Baseball fans, are you foaming at the mouth in anticipation of the end to this National League Wild Card ridiculousness? Fantasy football owners, have you picked up Olandis Gary and noticed how nasty the Buffalo Bills defense is becoming? Madden 2004 junkies, have you mastered the playmaker yet? Detroit Tigers fans, are you embarrased that your manager pulled Jeremy Bonderman from the starting rotation only two losses from a 20-loss season? Don’t worry Tigers fans, Mike Maroth is 6-19 and still in the rotation. Fantasy football owners, there will be plenty more injuries, and there’s still lots of gold left out there on the waiver wire.
Seriously though, the National League Wild Card race is going to be awesome! The top six teams are tighter than Georgetown’s alcohol policy. Every other day, the Cubs, Astros or Cardinals take the lead in the Central. The pesky Marlins lost the best bat in their lineup in Mike Lowell and still refuse to lie down.
We’ve got a month of great baseball left, the football season is getting under way, Darnall has new neon lights and make your own pizza-life is so so good right now. Well, except for the Playmaker. Not the Madden 2004 innovation that gives it even more claim to being the greatest video game ever. We’re talking about ESPN’s attempt at succeeding where Any Given Sunday failed.
Strike three ESPN. No more Bobby Knight movies, no more Bear Bryant movies, and please, no more Playmaker! What star NFL running backs are free-basing heroin 15 minutes before kickoff? What gives? That’s not an option in Madden 2004 Franchise mode! But you can set ticket prices, the cost of hot dogs, beers, foam fingers, bobbleheads, and much much more. Word on the street is that lowering beers to $1 increases homefield advantage.
