The relaxing thing in Madden 2013 is playing teams you can’t really lose against. I suppose I was a bit worried that this 80s overall rated team would destroy my 90s team if for nothing else than they had experience over me. I guess I was wrong.

The video is my first play on my first possession. It didn’t really get any easier than that and I feel like maybe Emmit Smith is sort of like cheating considering my line has an average rating of 95.

It feels weird to have purchased these cards…but that strange feeling is erased each the I get trounced by a human opponent with a lower rated team. There are tons of things I don’t quite understand about this game. I don’t get how the pass blocking or attempts to intercept work though I know it involves the Y button. I don’t get the difference between Nickle and Dime defense though I have learned the difference between a zone and a man coverage.

Madden games remind me a lot of World of Warcraft in that they have a decent line of casual with a hard to reach “serious” level that can only be obtained through enough practice. I guess we will see.

I am now 2-0 which feels great…but against the computer which cheapens it.

So I wanted to try something new with Madden 2013. I want to learn the proper strategy. When I was a kid, this was easy because u had time…but these days it is difficult because I do not. As a player, I have lost most of that childhood love of exploration. Things are known now. Early on in this game I realized that I would be able to run through the chiefs defense. This made it a simple game without many decisions other than what hole to run through. I need to put together a better passing game… 1-0 on the blog. Tomorrow I may try another online game.
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So I wanted to try something new with Madden 2013. I want to learn the proper strategy. When I was a kid, this was easy because u had time…but these days it is difficult because I do not.

As a player, I have lost most of that childhood love of exploration. Things are known now. Early on in this game I realized that I would be able to run through the chiefs defense. This made it a simple game without many decisions other than what hole to run through.

I need to put together a better passing game…

1-0 on the blog. Tomorrow I may try another online game.

When Sports Stats go Bad - Meet Madden’s Mr. Irrelevant

Statistics are great. I love stats (and not just because that is what my profession is known for or that I tutored stats and worked for a stats firm for years).

However, the problem with stats made to represent ideas is that there are often tiny inconsistencies that arise. For instance, how can you represent the specialist in a game that most people don’t know well enough to know what a specialist is?

The Answer, I guess, is to make them irrelevant. This leads to some interesting consequences. These two links are different reactions to being made into an irrelevant player in Madden - Ethan Albright - A specialist snapper. 

In Madden, or any football game I know of, the Snap is never able to be botched. There is not a statistic for Snapping Skill.

ESPN’s Page 2 - Meet Madden’s Mr. Irrelevant

Ethan Albright is good at his job. Very good. In fact, the Washington Redskins’ long snapper is probably better at what he does — blindly hurling a ball between his legs, under extreme duress, with zero margin for error — than most of us will ever be at anything.

Of course, you’d never know this from playing “Madden NFL 07.”

Within the pixilated world of the popular NFL video game, Albright isn’t merely another anonymous special teamer. No such luck. According to the game’s Byzantine individual skill ratings — which measure everything from foot speed to spin-move ability to a player’s effect on team morale — he’s the hands-down, rock-bottom worst player in the NFL.

Ethan Albright Writes a Letter to John Madden 
(Think of the Onion while reading this)

To: John Madden
CC: Electronic Arts Sports
From: Ethan Albright
Re: Being the worst rated player on Madden 07

Hi, John, my name is Ethan Albright. I play line for the Washington Redskins. You probably already knew that, so I’ll continue. I am writing in regards to the overall player rating of 53 that I have received in Madden NFL Football 2007. I feel that this is fucking bullshit and you should kiss my mother-fucking ass. Ahmed Carroll was rated a 78 and the Packers just cut his ass on a Tuesday morning after his performance in a Monday night game. That is pretty terrible. The worst part is that his overall rating was sniffing 80.

Thanks to DemonicMurry for a link to the letter!

The Deep Ball Glitch. Sometimes games as complicated as Madden end up with glitches so subtle it can take a while for the creators to catch on. I have noticed this problem on defense but too advantage of it on offense. I wonder what glitches Madden 2013 will have.