Page 22 - #2

I walk into my apartment, and it's quiet, tense. The smell of competition is in the air. My roommate Matthew is sitting in his cream-colored gaming chair, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He's so close to the televison he might go blind by Friday. Our friend, Dan, is sitting farther away on the couch, slumped to his left, with his jacket still on, like he had just came in. But I know he had been here for a while. I know why he's here.

It's the playoffs. NBA 2K9 playoffs baby.

I asked who was winning. No answer. I asked who was at home. Still no answer. I asked what the series count was, because I know they've been playing for a while.
"2-1 Dan", Cromer answered quickly. I looked at Dan, who was smiling, so I knew who was winning. I sat down to watch, and no sooner had I hit the chair when Matthew lets out an aggressive "AHHHHH!" Apparently his Kobe had just dunked on Dan's Yao. With a quick pause, Matthew paraded around our apartment, quite proud of the posterization he had just applied. After calming down, they restarted play. Dan ended up winning the game by double digits, and the series 4-2. Here's where the complaining starts.
"I would steal the damn ball everytime, and it would just bounce off my face and out-of-bounds", Matthew said.
"I don't know man. I guess you're just not pushing X quick enough", Dan said, egging it on with a smile.
"It's those cheat codes you put it before the game. You tell us you're loading rosters and what not, but you're really typing in the "Kobe Bryant misses every shot with less than 2 minutes left to go" cheat. This sucks. Get outta my house. I'm going to bed."
Matthew leaves, and Dan sticks around long enough to scorch me 103-79. Ouch.
But that's why it's fun. Them dudes will be over here again tomorrow, grinding out another hard-fought series.
And it's really fun to watch. It beats watching most of the real sports you see on television. There's just one difference. Under any circumstances, you are not, I repeat, not, allowed to walk in front of the television.
Especially in the playoffs.