The Oakland Raiders of Kenny "The Snake" Stabler, Gene Upshaw, and Fred Biletnikoff were the team I rooted for as a kid growing up in the 1970's.
And then later, to others, he was the voice of the NFL.
But to many today, Madden is the name associated with the video game franchise that has not only changed the gaming industry, but according to a recent article in Wired Magazine , is changing the game of football altogether.
In the article, written by Chris Suellentrop, the author argues that players today are not simply playing the game for entertainment purposes.
They are using the Madden video game as a training device designed to help them become better football players.
In days gone by, players, coaches, and staff devoted large amounts of time to film study.
Now, however, a new generation of athletes who grew up playing video games have parlayed hours of entertainment time into training sessions.
This, coupled with old school film study, has hastened player development and turned fun time into learning time.
As a middle school teacher and parent, I've known about the video game explosion for years.
But I cannot call myself an aficionado by any means.
I've played the NCAA version of football, but it never really grabbed me. The graphics are realistic, but having not grown up suckling from the game controller teet, it's never been intuitive enough for me.
It takes so long for me to learn and adapt to the controllers that I have a hard time transitioning to the game play itself.
And I consider myself to be tech savy and physically coordinated enough that I should be able to pull it off.
For me, the video game version of football is really two games, i.e., mastering the game controller and the actual game.
Whil...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
