Top Five Video Games of All Time (Sports Related) Cont...

Back to blogging...I can't stop the habit or I will end up like some people (cough-cough Derek)...This next selection is difficult for me to throw into the category of a "Sport" (I am probably about to offend someone right now), but I do believe it is listed as one - regardless, I loved this game as a kid...

4. Excitebike - Looking back on this game, I do believe it was one of the first that I purchased for my Nintendo...you basically had two options - race solo or race against computer-assisted riders...you controlled the position of the red bike pushing up and down on the control pad and controlled the axis of the bike when it was in the air by pushing left or right...

...I have to say I became quite good at this game. To receive that 1st place trophy and move on to a more difficult track was def. good times. Even better was to beat the best time listed on the stadium wall...always had to watch out though for that tricky little oil slick on the track and overheating by holding down the "B" button too long!

...The best part of this game was in "Design Mode" where you had the ability to build your own track - one of the first games ever where you could create your own! - one might say a "dark-age" glimpse at the games that exist today such as the Sims...

#4

The #4 normally brings a smile to my face...a really big smile to my face...Brett Favre!!! The man-love of my....I mean what a great player (I am as straight as they get - so don't worry). I love watching him play!...Unfortunately though, yesterday (Sunday May 21st) the #4 had a different meaning. It marked the 4 year anniversary of my father passing away...

...Can you believe that it has already been 4 years? Where does the time go? Next thing you know I will be writing a blog about how it has been 10 years since my Dad passed away.

I still have many questions about "why?" - questions that I do not have the answers to - and I probably never will...but here are a couple of things I will share with you that I do know...


1. He loved a good sound system!
2. I had more than one of his co-workers tell me at the visitation how he never once had a bad thing to say about anyone - ever (not many of us can say that about someone we know)! - that is the definition of character...
3. God blessed me with a new life to take the place of the one I lost (my son A.J.) - and now I know how my Dad truly felt about me...and man, would he have loved AJ to pieces- that is the one thing that still brings me to tears (as it is doing right now).
4. He never missed a single sporting event that I was involved in...I wish I had appreciated that a bit more at the time.
5. I will see him again...but not yet.

Top Five Video Games (Non-Sport Related) of All Time Cont...

If you go back and look (as Derek would say - "all three of you who read my blog") I have changed my Top Five Video games of all time to the Top Five Video Games of All Time (Non-Sport Related) and (Sport Related)...it honestly became almost impossible once I really sat down and began to think about it...my goal is to go back and forth between Sport and Non-Sport until my top five is complete...with a bit more thrown in as we go along of course...

4. Pitfall - Can you hear it now?..."yaaaaaaayaaaaayaaaaaaaaaaa" that good old attempt to hear the "Atari sound card (was it a card?) tarzan" cry as you swung over the alligator infested swamps...taking the legendary Pitfall Harry threw a possible 256 screeens in 20 minutes (If you could survive that long).

Collecting gold and silver bars along the way along with diamonds (which all added up to nothing if you really think about it - except for points of course)...while avoiding dangerous pitfalls, alligators, scorpions or open camp fires (who leaves an open camp fire going btw?)...Rumor had it too if you could score 20,000+ points in one game, you qualified for a "Pitfall Harry's Explorer Card Patch". Unfortunately I never got that far to find out...One thing I do know though, it was easier going in the opposite direction (right to left) instead of the standard (left to right).

I don't think I ever made it thru all 256 screens, but I do know that this game opened a new door to adventure games...and I loved every minute of it!!!...FYI - if you did complete this game let me know - I would love to find out what happened at the end...

Top Five Video Games of All Time (Sport Related)

This has been more difficult than I thought it would be...I have a list of approx. 20 games that I just absolutely love (part of that list I started in church this past Sunday btw, but I made it up right before the sermon started so I am ok) and have had the hardest time deciding my top five...but I did happen to make this "gem" my #5 Sports related pick of all time...

5. Mike Tyson's Punch Out - What a great game! A Nintendo masterpiece!!! I think I still have it out in the garage somewhere..."Little Mac" fighting guys 10 times bigger than he was...If you got the crap beat out of you (If I remember correctly) didn't you have your trainer "Doc Louis" riding a bike behind you helping you train a bit harder for your next demoted rematch?...and pushing the A and B button together at the same time, as fast and as hard as you could, just hoping to get up for the fifth time of the match.

The characters of the game were great too...starting out with Glass Joe, then Von Kaiser, Piston Honda - the Japanese Boxer - "I'll give you a TKO from Tokyo" guy. Next in line was Don Flamingo - what was up with that dance he did?...other characters such as King Hippo (the guy you had to hit in the stomach to knockdown), Great Tiger, and Soda Popinski - the drunk Russian boxer...

...I remember when I got to Super Macho Man...what a moment! - just one more to go(and btw he was not easy to take down)...but I must say I beat him fair and square with no cheats...Finally, the match of all matches...the "I think I lasted 20 sec. the first time I faced Mike Tyson" match...I will be honest here - I was so terrified and excited at the same time! - he moved so fast!!! - I thought it would be impossible to beat him...but through hours of having to fight Macho Man again and again after you would lose to Tyson (again the demotion thing) paid off! - again no cheats I am proud to say!

