![]() I’ve heard black people from barbershops to cookouts say the same thing when talking about Super Bowl hopes: “If my team doesn’t win, I at least want to get a ring.”Īnd that’s why - even as Super Bowl quarterbacks such as Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson have come along - we’ll never forget Vick. He had come to New Orleans and torched the Who Dat Nation and I still couldn’t help but appreciate his greatness. Even as a rival New Orleans Saints fan, I couldn’t find it to hate Vick. Vick’s appearance on the Madden cover was a visual rebellion against those archaic beliefs. For decades, sports fans and sometimes even experts have drenched their quarterback talk with coded language to explain why white players are just more equipped to be quarterback than black players. There’s probably no position in sports that elicits more pride and passion in the black community than the quarterback. So if a QB comes out of the draft with a 99 speed rating, A, B and C is done in the game engine to make sure everything is balanced.” And as great as Vick was on the field in the time he played for the Falcons, his status as unstoppable video game foe only added to his legend status. Now we try to keep ratings within a certain range. “For a number of years before I got here, features were added to the game specifically to stop Vick. “Michael Vick was the greatest quarterback in Madden history, because his speed rating as a QB was astronomical, and there was nothing you could do stop him,” Clint Oldenburg, former NFL lineman and current game developer with the Madden franchise, said in an interview with Gamesradar. In fact, Vick damn near broke the game itself. It was easier to tackle steam than it was to tackle Vick, and he threw the ball farther than any other player. Vick was rated 90 (out of 100) overall with a speed rating of 95, 97 in accuracy, 98 in throwing power and 92 in elusiveness. I can still see the cover image when I close my eyes: Vick holding the ball loosely in his left hand, scrambling to his left, eyes down the field looking for the next hole. It’s 2016, and I’m astounded that I was ever that naive. Vick’s Madden presence seemed to indicate that the black quarterback had gone mainstream. These athletes - Tyson and Jackson especially - are indelibly linked to their video game counterparts when we discuss their legendary careers. And when Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan refused to be a part of NBA Live ’96 and the game replaced him with a somehow more dominant “Player 99,” picking the Bulls was basically like putting in a cheat code. It was impossible to beat boxer Mike Tyson in Punch Out. ![]() Former NFL running back/Major League Baseball outfielder Bo Jackson is as large a legend for his dual-sport dominance as he was for his invincibility in the late-’80s Nintendo game Tecmo Bowl ( it’s back). “For Vick,” Donny Moore, EA Sports’ “ratings czar” told Stick Jockey in 2013, “we knew this was going to be a game-changer.”Īnd in turn, as has historically been the case, Vick’s video game abilities only elevated his real-life sports legend. Vick’s video game dominance was a reflection of how developers - and the general public as a whole - saw Vick on the field: as superhuman. It’s because the video game versions of them are impossible to beat. ![]() There are certain characters in the history of sports video games that, if picked, elicit scoffs from an opponent. ![]() The phrase rang out from kids’ rooms and dorm rooms and from grown folks’ living rooms a lot in 2003. If you pick Michael Vick, you’re cheating. ![]()
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