Tuesday, December 05, 2006
'Madden NFL'
The Madden NFL video sounds cool. Never underestimate the mysterious gene in all of us that makes Little Orphan Annie Decoder Rings so fun and intriguing. ... I remember the first time I learned about the intricacies of football. Fifth grade. Pop Warner. Playbooks. Codes. Audibles. Passing routes. Blocking assignments. Blitzes. I can still recall going into one of our first huddles, hearing the quarterback call a play in almost secret code ("I 32 Sweep on Three") and thinking, 'This is GREAT!' ... Hub Blog thinks it's time to create Pop Warner leagues for girls. OK, maybe it could be just flag football, as a sop to worried soccer moms and dads. But the girls could learn the rules and secrets of the game -- and then probably outplay and outthink the boys. At the least it would close the worrisome gender gap in knowledge about the game. ...
Update -- Armchair Gen. Savin Hill writes:
The Madden NFL video sounds cool. Never underestimate the mysterious gene in all of us that makes Little Orphan Annie Decoder Rings so fun and intriguing. ... I remember the first time I learned about the intricacies of football. Fifth grade. Pop Warner. Playbooks. Codes. Audibles. Passing routes. Blocking assignments. Blitzes. I can still recall going into one of our first huddles, hearing the quarterback call a play in almost secret code ("I 32 Sweep on Three") and thinking, 'This is GREAT!' ... Hub Blog thinks it's time to create Pop Warner leagues for girls. OK, maybe it could be just flag football, as a sop to worried soccer moms and dads. But the girls could learn the rules and secrets of the game -- and then probably outplay and outthink the boys. At the least it would close the worrisome gender gap in knowledge about the game. ...
Update -- Armchair Gen. Savin Hill writes:
FYI, Madden NFL is one of the most successful video game franchises in history. Based on Wikipedia info, its sales can be estimated at roughly $2.5 BILLION dollars. And that's just one of many of the top 20 video game franchises.
Which begs the question: Why exactly is so much news print and TV air time devoted to covering what the puny movie industry does? Oooh - a movie grossed over $100 million in sales worldwide -- oooh. Or, exactly what Madden NFL did in one week when the '06 version came out.
