JimmyB

Another year, another great Madison Tournament in the books. Excellent work once again Holz. Bros. and Co., each year the tournament moves a little bit higher up on the sweetness meter. Here are a few observations... -Group Z was awesome. We were a very loud bunch with a lot of drinking (did a group shot) and chanting. And while no one admitted it to me on Saturday, I know there were words between the Holzbauers and the networks. I know they have it in for me and so I wasn't surprised that when NFL Films shows up that I have the Child of Destiny creating chaos within Group Z. -Had a lot of close wins, two in overtime I believe (nothing came easy this year, very good competition) and finally my luck ran out when Peter smoked my beloved LA Raiders in the Round of 32. -Really enjoyed the Rico-Orenga Sweet 16 game as me and my buddy Mike tried to go toe-to-toe with Orenga's posse. -Excellent work Chet, you truly were a man among boys this year. -Great time and it was good to talk and laugh with all my friends in the world of Tecmo. See you next year.

I vote for Knobbe on the cover. If not that, than Rodger's (A).

Hey folks, as usual, I had a really good time at the Madison Tournament. I’d like to begin by first off thanking the Holzbauer Bros. These guys do such a great job running this tournament (from the selected readings, Hostetler coins, and just overall excellent organization) that I may be too spoiled to enter a tournament not run by them. They also have a great Tecmo mindset, as great players who know the game, but also have a lot of fun with the analysis, trash talk, various nicknames, and overall goofiness. To put it simply, they’re probably two of the coolest people on this planet not named Charlie Sheen. I’d also like to give credit to Bailey, Tony, Knobbe, and Toolie for all the work they did. The website was great and the play-by-play with live game breaks was awesome. It’s this kind of stuff that really makes it fun for the rest of us and separates the Madison Tournament from all the rest. And of course to my good buddy Rico, who I've spent countless hours playing against. Next year will be yours. Anyways, I’ve been playing this for so long and often times I wonder why a 20 year old Nintendo game is still so much fun for me? Especially when I’ve been running the same playbook and style for as long as I can remember. But I really think the reason this game is so much fun is all the banter that goes around it; from playing friends in the neighborhood, to the message boards, and now in tournaments. So on to the tournament… To begin, aside from getting hot, one also needs a lot of breaks along the way. And after winning this a few years ago, I never figured the stars would align to allow me to do it again. In my 9 games I had 1 lost fumble and 1 interception, while seeing a lot of my key players go into good and recovering more than a few fumbles from my opponents. Group I had a solid group (good dudes too), but was able to go 3-0 and grab the #2 seed on the back of timely fumbles in all three of my games. After group play I took a wise hiatus from drinking as I ate a hamburger and took a walk to the Capitol. 1st Round I played Nate C. (who was in my group) and the interesting thing about this game was that it was my third straight game with the Pit-Phx matchup and the second such for me and Nate. Nate called Pit-Phx in group (I took Pit), my next opponent called Pit-Phx (I took Pit) and then I returned the favor against Nate by calling Pit-Phx in our playoff game (he took Pit). 2nd Round I go against Louis B. and win with a match-up of Falcons-Cardinals. Sweet 16 I play Justin G. (Mia-SD), but Dan is off and throws a few interceptions, none of which were by Byrd. Elite 8- I dominate O’Dell as I expertly cause two fumbles late and start to hit my peak. Final Four Big game against Soby. I was hoping someone else would do the dirty work for me and knock him out (as I feel he’s the best to play the game, he can play multiple styles like few can), but I was also looking forward to another game against a good friend in a series that dates back quiet a few years and includes an HSTL and Madison Tournament Championship games. After calling the matchup of Chargers-Broncos I thought maybe I had goofed because I didn’t like Soby with Elway and I was afraid he would be able to lockdown my running game with those linebackers. Luckily Tolliver and Butts went into excellent/good, I called a lot of his plays early to get some punts, and I got away with a few passes into coverage to hold on to the win. Championship Neat game here as Mort and myself were both former champs (Mort looking to repeat) and also because we go back a ways in the world of online Tecmo as I believe we both started in OTFL Pool 4 and I want to say it was in the Wild Wild NFC West, he was 49’ers I was Saints. The game was a good time, Mort is a great guy and I enjoyed it as we both did a lot of hollering and celebrating. My offense was on, but I really had no answer for Mort’s offense either. I think my only stop came on that 4th down play and in my opinion it was the right call to make and am still surprised (and very happy) that Jay didn’t make that catch. Mort may very well be a back-to-back champ had he done so. In conclusion, it was a great time. Thanks again to everybody, the night before the tournament I always feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. I wish I could’ve gotten a chance to talk some of the guys a little more, but I’ll see you all next year. I’ll be taking my trophy to school tomorrow and talking to the principal about starting a new extracurricular activity…

Two questions for the tournament organizers... One, does the Madison Tecmo Tournament have an official position on the state budget battle that it will advise us Tecmoers to follow throughout the weekend? And two, does our tournament entry fee cover transportation to and from the state capitol for those interested in protesting between games?

Wow, this was alot of fun. I thought I could do well, but never imagined winning it. An overall great experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was nice to finally get to me some of the online guys and so many other tecmo goofs. I'd also like to point out that Soby was extremely generous. He could've easily taken the 9'ers and smoked me, but decided to go with Chicago to make things interesting. Truly a class act. Finals MVP-Howie Long