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PART 1 Gannonball Run - Madison Tecmo X - A Tecmo Christmas Madison prep tends to begin at the same time that the official announcement comes down - usually just around the new year. This year was no different. Madison prep encompasses many things, including umpteen online pick up games, live console get togethers, outfit considerations, among many other rituals. Fortunately, for many of us in the midwest, there is sure to be a tournament nearby leading up to the big one, as a precursor to Madison in March. In Detroit, we host the Tecmo Kumite. This past February was the 2nd annual tournament O’Toole and I have hosted in Detroit, in preparation for Madison (in addition to one in Chicago in 2010). O’Toole and Mort threw down, in 3 straight 1 pt. ball games, crowning Mort the 2014 Kumite champion, and sending O’Toole off as the runner-up for the 2nd straight year. We hadn’t discussed this together, but Regulator and I both learned on that day, thanks to 32oz. craft beers in Mason jars - that large consumption, and Tecmo do not mix. A big thank you to my beautiful wife, Megan for her help throughout the tournament, and for taking care of me that night. God knows I needed it. Fast forward to the second weekend in March. Madison Tecmo X weekend is upon us! O’Toole and I have several hours to kill before we pick up tecmobowl.org do it all - Kamphuna8, at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. The number of hours this guy has put in for the greater good of Tecmo cannot be measured. Snagging him from the airport is the least we can do. We hook up with Flo for some ‘street tecmo’ as we like to call it, at this coffee shop in Wicker Park, The Wormhole. The establishment had a rich theme, chalk full of 80’s swag, such as a DeLorean from Back to the Future on a loft, a Castle Greyskull on a nearby shelf, a framed NES gaming collage, and of course an old school wooden boxed in 27’ TV set, with a top-loading Nintendo sitting atop of it. They only had a copy of Tecmo Bowl, among many other titles, so I just had to run to the car to grab my copy of the game we were committing the entire weekend to: Tecmo Super Bowl. The Tecmo sparring among the 3 of us was a great way to shake off some of those console cobwebs, atleast for Flo’s sake - in preparation for Madison. The coffee was great, as was the nearly 5 hours of gaming we got under our belts, prior to departure. Thanks a ton to Toolie’s buddy for showing us such a cool place, that I unfortunately missed out on while I lived there, a handful of years ago! We depart for O’Hare at around 5:30pm cst, with plenty of time to grab Kamp, considering Chicago traffic, for the arrival of his 6:27pm flight from Seattle. Kamp lets us know via text, that his flight was actually arriving 15-20 min early, which was just absolutely perfect timing! As we pull up to the terminal, out comes Kamp. If it weren’t for security ensuring we didn’t violate the No Stopping, Standing, Parking sign, certainly big bro hugs would have occurred. It’s a quick sub-3 hour drive up to Madison, and it passed ever so quickly, meeting Craig for the first time, and getting to know him a little better. Despite a couple of failed off-ramp exit attempts, at about 9:45 we finally reach the Friday night, Tecmo Mecca, that is the Super 8 east. We quickly check-in, drop our bags off, and grab the 12 pack of Founders All-Day IPA, I’ve got chilling in the trunk, as we take foot for Casa De Vogt, on the 3rd floor. We are greeted by many great friends, and Tecmoer’s alike within those 4 walls, including Vogtcd, BigMV, Joey Vogt, Daboys, Ruble, Hake. Throughout the night, several other Tecmoers dropped by, including Mort, Louis, Jeff B, Lucas S, and surely others I am leaving out. The amount of talent in that room was pretty incredible, as at one point, I came to the realization that 8 of my hand selected Madison Madness Sweet 16 were in that room. The delicious Founders IPA that was being consumed would be my first sip of alcohol since the Tecmo Kumite, in early Febuary. It went down ever so smoothly, and the lesson learned at the Kumite was evident - Tecmo and suds (in large quantities) do not mix. It was nice to get it out of my system the night before, rather than continuing the usual tourney day debauchery that tends to go down. I don’t recall the results of the Pre-Tecmo X Chrysler Town and Country Miniature 9-man tournament, but I know Joey Vogt played really well, as we had heard he did on the car ride in. It was a great couple of hours of Tecmo there, before we headed over to Manyo’s room, for even more partying and Tecmoing. Despite O’Toole’s wishes for us to get to bed, I reminded him of my personal submission that 2-2:30 bedtime would be sufficient enough sack time. Things began to become a little hazy, but there were many other Tecmoers partaking in Friday night festivities over at Manyo’s, including Coconuts, Ryanp, and many others. Sure enough, we stayed up partying, and getting in a handful of great games until just about 2:30, and then it was off to bed for a couple hours of rest, before the 9am SAT morning check-in at Badger Bowl. Nerves set in, as I didn’t get great rest, but alas, Tecmo X was upon