February 08, 2007

Game Over Man, Game Over!

As some of you may know, Johnny Damon started an organization called the Professional Baseball Gaming League, or PBGL, of which he is Commissioner. (Typing that just made me fantasize about a world in which Damon is the actual Commissioner of Baseball; god that would be beautiful).

He recently lost a big match to Snoop Dogg, but there’s no shame in that -- it’s an honor to lose a video game contest to Snoop. Much more alarming, however, is his first-round loss, in the first-ever PBGL finals, to Prince Fielder. Oh, Johnny. You're so much better than that. The best part of the article, however, concerns Seth McClung, who got up hours early to practice, and did not take his ensuing loss at all well:
“…McClung seemed surprised and disappointed when he found that collisions had become a necessary part of the race strategy for the finals -- that he couldn't just fly through his opponent, like in the regular season…

…McClung was not a happy camper after he found himself eliminated.

‘You changed the rules,’ he said to one official. ‘Most of the points I lost, I felt there was a lot of contact. I can honestly say I'm disappointed. I'm upset.’”
I should probably point out here that McClung lost this video game contest to Steve Robison, an injured war veteran who lost most of his left leg in Iraq, and was playing as a representative of Damon's Wounded Warriors charity.

Man -- you do not want to umpire a Devil Rays game this season.

In other, actually more disturbing baseball gaming news (via Baseball Musings), Curt Schilling plays EverQuest.
“'People would find it unbelievable how much I play EverQuest when I travel,’ Schilling says as he works his way through his umpteenth dungeon in EQ2."
Nope... can't say I saw that one coming.

Say what you want about Schilling (and his recent political musings), but hey, at least he’s not spouting the same old ESPN-speak, and he’s not what you'd expect from a big power pitcher: I will bet any amount of money that Roger Clemens does not play EverQuest. And I’m pretty sure if you asked Nolan Ryan about it -- once you explained to him what it was – he would punch you in the face. Anyway, Schilling prefers to remain anonymous online:
“We can’t give away the details, but rest assured, he doesn’t play a female. In fact, Schilling said he never considered playing as a female character. "Never," he says. "The Lord made me the way he made me, and I’m OK with that."
Huh. Does this mean I violated God’s plan by playing MVP Baseball? Whoops.