Christmastime Meant (Sports) Games

Because We Weren't a "Go Out and Have a Catch" Kind of Family

By the time you’re reading this, you’re either in the throes of Christmas are on your way to avoiding said throes. And let me be the first to say, however you celebrate the holiday season is okay. For me, the pressure runs the highest around Thanksgiving, but if you’re perfect final week of the year is shunning everyone for a good book, I’m with that completely.

While in recent years I’m content with a phone call home and a hearty sandwich at noon, I can’t help but think back to the days of my youth. You see, during the holiday and summer breaks, my mom would let my brother and me rent 2-3 games at a time at the local Blockbuster (or Hollywood Video. Remember them?). My brother always got first pick when we played, and when he was too cool to hang out with baby bro, I used to go all out. Sports games were my thing because I was (and still am) terrible with first-player or shooting games. Here’s a couple I associate with cold nights, warm food, and putting off homework until New Year’s Day:

All-Star Baseball (2000) - N64

Now this is series started off as Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball in 1996, and as I kid I was obsessed with anything having to do with Frank Thomas. I had to wait years to try the latest version of that year, All-Star Baseball 2000. Sadly it featured Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, but compromises had to be made.

We thought graphics couldn’t get any better!

Arch Rivals

I’ve talked about my love of the NBA Street series on previous posts, but as great as Street was for the culture, Arch Rivals was down for the fun. The premise was simple: 2-on-2 basketball, but you can punch your opponents in the face. The FACE!

That was the whole game. Madness.

California Games

Ironic because I live there now, but California might as well have been Narnia for a young kid from the East Coast. You hear about pristine beaches, palm trees, and everybody is out there looking like Zach Morris or Lisa Turtle and I was hooked. California Games is a bunch of minigames smashed together to make you feel like you’re driving that convertible with the top down on PCH. And yes, everyone out here DOES say dude.

Track & Field

This one is kind of a cheat, because it came with the NES my brother and I had back in the day. But as OGs remember, Track & Field game with a “Power Pad” that you had to unroll, connect to the NES, and run on it like a mad game of Twister to play. And like Twister, by the end of it, we were all on our knees slapping the sh*t out of that pad:

See? Even the kids on the ends knew what to do and were READY.

So when it came down to it, Christmas at our house was definitely the Hood-lympics. Merry Christmas, people!