us. Many of us grabbed the free continental breakfast at Super 8, before heading over to Badger Bowl, sans fresh coffee, or OJ, to our dismay. Upon arrival at the Badger Bowl, there were many hellos to friends and Tecmoers alike. Both rooms were set up to a level of extraordinary brilliant execution. I double checked with tournament organizer Jon Bailey, aka QB Browns to see if he needed my system from the car, and then headed over to the stage where Dave Murray had the stream set up. Despite being sick all week, this guy did not think twice about being there for this community. His set up for streaming the games live at twitch.tv/tecmobowl was pristine, and just all around very asthetic, and user friendly. In addition to this, his wife unfortunately caused him to mistakenly leave all of his clothing behind for the weekend! But he was still dude enough to tote with him the Bo Jackson jersey that he had been promising me, that he had ordered that was too small for him. A very cool gesture. It looks great bud! Thanks again man! I never got a chance to buy you that beer(s), so I will definitely take a rain check, til next time! Near the end of our conversation, Dave made a reference to another Dave - Bruddog. I asked where he was, what he was wearing, and he quickly pointed him out. So I ran over to say hello to the guy that has done so much for Tecmo and this community. Dave (Bruddog) - It was great putting a face on a dude that I've played with for over a decade, and has contributed so much! it was so awesome that you were able to make it out, and it was great meeting you man! We were graced with a wonderful Tecmo X introduction by Josh H, including an awesome Lawrence Taylor tribute/highlight reel. You almost forget what football was like back then, and how violent, and dominant that man was. It’s sad knowing that the NFL no longer allows that style of play. The tone was set however. It was business time. Gannonball Run, Madison Tecmo X was underway. Group Play: Double Elimination, mini-bracket Group 6: I am the favorite, and the top seed, along with the Juice-Off, defending champion, Adam G. (Garbage) as the #2. The top seed kicks off group play with the 8 seed throughout the entire session, with games scheduled accordingly throughout the mini-group bracket, 2v7, 3v6, etc. A matchup, suggested by Hake and Joey Vogt the night prior, in which I didn’t love at the time upon announcement, ultimately was very fitting to my style of play - so I gave it a shot, as I call the RAI / MIA matchup. Kevin B takes the RAI, and I get a couple of JJ’ing DBs, and my guy, Dan Marino, and the Dolphins. I was able to bottle up Bo Jackson and the Raiders run game, while I got a JJ pick with Jarvis Williams (as discussed the night before), and rolled to the 28 max pt, differential victory. Following the game, I learned of many first round upsets, including Orenga, Moulds, Kamphuna, BgBoud, and a near Rico loss, in which he bypassed a game tying FG, and scoring from inside the 5 on the final play. There was also a rumor going around that Troy H. (a player that has knocked me out of two previous Madison tournaments in the final seconds) had been upset in the first round as well, but that turned out to be a false report. Kamphuna suffered the dreaded fate of The Jealousy (a term coined at Chicago I, that essentially means: fumble) four times in game 1. G.O.O.B. was the only comfort, and criticism I could offer my fellow car-mate, but unfortunately things never got better for Craig. Below is an image of Orenga’s posse and his frustration with his Game 1 loss to Bryan P. Game 2: I win the toss again, and call a MIN / TB matchup. Nathan W. takes Tampa, in which I was hoping for, but I was happy taking the Gannonball Run karma - Vikings club. Nathan and Haddix played some very good defense on the first drive, where I completed at least one 4th down, and a couple 3rd and longs - but eventually scored, taking up nearly the entire quarter. I was worried. Nathan seemed like a real solid player. Tension was high, but eased substantially as, I caught a glimpse of his playbook, featuring plays I would never use, especially if I am the inferior tapper (which I am most of the time, but not in this matchup). Gannon serves as a mere cheerleader on the bench, but Wilson / Anthony Carter was able to take advantage of an out of position Haddix a number of times, en route to my second shutout, and max pt. diff victory. Game 3: Living up to my newly laid out ritual of no alcohol during tourney play, I hadn’t put anything into my system other than coffee and water. It was beyond 2:00pm, and breakfast was a long time ago. I ordered some greasy food to combat the hangover from Friday night, prior to kickoff of my 2-0 v.s. 2-0, Game 3, to crown a group champion. Unfortunately however, the food did not arrive until I was about to kick off with Kris S (Sammie Smith). The bar counter was in a close enough distance to my corner station 6, in that Peter was able to partially understand my gesture, of “I’m scarfing down some food, please let the losers bracket game play before mine.” He didn’t fully grasp my sentiment however, as they just left the system open, awaiting my consumption, but it worked out well anyway. As I