Welcome to Starting 5 – a weekly column by Operation Sports!
Each week, Senior Game Editor Clay Shaver and Columnist Shawn Drotar will tackle the world of sports and sports gaming in a rapid-fire discussion.

Is there a question on your mind? Find out below how to submit your question for next week’s column!

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Starting 5 – Five hot-button topics in the world of Sports and Sports Gaming

1) This year’s U.S. Open saw the retirement of the great Pete Sampras, perhaps the last good run for Andre Agassi, and the crowning of a new American hope, Andy Roddick, all in the same two weeks. Are we looking at the end of American men’s tennis or a new beginning?

Shawn: Well, we’re certainly looking at the end of a great era. It’s not likely we’ll ever see another great champion like Sampras, or a combination of ability and charisma like Agassi anytime soon. While I think Andre’s got one more year left in him, and he’s very capable of winning one or more Slams next year, the future for the U.S. definitely lies in Roddick. There are other interesting American players - namely James Blake – but none of them have the ability to seize the top ranking and hold it like Roddick. America’s tennis problem lies not in the players, however, but with the game itself. Like PGA golf, the proliferation of high-tech equipment without significant restriction is eroding the quality of the sport. One of the reasons Sampras was so special was his tremendous serve-and-volley game. Now, with powerful new equipment encouraging a less risky (and less entertaining) style of play, the serve-and-volley game has all but vanished, and the game has now gone to the booming servers and baseliners. It’s an inferior version of tennis, and it makes for dull viewing. That’s tennis’ biggest problem, and one it will have to face very soon.

Clay: Wow! Good answer, Boris. And I agree 100%. While Sampras is an irreplaceable champion for the sport, he also helped to usher in and proliferate the power game in tennis. Why was that 70’s tennis with Jimmy and Johnnie Mac so good? Well, because they played with wooden rackets that weren’t wound tighter then Serena’s catsuit, that’s part of the reason. The serve-and-volley game WAS tennis. Rallies seemed to last minutes if not longer. Plus, the players had the fire and personality to go with the game. Even the charisma of an Andre Agassi pales in comparison to the great champions of days gone by. That puts it all in the, potentially, capable hands of young Mr. Roddick. Can he pull it off? Time will tell. But, last week’s performance was a great start!

2) The Football release season has officially ended with the release of “ESPN NFLFootball 2k4”. Who scored this year and who fumbled?

Shawn: Well, it’s not quite over – Midway’s “NFL Blitz Pro” is still forthcoming, and looks like another helping of over-the-top fun. However, at this point, it’s obvious who scored – gamers. “Madden” is dramatically improved in subtle ways, and this version may be the best they’ve ever produced. “Gameday” is headed back in the right direction. “Fever” implemented some fascinating new wrinkles – especially in it’s passing game. “ESPN” is a flat-out stunner. Visual Concepts and Sega really hit this one out of the park. No matter what your style of play is, you can find a top-quality game to play this year. Competition is good…

Clay: Competition is very, very good. Who was the big winner in this year’s battle? We were! “Joe Gamer’ got treated to some great, great stuff from each company. This pushing and jockeying for position is only going to advance the genre quicker than anyone had expected. Make no mistake, friends, Sports Gaming equals BIG BUCKS in developers’ bank statements. Where did Microsoft invest their Xbox dollars this year? XSN. Where did PS2 make their biggest strides this year? With their EA Sports online capabilities. What did Sega do? They took the ESPN license and made perhaps the greatest sports title, presentation wise, the gaming world has ever seen. And I know that I am not alone when I say, “these games kick butt and I can’t wait to see what they have for us next year!!”

3) Week three of the NCAA Football Season saw a large number of Top 25 teams fall, including NC State, Virginia, Purdue, and Auburn (again). Are the rating systems flawed, or is College Football finally starting to see some parity?

Shawn: A little bit of both. Increased television coverage means that a player doesn’t have to attend one of a handful of top schools to get seen on the air. That has helped to spread the talent pool around. With these early upsets, what’s become obvious is the silliness of preseason rankings. If you really believe you can tell rank the top 20 teams in the country based on spring practices, you’re deluding yourself. Nobody really knows what a team’s made of until they play a game that means something. The first rankings shouldn’t come out until a month’s worth of games have been played – then everyone would have a better idea who the real contenders are.

