Welcome To The Show

Article first published as Welcome to The Show on Technorati.

In the beginning, there was Strat-O-Matic.

Growing up, I would play the popular sports simulation board game for hours, rolling dice and vividly conjuring the exhilarating results on the lush playing fields of my mind. I had their releases of all the major sports, but the baseball facsimile always seemed to be the favorite, inspiring me to label many on my Little League team as “4-e48”-- or, for the uninitiated, horrendous fielders.

Video games further upped the ante, offering choppy graphics and absolute control of my squad. Realism, sadly, fell by the wayside, and it frustrated the purist to have an outfielder miss a lazy fly ball because, thanks to awful game design, I had no idea where it would land.

It seemed impossible to have a perfect marriage between these two worlds.

Then along came The Show.

My relationship with the series dates back to SCE San Diego’s second offering in 2007 on PS2. Each year the intention, or obsession, if you prefer, is to attempt to take my team- the Toronto Blue Jays- and play its entire 162 game schedule along with the real-life counterpart. It may not surprise to learn that life often has a way of interfering with this plan.

“Hey, we’re going camping for three days in June. You want to come along?”

The wheels begin to spin. Wait- what weekend is it? Oh no, the Jays have a series against the Orioles. I’ll have to finish those three games ahead of the camping trip if I don’t want to fall behind. In the end, I’m left desperately playing catch-up, telling myself, “It’s fine, I can do it. If I just play three games tomorrow and four on Sunday, I’ll be right back on schedule again.”

Two years ago, we were in the race, finishing just six games behind the Red Sox for the wild card. Last year, with Halladay gone to the Phillies, the prospect of a post-season did not look promising. But digital players I’ve coached will tell you I have never been the type to back down from a challenge.

Once again, we were chasing the Red Sox and the wild card all year. We won our last eight of the season and they dropped their last three, leaving both teams deadlocked and setting up a one-game playoff in Boston to determine who would advance.

My hands were shaking in the bottom of the ninth when our All-Star closer, Scott Downs, attempted to seal a 6-4 victory with a runner on second. Kevin Youkilis then struck a ball to left that looked like it might have enough—that is, until it fell harmlessly into Adam Lind’s glove on the warning track for the final out, vindicating our marathon pursuit.

With this year’s edition available as of March 8, you would think I would be scrambling to finish the playoffs and purchase the new installment. Instead, I’ve picked up NBA 2K11 and have my sights set on conquering an entirely new sport.