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1/27/08

Eberhart wins Evansville’s 13^th annual Tecmo Bowl tourney

            By Greg Eberhart

Evansville—The Eberhart Compound was the site of this year’s tournament and made for some sure fire drama from the beginning (as all previous tourney’s have done).  At approx. 2:00 PM CST, Eville’s most experienced “thumbers” began filing into the Tecmo Sanctuary. 

Gazing around the room one could see some of the legendary “gamers” this country has EVER seen.  Of course the reigning Champ Cameron was there, wearing his famous Old Skool Nintendo shirt but this year he added a piece to his attire……a Nintendo controller belt buckle!  Next, Dassel who was trying to avenge his horrendous performance of a year ago (losing first two games).  Patton, who has slowly been stepping his game up over the course of a couple of years……..would this be THE year????  Kirwer, who I believe has made every Tourny;  in recent years his game has slipped just a tad, but that’s not the real reason he comes.  He comes for the same reason everyone does……the fellowship, the stories, and most importantly the great mystery meat chili!  Pounder, who as always, had three different Cubs hats (no one knows why).  Staley, a rookie, who def made an impression with his 1988 Tecmo Bowl Champion shirt.  Andrews, made the trip from the lovely town of Terre Haute wearing a Detroit Tigers jacket (Don’t know why either).  Bruce finally makes an appearance after a two year break; he needed to let his thumbs rest a bit.  Flener, another sleeper headed into this tourny.  Leeds, coming off the birth of a baby girl earlier in the week was hoping to make it a storybook ending.  Eberhart, wearing his Dassel football shirt from 1993 & an ace bandage wrapped around his left wrist and hand; apparently he sprained it “lifting weights”.  But this intro would not be complete without the mention of Curt Cummings, who despite his 2008 ban from the tourny decided to show up anyway. 

Most of you will recall the “retirement match” after last year’s tourny between Cameron and Cummings.  Anyway, Curt lost so he was banned from the 2008 tourny.  He was all prepared to make a speech and appeal to the champions committee, but when the time came to say something all he could do was his usual “snort…..snort……snort…..dude……ya see….blah blah blah”.  Of course, the panel had no choice but to NOT overturn the bet forcing Curt to take another year off and rest his thumbs.  This prompted Curt to leave the tourny and walk home, yes, he did not return.  Enough of the pre-game drama let’s get into the action.

First round byes went to Pounder, Bruce, Andrews, Staley, & Kirwer.  In what can only be described as the biggest upset in Tecmo history Leeds knocked off the reigning champ Cameron.  Cameron led most of the game, but Leeds and his Bills staged a late comeback to tie the game at 21 and force overtime.  Cameron won the toss & received the ball first.  Leeds kicked it deep, way deep, only allowing Cameron to bring the ball out to the 4 yard line.  And then, the first play Leeds picked Cameron’s play and Bo Jackson was stuffed in the end zone for a safety to win the game.  If only you could have been there…..the screams, yells, were deafening; in fact one neighbor called because she thought someone had been killed.  Would this be the end of Cameron’s run??????

Eberhart vs. Flener proved to be closer than most of the experts predicted.  However, after choosing his team of the Chiefs, Eberhart removed the bandage (a la Tom Brady) and played a little sluggish.  He was down 7-3 at the half to Flener & the Bills.  The second half was all Chiefs, shutting out the Bills and winning 15-7.

In another intriguing first round matchup (or what looked to be on paper) saw the upstart Patton taking on a down-on-his-luck fallen champ Dassel.  Patton & his assault with the 49ers crushed Dassel 42-7.  Patton (who was on his third glass of Crown Royal) pulled a Spurrier & tossed a TD at the end of the game.

In another interesting duel Pounder vs. Bruce in the second round.  I still don’t know why Pounder chose the Eagles but he did.  Bruce went with the “crowd favorite” (sarcasm intended) the 49ers.  Bruce handled Pounder 28-14.  Leeds shutout Andrews 28-0 and whispers began about this being Leeds’ year to win the “big one”.  Patton easily defeated the rookie Staley 23-7 to advance to the final four.  Eberhart squeaked passed Kirwer in OT 17-14.  Kirwer & his band of deep threats (the 49ers) scored on the last play from scrimmage to force overtime.  Eberhart received the ball and drove 60 yds, kicking a FG to win.  Eberhart & the Raiders managed over 280 yds rushing to solidify the victory.

