Nobody remembers second place
Jason Lucas
Wednesday June 14, 2006
Last week I agreed to play in the competition for the sole purpose of covering the event for ArenaFan and having a little bit of fun. Little did I know that I would be required to pay a $20 entry fee to play in the competition and do a little work at the same time. I also was unaware that prizes of $100 for third place, $200 for second place, and $300 for first place as well as prime seats for ArenaBowl XX on Sunday.
So, Saturday at 11am Pacific Time Andrew Mason and I showed up at the Cox Pavilion after hitching a ride from a nice gentleman in a mini-van. We both paid our $20 entry fee upon arrival, but at this point I still had no idea there were cash prizes involved. About 42 players participated in the event that was played on the Xbox system which I have never played before being a PS2 kind of guy.
Now I will recap all of the games I played in the tournament with very short profiles of my opponents and add a few funny stories here and there.
Game 1 "Play in Game": Orlando vs. Philadelphia
Believe it or not there were very young kids playing in this tournament making even me look old. Now, I am only 23 years old and I figure that to be a very young age. However, my first game was played against a kid that could not have been any older than 10 years old. He really did not understand how to play the game very well and threw me about 4 interceptions, plus a few fumbles I returned for touchdowns. I took the victory 63-13, with about 35 of those points handed to me on a silver platter. Game 1 was a game played to get your name on the bracket board on which I was number 17.
Game 2: Orlando vs. Colorado
In round two I drew a kid wearing a #87 Ed McCaffrey Denver Broncos jersey. Finally, I was playing with someone up to my level. He drove down the field on his first drive and scored quite easily. He got a few breaks with a safety on my opening drive and jumped out to a 16-0 lead in the first quarter. He took that same 16 point lead into the fourth quarter as things went back and forth all game long. I scored in the fourth quarter and got a two-point conversion to cut his lead to eight points at 58-50. He would score again to make the score 64-50 and missed his extra point. I scored and made a two-point conversion to make the score 64-58. Now, with under a minute remaining I used my knowledge of the game to use my timeouts wisely. Only 16 seconds remained as he lined up for a field goal that would put the game out of reach. Using Colorado’s kicker Clay Rush he missed the field goal and I took over from my own 5 yard line with 13 seconds remaining. My first pass took me to his 18 yard-line with just 4 seconds to go. My Joe Hamilton went back to pass and found (no longer a Predator) Jermaine Mays wide open for a game tying touchdown. You may laugh at this part, Jay Taylor missed the extra point to win the game and instead we go to overtime tied at 64. In overtime he won the toss, drove down the field a pretty good ways until I stopped him. He would miss another field goal leaving it wide open for me to score and win. I would do just that to end the game with a 71-64 overtime victory to move on to round 3.
Game 3: Orlando vs. Dallas
In this game I was back to playing a younger kid from Dallas who was really good at the game. That is, he knew how to cheat and use illegal rushes to get to the quarterback faster than you are supposed to. I guess I found another flaw in the Arena Football video game when I saw him doing that, basically he was stunting with his linebacker which we all know is illegal in the AFL.
I played really tough on defense all game long. I was confused by his tactics in the beginning of the game because I could not figure out how he was getting to my QB so fast. I trailed for most of the game just by a couple of points and was in the same situation going into the fourth quarter. Playing from behind became a theme for me the whole day as he was up 26-25 with two minutes remaining. I scored a touchdown to make the score 32-26. I forced him to a four and out on the ensuing drive scored again to go ahead 39-26 at the one minute timing rules. He did not give up as he scored to get within five at 39-34 and would then try an onsides kick to no avail. I got forward progress on my first play and he had no timeouts to stop the clock so I took a 39-34 decision.
Game 4: Orlando vs. Dallas
In this game I was forced into being the Dallas Desperados because the young man I was playing was Caleb, the son of Orlando Predators President/Owner Brett Bouchy. I believe Caleb was about five or six years old. I took it as easy as I could on him once I got a good 20 point lead. I would let him complete a pass and then pull all my tacklers away so he could score. A few different times I dropped back with Dallas QB Clint Dolezel and let the Preds line have their way with him as I gave up two safeties.