finished up, and headed over, as did my opponent, Kris S to battle it out for the Group 6 title. Having just discussed it with someone, a DEN / SD matchup is what came to mind. Kris takes Elway and the Broncos, while I was happy to take Gil Byrd, and the superior Charger defense. Byrd gets a JJ pick of Elway on the game’s first play, and the defense is able to pick off Elway 3 more times, en route to victory. I did however, come up just a yard short of a TD as time expired, and a max point differential (Max: 28 x 3 = 84). But 3-0, and a 77 pt. differential, I will take however, leading to the field of 64. I was very proud and happy to remain unbeaten in Madison Group play, at 15-0, whilst not allowing a single point in the 3 games thus far. I was able to get over to Group 12 to catch the finale. Toolie is able to remain unblemished in Madison group play, knocking off the Godfather, aka Rod Woodson, aka, Matt K, earning a 80 pt. differential in the 3 games. Mort also earned the same 80 pt. differential. While I was happy for my Tecmo brethren, I was worried my 77 would drop me further down the seeding that I would like to be. We’ve now got about an hour until the 64 man, single elimination bracket is announced. However, there were some great 3-1 games going on, that would crown a runner up in each group. I caught most of Kamphuna’s unfortunate loss to Edward S, DAL over NYJ, where he just couldn’t get anything going. It was a very sad moment, seeing Kamp go down, as the Tecmo gods were just not going to allow this to be his day. He certainly has more to prove, and if anything, it all but ensures a return visit to Madison. During this downtime, I was able to say hello to many Tecmoers that I hadn’t had a chance to say hello to just yet (some for the first time), including Segathon, Gats, Hoigaard, among others. Segathon caught a nice selfie of a handful of us (Left to right: Luke C, Sega, O’Toole, O’Dell, (unknown), Mort). I apologize to the unknown for not introducing myself. As Bailey, and massive tourney helper, Larry input the players onto the 64 man bracket, we were graced with the best costume contest. There were some great ones out there, including the circa 2009 Tony Orenga, Beaker from the Muppets. Tecmo Ninja had been the clear cut favorite throughout the day however, to run away with the $100 prize. But at the last minute, a new candidate appeared. The Tecmo Bunny captured many people’s attention, and his 3 minutes of anonymous costume get up was able to pay his beer tab, leaving the star throwing Tecmo Ninja searching for answers as to why he wore his uncomfortable costume for the entire 12+ hour day. 64 man - Single Elimination bracket My group play success earned me a #2 seed in the Burt Reynolds region, as it did with Toolie as well in the Dom DeLuise region. I was very happy to see Regulator, as the top seed of the region, far on the other side of the bracket, where I wouldn’t have to play him until the Elite 8, if I were to get there.

Twas the night before Madison, when in the hotel, all competitors were scrimmaging, including tecmodell. Preparations and play calls were accompanied by beer, in hopes that the Tecmo gods would bring them good cheer. Drunkenness and sore thumbs put the competitors to bed, while visions of JJs danced in their heads. Hungover by morning and riding with Matt, we pull into the venue and settled in to the pool play format. Before festivities began I looked up at the TV, only to see Josh reading from the Book of L.T. Now it is game time and make sure you have a cup, to get you prepared for those perplexing matchups. From screen to screen then what did appear, but a game changing fumble by Mike Rozier. The crowd became enraged with an eruption of cheer, I knew my tournament hopes were swirling this year. More rapid than tapping, the gods they interfered, a quick strike, a cover catch, and the three from mid-field. Survived another pool play and picked up some grub, and then see my bracket path, please hit me with a club. First it's Flo, then one of the Matts, third is Tony, next is Luke, on to Mort, only to face Chet and loathe this great sport. Despite this gauntlet, and despite my odds, this is Tecmo and anything is possible from the gods. Round one I ran on the back of Earnest Byner, I blocked out the noise reminiscent of a jetliner. Round of 32 I rifled the passing speed, how dare you give me the option of B.J. Tolliver or Rodney Peete? Sweet 16 oh how sweet is it, Orenga and your posse, well you can eat shit. Elite 8 is here and this was my day, as I caught some luck against ArtVandalay. The semi-final had a malfunction of the player 1 controller port, but the replay was not magic for the great one called Mort. The final was here and of course it was Chet, line'em up, line'em up and place your bet. I called Houston - San Francisco and he took Montana to Rice, Dick Dick I need you to put them on ice. Tied at 42 and only six seconds remain, the ball at the 48 and then I hear the rain. The rain might you ask with superstar teams, yes the rain hitting the window as I wake up from my dreams. #TecmoChristmas Merry Christmas and/or holiday of your belief to all you Tecmo brethren. I got the Madison itch. Any timeline on registration?