Time to check on the loser’s bracket and see how Cameron is going to pull this off.  Cameron beats Kirwer 28-14.  Pounder gives Dassel his second defeat, meaning the 2006 champ has lost 4 straight since his greatest Tecmo game ever played.  Will he get back to the “glory days” next year????  He claims it was the 49ers, but skeptics around the tourny saw something else……poor decision making.  Flener dusts Andrews 42-0.  Andrews became the first Tecmo player to be shutout……….congrats!!!!

Cameron marches on beating Staley 35-10.  Pounder beats Flener 28-21.  Flener had the ball at the 50 yd line (FG range) in the 4^th quarter with a little over a minute to go and decided to go for it on 4^th and long.  Of course, he didn’t get it; he threw the ball to the wrong WR.  Anyway Pounder took advantage and scored.  He left Flener with one last hail mary to Rice, but to no avail.

Back to the Winner’s bracket.  Bruce defeats Leeds 24-14 without much ado and advances to the semis.  Patton (who is now on his 4^th glass of Crown) begins running his mouth about how his “sleeper” team is going to beat Eberhart.  Eberhart, stoic as ever, shakes his head and stomps Patton 31-17.  Setting up Eberhart vs. Bruce for bid to the finals. 

To the Loser’s we go.  Patton bounces back and beats Pounder 27-14.  And in a rematch Cameron gets revenge against Leeds beating him soundly 34-7.  Cameron then proceeds to beat Patton (now on his 5^th glass of Crown) 34-14 covering the 20.5 point spread Dassel had given Cameron before the game started.  A blocked extra point was the difference in the game; meaning Dassel owes Kirwer $20.

Bruce vs. Eberhart:  Eberhart won the coin toss and decided to choose the Giants, forcing Bruce to take the Oilers.  Both were tight in the beginning, knowing what was at stake.  Each kicked FG’s, for they knew this would be close.  After going up 10-3 just before half, Eberhart recovered a fumble with :01 to play in the half & kicked a FG to bring the score to 13-3.  After that it was all Eberhart; he blocked a FG and ended up routing the Oilers 27-10 after Bruce scored on a late fumble recovery with under 1 min. to play.

Now who would be Eberhart’s opponent in the finals:  Cameron or Bruce?  Cameron overcomes the odds & wins again.  Apparently Bruce didn’t get the memo that the Raiders have the BEST running game because he chose to pass the majority of the time.  Anyway, Cameron & the Oilers marched on winning 17-10.  Setting up once again an Eberhart vs. Cameron Championship. 

The stage was set for one of these two future hall of famers to make history.  Eberhart could become the first 4 time champion & Cameron the first back-to-back champ (in the new era).  By this point Cameron had used all of the best teams on the game and was left with choosing the Bengals.  Eberhart, who had only played four games, had plenty to choose from.  He decided to go with the Bills.  You could tell that Cameron was beat before he even picked up the controller.  It seemed as if the Bill Lambier, Phillip Rivers, Terrell Owens of Tecmo could see the writing on the wall.  Even the crowd sensed it; no one was taunting or trash talking Cameron.  Everyone knew that the “people’s champ” Eberhart would win this one.  And, he did, the 14 point margin of victory was the largest in championship game history.  The Bengals were NO match for the Bills.  I wish I could write more about the game, but Eberhart dominated and won 28-14.  Thurman Thomas rushed for 170 yds on only 11 carries.  Meanwhile, Boom-Boom Esiason threw for 64 yds on 2/9 passing (22%) and 1 pick.  After the game, Eberhart tore up a picture that Cameron had brought showing him with the trophy and threw it in his face.  Then, they graciously shook hands and said, “Good game.  We’ll do it again next year.”