So, there I was in pursuit of the perfect Madden 19 season. I’d had a perfect season before, but that involved a spectacular assortment of players built up off of a team where three of the players were named after my kids and entirely made up. This time there were no fabricated characters. I’d built a dream team through drafts and trades and free agent signings. I had the squad. They were lead by a rookie QB who’d helped them amass a record number of points. The team averaged 50 a game. They destroyed everyone–included the hated Jets. We were in the conference finals against a Chargers team that was 8-7-1, with 1 of the losses coming against this very team!
We lost.
We only scored 7.
No, nobody was hurt. I just crapped the bed.
So, that is what happened. I lost a Madden game. I wasted a perfect season. The next day I was in class doing six word memoirs with my students and one wrote, Take the L and keep moving. How timely was that? See, games are life writ small. We have the opportunity to experience all of the happiness and shame and glory and pain of a long form situation in a few hours. When it goes well we rejoice. When it goes badly we feel the pain and move on. I love that about games.
It isn’t the same for sports. I have to wait a year to see the Cyclones have another shot at March Madness. I have to wait months to see if the Giants somehow recover from that massive loss of talent. Waiting is the hardest part.
That is why we game.