Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - OT - Manufactured competitions (reflections on a youth without computers)

albionmoonlight · 05-28-2004, 01:33 PM

I have been waiting for this question my entire life.

I had matchbox cars when I was a kid. I would play demolition derby. The rules were--you put a car in each hand and rolled them into each other. If both cars or neither car ended up on its back, you resmash them until one is standing and the other is not. There were, of course, all sorts of ground rules relating to obsticles in my room--the details of which are not important here, but rest assured that they are about as detailed as you would imagine.

I had seen the NCAA tournament at that point, so I understood 64 bracket tournaments and would set the cars up in them. Later, I had the idea to play entire seasons and playoffs with the cars--complete with divisions and records and tie-breakers and the like (I still have the records of all of those seasons at home. Lots and lots of paper).

What made the game so addictive was the fact that the cars had different . . .styles and personalities. They were a diverse group of matchbox cars. Some were really heavy. Some were low to the ground. Some were taller and lighter. As you would expect, big heavy cars and cars low to the ground did a lot better in a "which car gets flipped over" contest than did cars modeled after, say, an Astrovan.

Because the cars had different abilities, the tournaments and seasons allowed for upsets. Just like Kentucky will beat UAB 9 time out of 10--the "top seeded" cars would win most of the time, but would lose just enough to keep it interesting. There were a group of about 5-10 cars that could always be expected to be in the mix at the end. However, there was always that random tournament or two when a car that had no earthly business being in the finals managed to make it there and win it all.

It was the closest thing to a simulated sports league that I have ever had.

05-28-2004, 01:33 PM	#7
albionmoonlight Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: North Carolina	I have been waiting for this question my entire life. I had matchbox cars when I was a kid. I would play demolition derby. The rules were--you put a car in each hand and rolled them into each other. If both cars or neither car ended up on its back, you resmash them until one is standing and the other is not. There were, of course, all sorts of ground rules relating to obsticles in my room--the details of which are not important here, but rest assured that they are about as detailed as you would imagine. I had seen the NCAA tournament at that point, so I understood 64 bracket tournaments and would set the cars up in them. Later, I had the idea to play entire seasons and playoffs with the cars--complete with divisions and records and tie-breakers and the like (I still have the records of all of those seasons at home. Lots and lots of paper). What made the game so addictive was the fact that the cars had different . . .styles and personalities. They were a diverse group of matchbox cars. Some were really heavy. Some were low to the ground. Some were taller and lighter. As you would expect, big heavy cars and cars low to the ground did a lot better in a "which car gets flipped over" contest than did cars modeled after, say, an Astrovan. Because the cars had different abilities, the tournaments and seasons allowed for upsets. Just like Kentucky will beat UAB 9 time out of 10--the "top seeded" cars would win most of the time, but would lose just enough to keep it interesting. There were a group of about 5-10 cars that could always be expected to be in the mix at the end. However, there was always that random tournament or two when a car that had no earthly business being in the finals managed to make it there and win it all. It was the closest thing to a simulated sports league that I have ever had.