| Sometimes at night, while I sleep, I dream that I am the | | | | NCAA Football '05, starring as "HB #1." "[Davis] never |
| point guard on Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. Other | | | | looked like he was running that fast, yet no one could |
| nights, I bat cleanup for the Chicago White Sox. If that | | | | catch him. Our running styles are similar." |
| isn't busy enough, I still often find time to quarterback | | | | Most athletes play video games the way most |
| Jimmy Johnson's Dallas Cowboys. | | | | gamers play: as entertainment, for fun. In WVU's |
| The bad thing about my dreams: they end. | | | | football player lounge, a PlayStation2 (PS2) is plugged |
| By no means am I a professional athlete. Yet almost | | | | in next to the team TV. Several players take the |
| every night, I watch myself on TV draining three | | | | games they play on the screen as serious as the |
| pointers, hitting towering home runs, and throwing sky | | | | games they play on the field. |
| scraping touchdown passes with the best in the game. | | | | Ray Lewis, whose spastic pre-game dances and |
| I realize all my sports dreams are make believe. I live | | | | primal, near death-causing hits on the field make him |
| for life's little pleasures. | | | | one of the most intimidating players in the NFL, is also |
| The tiny light at the end of my tunnel is thanks to | | | | known to be one of the most competitive video game |
| today's digital technology. I can become a professional | | | | players in the league. Lewis hates to lose at anything |
| athlete by creating myself in a video game. | | | | he does. Thanks to his competitiveness on the field |
| I'm not the only person to do it, or to have ever done it. | | | | and in front of the screen, Lewis became the first |
| Joffrey Lupul is a winger for the Anaheim Mighty | | | | defensive player to be chosen as cover man for the |
| Ducks. In addition, he is also a featured athlete in EA | | | | 2005 installment of EA's Madden NFL series in August. |
| Sports' NHL 2004. | | | | Video game popularity with athletes has soared |
| "I used to create my own player and try to make it | | | | because of the free time they have in the off-season. |
| look as much like me as possible," said Lupul in an | | | | "[Games are] relaxing. It's pure entertainment. This is |
| interview with John Gaudiosi of ESPN Gamer. "I guess | | | | the way you kill four, five hours," Lewis said in an |
| now I won't have to do that." | | | | interview with Matt Wong of ESPN Gamer. "You have |
| Sports video games have been evolving since "Pong," | | | | your boys over, you have your kids over, and you |
| a tennis-like game where two players use long bars to | | | | have a big tournament. We might have three TVs |
| defend their end of the screen from what vaguely | | | | going." |
| resembles a ball. It debuted on the Atari game system | | | | "I played [EA Sports'] MVP Baseball 2004 all summer |
| in 1976. In 2003, the top-selling game of the year was | | | | long, and Rasheed Marshall and I played MarioKart on |
| EA Sports' Madden NFL 2004, which sold over 1.3 | | | | [Ninetendo] Gamecube for a week straight," said |
| million copies in its first week. | | | | Harris. "I could play games like that all day, 10 straight." |
| Unlike me, many athletes today do not need to create | | | | Games are clearly the best cure for the off-season |
| a digital image of themselves to be featured in a | | | | blues, but many athletes see the benefits video games |
| game. Today's popular sports video games have the | | | | have as recruiting tools. |
| characteristics of all active players. Professionally | | | | "Video games can be a positive influence for younger |
| licensed games even have players' accurate height, | | | | kids, who might not have started skating yet," said |
| weight, and hometown. The best games even feature | | | | Minnesota Wild center Pierre-Marc Bouchard, in an |
| individual trademarks of certain players, like Vince | | | | interview with Gaudiosi. "If you get into the realism of |
| Carter's classic double-handed sky point after a furious | | | | the video games, kids might try street hockey and |
| dunk, or Ichiro's bailout first step as he swings at an | | | | eventually graduate to the rink." |
| inside pitch. | | | | The National Hockey League has been entrenched in |
| "When I was a little kid, everybody could do the same | | | | a lockout since Sept. 16. With no end in sight, holding |
| dunks and lay-ups," said Jay Williams in an interview | | | | the interest of young fans will be crucial to its future. |
| with Patrick Hruby of ESPN Gamer. Williams, formerly | | | | While it seems possible that the entire 2004-2005 |
| an NBA point guard, plays video games daily as a | | | | season could be cancelled, fans can still find |
| diversion from the rigors of rehabilitating his left leg | | | | excitement by turning on their PS2. |
| following a 2003 motorcycle accident. "I remember last | | | | "It's tough to replicate the battles along the boards in |
| year, the game version of me was doing the same | | | | video games," said Eric Staal in an interview with |
| hand gestures I do." | | | | Gaudiosi. Staal plays center for the NHL's Carolina |
| The NCAA prohibits endorsement by its amateur | | | | Hurricanes. "But if kids don't know anything about |
| athletes, but that doesn't mean collegiate athletes are | | | | hockey, [video games] are fun to play because it's up |
| less fortunate. All the player attributes are there, only | | | | and down action and scoring goals." |
| the names are deleted to protect the unpaid. | | | | Microsoft's Xbox, PS2, and GameCube allow sports to |
| Jason Colson is a 6'1", 215 pound, sophomore tailback | | | | be played year round. Fans can get their fix at any |
| who proudly wears No. 24 at West Virginia University | | | | time of the year with a simple flip switch. Indeed, they |
| (WVU). In EA Sports' NCAA Football 2005, his name | | | | are simulated, but the World Series can go on in the |
| has been changed to "HB #24," but the height, weight, | | | | dead of winter, and hockey games can hit the ice in |
| and class rank are all the same. When No. 24 steps | | | | the scorch of summer. |
| into the backfield, the game player knows they are | | | | For athletes, video games can help them stay |
| about to hand off to Mr. Colson. | | | | entertained, or distracted, when they aren't on the field. |
| "As a youngster, I never pictured myself being in a | | | | For future athletes, gaming consoles provide the |
| video game," said Colson. "It's cool playing as yourself." | | | | ultimate first step to falling in love with a sport. |
| Today's younger athletes have grown up in the video | | | | Video games allow all who play to live outside |
| game generation. All of them have memories of | | | | themselves. Armchair quarterbacks become heroes. |
| playing games as kids and teens. Many still play. | | | | On the field quarterbacks get the opportunity to |
| "One of my favorite game players growing up was | | | | dominate their most hated rivals. Everyone can live out |
| Terrell Davis in the Madden games," remembers | | | | dreams in cyber world they never could on the field. |
| Kay-Jay Harris, another WVU tailback you can find in | | | | |