The fourth annual Madden Tourney would take on a total new approach. It would be moved to the Next-Gen format on the PS3 system, leaving PS2ers in the dust. The Madden 2008 Tournament also took on many new participants, upping the list of entry to a tourney high 24. With the 8 or so new participants, the tournament expanded to three locations. Joining Billy and Jimmy would be Phil hosting the tournament as well.
The 2008 tourney (In 2007) was also the first time the tournament went from double elimination to triple elimination. It was a tournament of pure Madden endurance. It lasted a whopping 3 days and 2 nights, to Dave's dismay.
The first round of the Madden 08' tournament saw a few upset and a few blunders as well. No one will forget the infamous Dooky-Dom game. Dooky, down only a point was driving in a two minute offense. Nearing the end of the game Dooky put himself in 20 yard field position for a winning FG, yet did not realize the clock was running. Dom went on to distract Dooky by complimenting the shirt he was wearing and before Dooky knew it the clock ran out, before he called timeout, before he kicked a winning field goal, before Dom had beaten him.
The Madden 08' Tourney if it could be described in one word was UPSET. The top seeds were dropping like flies and the "underdogs" were coming out on top over and over again. People like Jimmy, Phil, and Kevin went down early in the winner's bracket, forcing them to win over and over again to keep their chances alive. Jimmy, the winner from the previous (2007) tournament had been upset by Mark Naseef in the round of 16. Mark whooped Marc Carrier in the first round to get to Jimmy, while Jimmy on the other hand was enjoying his first round bye. Not playing could have been a factor into the upset, yet nonetheless the 16 seed Mark took down the number one player at the time in just his first game of the tourney.
The winner's bracket was the least of the action in that year's tourney though. The elimination bracket had some of the greatest games of the tourney that year. One of the most notable elimination games and eliminations period was the PJ v.s. Gabe game at Jimmy's house. In an intense game, Pj would win by a TD, stopping a drive at the end of the 4th quarter with an interception. Immediately following the game, Gabe would totally flip out. He threw his controller at Jimmys, hit the table, almost broke the glass table, then stormed out yelling frigging Packers!
Ironically, another great Madden 08' memory would be the game known only as "I Quit!" In an elimination game, Dave and the Seahawks would take on PJ and his "Friggin'" Packers. Dave got off to a fast start, as he kicked the ball off to start the game only to force a fumble in those first few seconds. This pissed PJ off very much as it seemed he had a fumbling problem the entire tournament. Yet he stuck in there and held Dave to only a FG. PJ would get the ball again, yet on one of his first plays another fumble, and Dave recovered once again. This whole time the fumbles were occurring, Dave was in and out of PJ's face telling him how bad he got Tatupooed. Yet PJ would hold Dave to a 3 and out and get the ball back once again. PJ drove the field and was on Dave's goal line about to score, but of course, on 1st and goal Ryan Grant fumbled again. Dave recovered again but on his own 3 yard line. Yet PJ so frustrated from the fumble-itis of his team threw his controller and stormed out of Billy's house yelling about how much it was bullshit and that he had "Quit".
While all this elimination nonsense was going on, there was a certain someone flying under the radar winning game after game without a hitch. Billy, a previous Madden champion (06') had the 7 seed as well as 7th pick that year. The team he ahd been using since February of that year, The New England Patriots, had someone fallen to his pick and Billy did not think twice to scoop them up immediately. He would eventually get to the winner's bracket final after winning four games in the bracket. The upset king at this point, Mark Naseef was waiting opposite him. Billy would take him on with ease, sending Mark to the loser's bracket final. Mark would win the one game he needed to to advance to the championship.
Considering that this tournament was triple elimination, and considering Billy had 0 defeats and Mark had just one, they would have to square off multiple times in a row. The championship would be held the next day, the 3rd day, at Jimmy's house. In order for Billy to win the tourney he had to defeat Mark twice, while Mark on the other hand had to win three times. In the first championship meeting Billy once again beat Mark, but not by a margin of much. Mark showed that he was a worthy contender, only losing by a TD, coming very close to tying it up at the very end. So now Mark faced elimination, needing to win three in a row to take down Billy and the Patriots. In the second meeting it seemed Mark had finally figured Billy's game plan out as he went on to somewhat upset Billy. This was Billy's first defeat in over a year since he had lost the previous year on the "Miracle Manning" play. Now Billy was on the ropes, or at least it seemed that way with Jimmy getting all excited over the possibility of Billy not winning for a second time in 3 years. Yet Billy would come back in game 3 of the championship with a vengeance and manhandle Mark to take the game, the trophy, and the money home to Beech Street, where it had been once before.
This was the second occurrence in Madden History that a participant had won on two separate occasions. In fact up to this point, 4 years in, only two champions had been crowned, both twice. Jimmy in 05' and 07' and Billy in 06' and 08'. Nonetheless the Madden 2008 tourney seemed to be the most well constructed tournament yet, which could only be great segway going into the Madden 09' Tourney just one year later.
No comments:
Post a Comment