Trying to explain to my grandmother the abstract strategic correlation between American football and chess never went particularly well. The concept of neutralizing selective parts of your opposition, attacking weakened and more vulnerable surface areas, blocking and protection etc., etc. that are common between the two pretty much flew right over her head. Granny loved playing chess and when my father was busy I would accommodate her with a game but, truth be told, I would every time have rather been seated in front of my Nintendo playing Tecmo Bowl or Blades of Steel.
Fast forward all these years, I don’t own a Nintendo Wii but in a sense I am thankful one of my friends does as it seems to have given my wife a measure of insight into my affinity for sports video games. She really enjoyed the physical dimension of it and has taken an according shining to Guitar Hero as well. Beforehand, she was at a loss as to understand why I would become so animated when playing with friends or online. Jumping up and down, using “selective” language, choice pushing and shoving if my opponent was seated next to me, spilled beverages, and so forth and so on. Seeing her throw her arms up and spin around with an animated “whoo!” when she threw her first strike in Wii bowling definitely brought a smile to my face.
When I was about 13 or so, I convinced my parents to buy me an NFL bean bag chair at a garage sale for next to nothing. It was worn but featured the logo of every team, including the best logo in all of pro sports; the super striking lightning bolt of the powerhouse SAN DIEGO CHARGERS! I fondly remember my throne as I think back to the long hours I spent honing my power play and red zone offense while my parents griped “It’s sunny and 23 outside and you want to stay in your room?” Yes, I did.
Nowadays, kids have it a lot better and I have to say I’m a little envious. Bean bag chairs are still well-suited for some serious thumb time, but now it’s likely nearly anyone would prefer a game chair that is explicitly designed for ergonomic comfort and performance during your on-screen conquests. A sound rocker game chair would have been an exquisite luxury for me back then with its augmented audio capacities and back and forth means of calming your anxieties. A wireless rocker game chair might have been a safer option for me due to my continuing propensity to jump up and around as LaDainian Tomlinson bounces into the end zone over and over. Classic game chairs also give you the freedom to locate yourself as close to the screen as you like, and evolution game chairs feature a built-in lap front controller stand. How cool is that!
I remember thinking nothing could touch my NFL bean bagger – Man, us generation X types really got the short end of the stick on this one.
GO BOLTS!!
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