I won this game 53-40 to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament. Caleb was a pretty good sport about the whole thing, but I hope he did not realize I was letting him score on purpose. I have an eight year old nephew myself, so I know kids tend to get a little upset about losing. He once broke one of my ps2 controllers after I beat him in a game of Tiger Woods 2003.
Game 5 Semi-Finals: Orlando vs. Grand Rapids
It was at this point that I was notified about having a shot to win $300 for being the champion of the tournament. There were an odd number of us left so I had to draw who I would play in the Semi-final. I drew Joe, from Washington State who is a Grand Rapids Rampage fan. Joe was very good defensively all game long. Earlier in the competition he eliminated Andrew Mason 35-28 so I knew I had a defensive battle on my hands.
Neither myself nor Joe could get anything going offensively early in the game. Both of us settled for field goals on our first drives. At this point I have about 20 people standing over my shoulder watching me play a video game. I will go ahead and skip to the one minute timing rules of the fourth quarter with me leading Joe 25-21. I tried a field goal to get a full touchdown lead, but missed it and left the door wide open for Joe as he scored on his next drive to go ahead 28-25. I then took the ball and milked the clock down to 10 seconds. At this point I had no timeouts left so I threw three straight incomplete passes into the end zone. That set up Jay Taylor’s 18 yard field goal to send the game into overtime tied at 28.
I took possession first in overtime and scored on my first play to go ahead 35-28. Joe would follow suit and score to get within one point. He did what all smart players do and went for two in this situation. I played very tight coverage and forced an incompletion to win the game 35-34 in Overtime. Joe would take third place in the tournament and a $100 prize.
Game 6 The Finals: Orlando vs. Philadelphia (Jason Lucas vs. J.J. Gruden)
That is no misprint my friends; I had a sit down game with the 15 year old son of our beloved Head Coach Jay Gruden. After the Xbox system decided to crash on two separate occasions in which the game had started off fine for me. J.J. managed to kickoff and gets the ball to bounce perfectly off the net to get his Philadelphia Soul off to a fast start. At this point in the tournament I had been playing for 5 hours straight and had nothing to eat all day, not an excuse, just saying it made it easier to give up. Once J.J. got a 14-0 lead on me I pretty much cruised to the loss. I did try that little tactic from the kid in the earlier Dallas game, and it worked a little bit. I tried some onsides kicks and actually did get one to make my lone 14-0 run of the game. J.J. Gruden was too much for me in the end as he held on to win 61-45 and win the $300 first prize.
I took home the second prize of $200 and two great seats to the ArenaBowl that I could not give away because anyone who gave a crap about the game already had tickets.
Great Event
Overall I feel the EA Sports Arena Football Challenge was a successful event for ArenaBowl XX weekend. I went into the event thinking I would probably lose quickly and be out in time for lunch at In and Out Burger. Instead I made a very long run in the tournament, turned 20 bucks into 200 and was not done playing until the ArenaBattle was beginning inside the Thomas and Mack Center. The event lasted six hours in all, including the one hour sign up period; by the time it was over I was so hungry that I ate some nachos at the ArenaBattle before having dinner at Mandalay Bay’s buffet.
The critic in me just wants to say that at this event next year maybe they can turn the music down just a little bit. Other than that the event was ran very well, I just wish I could have gotten out of there without my ears ringing. Next year I look forward to participating in this event again whether it is in Las Vegas or New Orleans and trying to avenge my loss to my new friend J.J. Gruden. Congrats buddy!
Jason Lucas is a part-time freelance writer based in the Orlando, Florida area. A former director of media relations with the Orlando Predators, Jason is making his return to Arenafan.com after a short stint as a public relations assistant with the UFL‘s Florida Tuskers in 2010. Lucas has followed the AFL since 1992 and began covering the Predators for Arenafan during the 2004 season. He held that position until being picked up by the Preds front office after the 2007 season. Jason‘s knowledge of arena football and love of the game is what drives him to continue covering the sport.
