Maddenholiday

It comes every year in August, the greatest spectacle in polygonal sports, Madden Football.

Since 1989, John Maddens name has graced the cover of this game, and since then, it has ridden past every other football simulation, and finally, siezed the sole NFL license for video games.

The games it toppled were no joke.

First, Tecmo Bowl, which revolutionized football, in an age of John Elways Quarterback.

Then Super Tecmo Bowl, which was the greatest football simulation of the NES generation.

It moved on to take on Super Tecmo Bowl in its Super Nintendo and Genesis versions (Sega had a couple different NFL licensed games Madden crushed, such as Sega Sports football, and both featured licensed game like Troy Aikman football which left without a sound) and finally toppled Tecmo when the battle waged onto the earlier days of the Playstation.

Polygonal pioneer Gameday (Gameday continued to publish titles for the the playstation consoles for years after falling into fourth amongst football titles, after Microsofts NFL fever, also conquered). Then came the 2k series which started on the Dreamcast, and went on to wage on other platforms.

Finally 2k went down in a hail of gunfire, as Electronic Arts snatched the carpet out from under them.

In the early 2000's Madden transformed from a game, to an institution. It became the "have to have game" of every single year. Thousands of football fans, gamers, and the combinations of the two, had their calendars circled. The game literally would spend August to Christmas season as the number one seller on every systems list.

Now, it is literally a holiday. Ive heard reports of people camping out hours before "Midnite Maddeness" (almost every specialty gaming store now opens at midnight on Madden release day with a celebration). No Gamespot or EB Games in the country is without a 50 person line infront of its doors up to an hour before midnight.

People now will take the release day off, or even the whole following week, simply to play this game. I actually overheard a fellow Viking fan talking about how he had specifically planned his vacation time around Maddens release. There are national tournaments, guide books, even YAHOO! had the release of Madden as its headline news story.

So, play on Madden Nation. Im just sorry I didnt have a vacation day to spend ravishing the virtual NFL with my beloved Vikings.

Holding out, or something.....

So, there is all this press about Matt Leinhart, who finally signed with the Arizona Cardinals after holding out, and every year, every sport, there is some guy who will hold out.

That got me thinking.......

When I was a younger man, actually boy, I was an excellent baseball player. I played from the time I was 3 or 4, almost every day. I played organized baseball one year, and in that year, I managed to lead the team in homers, doubles, triples, runs and stolen bases. I would contest the results of the batting average figures, but "officially", another pretty good player got the team lead in that. I dont mean to toot my own horn, but I was a regular 5 tool player. I played first base, pretty much because I was the best leaper, and best with the glove, but I could play any position, but pitcher, and maybe catcher. I sucked at pitching, but I was the default third man in the rotation, because nobody else could even throw the ball remotely close to over the plate. I batted right handed every at bat of the season, but I feel Im a decent left handed hitter, and actually prefer swinging from that side of the plate. I did launch a few during practices.

I ended up getting offensive player of the year, and then I gave up baseball. Maybe if I would have stuck with it, I could have went pro. My dad tried to talk me into playing baseball for my high school, but I wanted to play football, which was my first love, and refused to play baseball, if I couldnt play football. Of course, my mom was like many mothers, and didnt want me hurt playing football, so thats where it ended. A temper tantrum might have changed the complete outcome of my life. Every time I look at that trophy in my cupboard, and my two game balls proudly displayed next to it, I think just a second at would could have been........

Anyway, I dont have a complaint about where my life has gone, and truthfully, if my health ended up going the same way it did, I wouldnt have possibly been able to play a 162 game season, Id be lucky to manage maybe half the games, and theyd have to be night games, or in domes. Also, I probably would have never met my wife, I may have not gotten my college degree either.....who knows.

The point I suppose, as good as I was, or whatever level I may have gotten to, I think, at the end of the day, I would have given my molars to play in just one professional game. These guys, like Leinhart, holding out for another extra MILLION or so (thats six zeros).....I cant help to think, that they lost the love of the game a long time ago. I understand that an athlete needs to get paid as much as he possibly can, as soon as possible, since career ending injury is always around the corner, and I also understand that the owner of that team, is making infinatley more by the presence of that player, then that player is being compensated. If he wasnt, the NFL would have a problem. Thats simple Capitalism 101.

So, in principle, I cant argue with trying to milk "the man", but on the other hand, youre playing a GAME for a living, a game that half the guys in this country would volunteer just to warm the bench to be playing. You are now a hero to thousands of them. Just play the game. Leave the "Diva" act to Jennifer Lopez.

What are you worth?

This comes from an argument Ive had a few times on myspace.com, about the "worth" of a persons job.

To begin with, I subscribe to the theory of labor value. That is, a good or service is basically worth the components that produce it. There are a couple components to the equation

1. Sale price
2. All fixed and variable costs outside of labor associated with producing a good or service
3. Labor Value

1-2=3 Very simple.

Now, for a capitalist to "profit" they must pay an employee at some value lower then 3. Every capitalist has SOME excuse for the amount they take. Usually, its simply the cut they take for their "monetary investment", occasionally its for their intellectual contribution, that is, they have some sort of patent or invention, that is generating demand, and therefore they believe they should be compensated for that.

On to the dilema.

It seems to be a general right wing argument, that a person is paid, for the value of the job they are doing, because the "free market" determines this rate.

I contend that, a person is NEVER paid what their job is worth as in so much a company is profiting, and a labor contract is simply that, a contract which stipulates a rate at which a person accepts to do a certain job, and in return has accepted a certain wage, and or benefits.

So who is right?

Let us examine a scenario.

Two guys are hired at the same fast food joint. Each have the same responsibility, and same hours. Niether has any prior experience.

Person A, accepts to sell his labor for 5.15 an hour.

Person B, gives the employer a line about his starving kid at home, and gets an extra dime an hour for sympathy.

What is the job worth then? 5.15? 5.25?

Is the value of Person B's job, worth more to the company, then person A, dispite them having the same job description, and same prior experience?

Furthermore, the capitalist is scraping many times more value from their job, then they are being compensated for, simply in compensation for his "investment".

So, I again pose the question, how could one possibly say that the wage you receive is what you're "worth"?