calling him). When he didn’t change his playbook I knew something was up. He made the comment that he thought this was a Tecmo Bowl Tournament, but didn’t hear or see Tecmo SUPER Bowl Tournament. He picked a Chargers Bucs matchup. I took the Chargers. This one got out of hand really early. Tolliver lit it up throwing 4 TD’s. Four picks, a recovered fumble, and a safety later the final score was 37-3. His 3 points came from a lost fumble by Cox on a kickoff return. Early and Miller also dropped two wide-open passes in BFE for TD’s.



I received an 11 seed going into the single elimination tournament. First opponent was Dan from Cleveland. He won the toss and picked the matchup. With some certainty he said Houston/Rams. I did a double take and wondered if he meant something else. He said no and I was wondering what the hell he knew that I didn’t. Never playing with Houston I took them because you have to be an idiot not to. Kickoff return for me = fumble and take it to the house. 0-7 Dan. FUUUUUUUDGE. Good start huh? When I got the ball back I ran the skin off the pig with 19 ball control Lorenzo White. I ran like freaking Forrest Gump (making sure I went out of bounds every single time). When he became frustrated by the run, I threw deep only to complete two deep balls for TD’s. Lorenzo did the rest. Best plays calls all day. He did not have one called play all game. Game changer was the drive after half time when he was cruising at midfield and Ray… no I didn’t stutter Childress picked off Everett to Anderson at the first down marker. It was the difference maker. Final score Houston 28 – Los Angeles 21. GG Dan, and sorry about Lebron.

Next game was against Johnny Bailey (not the Bear) from Wisconsin. He won the toss and I had to call… boo. I chose Seattle versus Cleveland. I was fully aware he would choose the Browns (I love the Seahawks). Best called game all day. We both were frustrated with the lack of defenses, but played near flawless. I was on Webster Slaughter like the dirty jersey he was wearing all game. Score was 21 all when he went for a 45 yarder with time expiring. No question. Final score was Cleveland 24 – Seattle 21. I played well. Hindsight is 20/20, but I probably should have went for a Cincy/Denver game. Oh well.

Many first round blowouts (as expected). Memorable games that I watched were Frank versus a local. I believe he was down 14 with 3 minutes to play and won in OT. Frank’s defeat against Johnny Bailey. BigMV versus Josh Holzbauer (Josh won a tough one).

The final four were Daboy (KY), Johnny Bailey (WI), Josh Holzbauer (WI), and Chet Holzbauer (WI). Josh and Chet played a Giants/Bills Championship. Chet’s Giants won 37-14 to win the title.

First Online Tecmo League

Today I was lucky enough to join the High Speed Tecmo League (HSTL) in its 17th season. My team is the Miami Dolphins. I acquired the team with a 3-2 record. My star offensive player is Neal Anderson and my star defensive player is Seth Joyner. I am very excited to start this league. The season ends on July 25 and I have 11 games to make up!

Tecmo Super Bowl Online

I was perusing the Internet last night when I stumbled on to a link for one of my all-time favorite NES games... Tecmo Super Bowl. I just want to say that when I found out I could play TSB online against other people I almost had an aneurysm. Knowing I can play with current rosters on the old school game play is something I have dreamed about for years. I also found out that I could rig up my Wii to play it as well. Thank you Tecmo Repository.

I first played TSB when I was 11 years old. I played it religiously against the computer for just about 8 years straight. I played countless hours of season play, zig-zagging computer drones, and breaking thousands tackles during that time. I have not played a single game for about 4 years now. I purchased a NES USB controller off Amazon.com and seriously waiting by the door for the USPS man (and it is Sunday). I signed up for AIM and TCP. Tecmo Players Circuit is an online center for the best Tecmo players in the world. It keeps stats for each player registered. As soon as I get the controller I want to start playing. I also signed up for a tournament in Fairfield Ohio on July 31. Probably get my head stomped in, but it’s worth it.

Some of my highlights (all against the CPU because this forum wasn’t around when I started playing) for TSB are running for 1527 yards with Bo in one game, 8 team interceptions (ATL) in one game, and maxing out the score on several occasions. I’m looking forward to meeting some new friends online and at these offline tournaments.