Top Five Video Games (Non-Sport Related) of All Time

Some of my best memories as a child were spending countless hours either in front of a TV screen playing video games or in a video arcade (and I have been known to still do it as an adult from time to time)...over my next five blogs I will be posting the Top 5 video games (non-sport related) of all time (thats one video game per blog just in case you got confused there)...of course this is my opinion only, but I believe most of you will agree on my selections (We will count down from 5 to 1)...


5. Dragons Lair - In the early 1980's the world's first laserdisc game was unleashed...Arcade games were already popular, but this blew all of them away...now it cost 50 cents instead of the standard 25 cents, but was worth giving up an extra game of Astroids or Pac-Man to play...and the crowd you would draw when you played it was unbelievable - especially if you were good at it...


...Gamers took on the role of Dirk the Daring in his quest to save the "hot" Princess Daphne from the evil dragon named Singe. Unfortunately after three deaths you had to pump in two more quarters and this often caused people like me to be more of a spectator than the spectatee (not sure if that is a word, but it is now)...either way this game def. belongs in any true gamers top 5 (unless you were born after 1990)!

Super Bowl XVI

Picture it...January 24, 1982, I was six years old and the man on the block, probably dressed in some really stupid sweater with a butterfly collar on underneath it (man my parents dressed me bad)...anyway, I was at church, should have been focusing on what Bob West (the preacher of Grace Chapel - a church of about 30 people in Dover, Ohio) was saying, but what was honestly on my mind was the score of the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the S.F. 49ers...Now I realize that most six year olds are not too concerned with the outcome of the Super Bowl, but not this six year old...you see I had a week's allowance riding on this game (or in 1982 terms - 1/2 of a Star Wars figure) - a whole $1.00!

A couple of days before, I was playing down the street with my good buddies Andy Zolner and Laverne Duke (that really was his name). Andy and I began to discuss the game and of course I was for my boy Ken Anderson (Bengals QB)...btw, now that I think about it, I dont think I knew any of the player's names for Cin...what I did know was I had a Bengals helmet in my garage that my Dad had made using a Cleveland Browns helmet and some black electrical tape (for the stripes) - so from that alone, I was an expert! One thing led to another and the next thing you knew - a whole dollar was riding on this game...you guessed it, I had taken the Bengals and Andy had taken the 49ers...this was a lock! - how stupid could he be?

Well, unfortunately when I got home from church and found out that the Bengals had lost to the 49ers 26-21, I had to go to my Dad and explain how I had just lost a dollar to Andy in a bet...oh and btw, I need to borrow a dollar too...

...I believe I cried as I told my father what I had done and I believe he shared with me that betting is not a good thing and I should not do it anymore. Man, do I wish I had taken that advice...especially when I was about 18 and started hanging around Kent Stevens...but that is for another story and another blog...

Moral of the story you ask? - Don't tell your Dad when you are six years old that you just lost a bet to a buddy!

Top Five MDs in Life

There are five things that I believe are MDs (Must Do's) in life...and not because you have to, but because you need to (and hopefully want to)...

5. "Yes, sir...and Yes, Ma'am." - If there was one thing I learned from Coach Kuras (High School Football Coach), it was to address those in authority with a good "Yes, sir." - It is called RESPECT! - Always show it no matter what the circumstance.

4. Your dream vacation - There is a place on this earth that all of us just dream of going to one day...don't wait until you retire to do it...My Mom and Dad planned on traveling once they retired - and I am sure my Dad had a dream vacation spot...unfort. my Dad passed away four years ago...book that trip asap! (BTW, my dream vacation is Scotland)

3. Give to those in need - I am not talking about your next door neighbor who needs to borrow an egg so they can bake a cake...I am talking about giving to the guy who sits on the exit ramp with a sign that says "Will work for food", or the guy who sits outside Bush Stadium who you know is not going home to a nice warm house tonight (like you)...and don't give me the "He will just go out and get drunk off of it" crap...that is not of your concern...we are commanded to help the poor...and don't reach for the small bill in your wallet - give him/her the $20.00 bill.


2. Lemonade Stand - When you see one of these you better stop and buy not one, but two lemonades...and if you don't have any cash, drop whatever it is you are doing and go right home and grab some ...after you give them the $$$ make sure they keep the drinks - let them know they deserve it!

1. Tell someone "I love you" - Everyday make sure you tell someone (I don't care who it is) that you love them...you never know - that may be the last time you see them.

Anyblog, U.S.A

Welcome everyone...I figured since half of my friends have a blog - I should too...now please note I have waited until the birth of my second child to take this "blog" thing on, so I promise nothing...but when I do post something it will make you do one of four things (hopefully)...

1. laugh
2. cry
3. think
4. stop reading my blogs


...more to come!