Clay: Ratings mean jack. In fact, ratings mean less than jack. When three or four of the Top 10 are from the same conference, there is a flaw in your system. There were five Big Ten schools in the Top 25 going into last week. Five! The talent pool isn’t that deep! The first 2-3 weeks of the polls are based 80-90% on name and name only. There is no more parity in college football then there was 20 years ago. The Notre Dames, Oklahomas, Florida States, and Michigans of the world still get the best talent. The high caliber teams are lucky to play one game per season against an opponent that is truly at their level talent-wise. When all is said and done, the one factor that always exists, that no poll can ever capture, is luck. You can put the #1 and #2 team on the same field or the #1 and #118 team on the field and if the ball bounces the right way it’s anyone’s game. Games aren’t played on paper…and they certainly aren’t played in the polls.

4) The battle for the NL Central and the NL Wildcard remain hot and heavy. Are pennant races in baseball still the best in sports?

Shawn: I sure think so. The pressure ratchets up every single day, and every misstep is magnified. After six months, and thousands of plate appearances, the fate of an entire team can literally depend on one pitch – and that kind of drama the reason we love sports?

Clay: Agreed. People can whine and complain about the 162-game schedule all they want, but when your team is in the race there is NOTHING like it in sports. Everything changes day-to-day. Rotations get tighter. Pinch hits grow in importance. Days off seem months apart. And every ½ game counts. I’m still a baseball purist that wishes the Wildcard has never come into existence, but even the Wildcard race is good watching. September pennant races are why baseball is America’s game.

5) Hockey has always been the #4 sport of the “4 majors”. In fact, many would argue that it is #6 - falling behind soccer and NASCAR. However, hockey video games have always been strong sellers and generally hot titles. Why do you get more people in line to pick up EA’s “NHL” series then to watch a regular season Calgary Flames game?

Shawn: Unlike most sports, hockey is a very regional game. The cities that have NHL franchises usually live and breathe the teams during the NHL season – but visit a town that doesn’t, and they couldn’t care less about hockey. I think some of that has to do with hockey’s quirkiness as a sport. It seems like an odd, inaccessible game – until you see it in person – and then you’re hooked. Video game hockey is the same way – once you play it, you love it. In that regard, many people prefer the experience of playing the game as opposed to watching it. This is how I feel about NASCAR. I could probably stomach a video game version, but if you see me sit through an entire race, you’d better call the coroner…

Clay: Yeah, I think you and I are at a distinct disadvantage with this question because we live in arguably two of the three biggest hockey hotbeds going right now; Denver and Detroit (Toronto being the third). I tell people all the time that if you give hockey a small chance, a couple games tops, it will hook you. It’s fast, it’s violent (mildly), and it’s graceful all at the same time. I think that is why it makes such a great video game. I know very few people that owned a Sega Genesis that did not have a copy of EA’s “NHL 92”. It was THE Genesis sports game. I know a lot of people that fell in love with hockey by playing the game, but, more often than not, the game was good enough. In fact, I recently had a conversation with a guy and I mentioned Ron Francis. The guy said, “Man was he fast!”

I said, “Oh you watch hockey?”

“No, Genesis, Baby! He and that Fleury guy booked!”

6th Man – A little help off the bench

6) ESPN recently released a list and a poll of the “10 Greatest Sports Days of the Year”. Some of the Top 10 included the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, and MLB’s Opening Day. The first day of the NCAA Tournament (Thursday) took home the #1 spot in both the ESPN pick and the web poll. Your thoughts?

Shawn: That’s a good pick. There’s nothing like getting up in the morning, knowing you’re going to gain five pounds on the couch watching a dozen basketball games involving teams from colleges smaller than your high school. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is probably the single most entertaining sporting event in the United States (with apologies to soccer’s World Cup or the Olympics – which aren’t held annually). The only other one that compares in my mind in baseball’s Opening Day – which has as much connection to the beginning of spring as it does to the pomp and circumstances of the games themselves.

Clay: When I first saw the poll, I agreed 100% with the choice of the first day of the NCAA Tourney, which was without a doubt what I would say too. Then, I found myself in Ann Arbor recently decked out in my Maize and Blue enjoying a bratwurst and preparing to watch the Wolverines do battle. Suddenly I was only 90% of my decision. Then Sunday I skipped my traditional after church lunch with friends and family to rush home in time to cozy into the sofa for the kickoff of the Lions’ game. Hmmmmm…maybe 80%. I found myself flipping through the channels and settling on WGN for some Cubbie action. That took my mind back to the chilly March morning that I headed down to Comerica Park for Opening Day this year. The blue sky over the green grass made 42 degree feel like 80. Wow! What a day! Yikes!

When all the votes came in, I still have to give the narrow margin to NCAA Thursday…but it was close. And I am glad that it is!

24 Second Clock – Get one more off in 24 words or less

Clay: Suicide pools everywhere filled with bodybags full of Dolphin fodder. Can I go ahead and pick Houston to win Week 1 next year too???