metrospective

A maddening challenge

By Clayton Woullard
cwoullar@mscd.edu

Big Gene peers at the screen from beneath a white towel. When he's playing, he's in the zone. But when he's waiting for his opponent to pick his play or waiting for his next challenger, he looks impatient.

Eugene "Big Gene" Williams is impatient to get to Hawaii, where he plans to take home the $100,000 grand prize and keep his crown as the Madden Challenge king.

Williams competed against about 50 other players in the Professional division at the 2005 EA Sports Madden Challenge at Invesco Field at Mile High Sept. 2. Players compete at Madden NFL, the best-selling football videogame of all time. Now in it's 16th year, Madden Challenge won exclusive rights to the National Football League license, making it the only NFL game in the industry. The Denver challenge is the third stop in a 32-city tour to find the best Madden player.

Now in its fourth year, the challenge brings thousands of diehard and casual Madden fans out to test their skills. In each city, players can compete in the professional and rookie divisions. The winner of the professional division in each city wins a trip to Hawaii in February to compete for the$100,000 grand prize.

Having won the national championship last year, netting him a prize of $50,000, Williams, 21, of Philadelphia, plans to follow the tour until he wins. Williams is among a group of 20 to 30 players nation-wide who compete professionally and usually travel to several stops on the tour.

Like some of the other top competitors, Williams trains by playing Madden for at least 5 hours a day. He also watches NFL games, which helps in knowing his players better, but it's more about knowing the game.

"This is Madden and it's a videogame," he said, "and people have to treat it like a videogame."

Across the room, Billy Wolf, a.k.a. Secret, is also blazing through competitors with his team, the Oakland Raiders, a dangerous gamble when playing in Denver. The champion of the challenge in Jacksonville last year, this is Wolf's third year competing. Early on, he's confident he's going to win the trip to Hawaii. His strategy is simple.

"Pound 'em," he said.

Wolf, 18, traveled to Denver from Tallahassee, Fla.-where he attends Florida State University-to get an early start on the competition. He said the competition is slimmer out west.

Coordinating the mini-games is D-Train, a Madden Challenge legend. D-Train (real name: Dwayne Harrison) won the Madden Championship in Jamaica in 2002. Now working for EA Sports, Harrison works on the game itself and any player on the tour daring enough to take him on can win $1,00. But he's the guy to beat.

"A lot of guys who came out last year (to the challenges) came out this year," Harrison said. "They just want to see if they can play with the best in the world."

While no one beat the D-Train in Denver, the challenge heated up in the United West Lounge at Invesco as the sun went down.

Soon after the Rookie division approached its finals, the professional finals got underway. It became clear the local competitors might be shut out, something Daniel Grundei, a.k.a. Clark Kent, said is the norm at most challenges.

Grundei, 27, is a Madden professional in the literal sense. He and Kyle Cooper, 25, run a full-time Madden Website, www.maddenauthority.com, where they sell game tips and hints for a yearly subscription. The rest of their time is spent playing Madden. It's all games, but it's not necessarily all fun.

"It's tough, it is running a company," Grundei said.

Although locals rarely win the challenge in their cities, the playing field is more level at Madden Challenges, as opposed to playing online or in real life, because, at the challenges, each quarter is two minutes long, Williams said.

"I think it's luck of the draw when it comes down to two-minute quarters," said Lucas Trujillo, 21, of Greeley, and the last local to lose in the pro finals that night.

University of Colorado student, Brian Campana, 18, took on Williams early on in the professional division and knew he was defeated only one quarter into the game.

"It's a mind game," Campana said.

Mike Grimberg, 24, of Denver lost in the final eight. While he knows he was beat fair and square, he said he feels like the steep competition with the full-time professionals is a drawback to the challenge.

"It's tough," Grimberg said. "As much as these guys travel and as much as they practice, it's a disadvantage to us (locals)."

The pro championship came down to Grundei versus Patrick Stock, a 14-year-old from Las Vegas. He posed a problem for Grundei, who was defeated 28-14.

No doubt Stock is good, but what else would you expect from an unemployed teenager who's home schooled?

"I really love football and obviously I'm too short to play," Stock said after winning.

For players like Grundei and Williams, a loss always stings, but this early in the tour, they know it's not over.

(Williams took the Kansas City challenge Sept. 3.)