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by Joe Gandolfo-
jgand@pcfootball.net
06-16-02
There are times when life truly
bites.
One of the
pleasures in my life is coming onto this site and being able to
exchange opinions, tips on gaming and to hear feedback from all
of you who visit. Aside from that another pleasure I get is
working on the TM Instigator franchise that Bret started, and
the website associated with it.
There is no
other time that I can think of where these diversions are more
sorely needed than now.
It all
started on Sunday as my wife and I were eating lunch. I was
eating some Doritos when I felt a piece of food get caught
between my teeth. I kept trying to get the particle out, but
could never find anything there to do so. Later when we were
eating dinner, I felt something on the right side of my mouth.
I felt a
piece of a molar come loose.
Apparently
at lunch I had broken one of my teeth, and the chewing motion at
dinner finally sucked the largest chunk of tooth out. Amazingly
I was not in any pain. My wife and I made plans to get me into a
dentist to get the tooth fixed.
The next
morning we had to call a plumber out to take a look at our
toilet. It was taking forever to stop running and we had to know
what was wrong. Well we got the toilet fixed and then we had to
deal with my dental work. We got me an appointment for the next
day and I made arrangements to take off work. At the same time
we had to deal with an insurance snafu – we had been canceled
and hadn’t been notified. So we got it straightened out and
thought that nothing else could happen.
At 8:57pm
on Monday June 10, 2002, we were proved wrong.
My wife and
I were watching M*A*S*H on F/X with one of our cats, Tiger. Near
the end of the episode Tiger started to moan and then he started
to cry. We didn’t know what was happening when suddenly he
started to go into a seizure.
Then he
stopped moving. He was gone.
We bundled
him into a pet carrier and took him to the nearest Animal ER
just down the street but it was too late. Tiger, our baby, my
son, had died from a stroke. He was 9 ½ years old.
We went
home in shock. I couldn’t keep a lid on my emotions all night as
I lost it several times. Our other cats were looking around for
Tiger, especially Mittens his sister who had grown up with him.
We tried to explain to her and our other cat Xena that Tiger was
never coming home. We tried to explain that he had died and that
there was nothing that we could do. They seemed to know what had
happened as the energy in the house was different. We had even
adopted a new kitten over the weekend as a playmate for Xena.
Now Tiger will never be able to “show him the ropes” as we had
thought. We were hoping that Tiger would play with our children
as they grew, and now that will never happen. Tiger seemed to
accept our new arrival without hesitation. It was almost as if
he knew what was going to happen, and he brought Xander to us to
help us and our other cats heal.
The one
solace that I have found in the past few days has been in the PC
Football community. I have been able to take comfort in logging
onto this site and being able to read the posts of the members
here. I have been able to take great comfort in working on the
Madden franchise that Bret and I started together – The
TotalMadden Instigators – as well as the website associated with
the team,
www.tminstigators.com.
My point is
this – a lot of people may consider pc football gaming to be
frivolous and unimportant. They will tell you that people who
sit at a computer and play games are wasting their time and that
there are more important things that they should be doing.
They’ll tell you that you should be out in the real world and
not wasting your time playing a stupid video game and conversing
with people who live half a world away when there are people in
your own town who are more worthy of your attention.
I say to
them that they are wrong. Computer football games are a
temporary escape from the horrors of real life as much as the
movies, TV, books or working on cars is to other people. It
allows us to forget our troubles for a little while and wrap
ourselves up in a world where everyone is equal. It is a world
where there are no strikes, no lockouts, no drugs, no
“self-employed models”, no drunk-drivers, no steroids, no
negative media, no terrorist attacks, no war, and no death.
There is only the story of the season, or a player’s career.
There is only a level playing field where opponents can get
together and share their love for a game that they may not be
otherwise physically able to play themselves. It is a world
where a 14-year-old can put himself on his favorite team and
lead his/her team to a Super Bowl, and not even crack a sweat or
pull a muscle.
I have been
able to work through my pain by playing some games. I will also
try to help my wife work through hers. We still have each other;
we still have Mittens, Xena and now Xander.
I also have
all of you out there in the electronic void, and for that I will
be eternally grateful.
Until next
time…
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