Sweet taste of victory...

So Sunday night, after realizing I had Monday off, I decided to play Imran in a late night game of Madden 2006. Imran is under the illusion that he is the best Madden player in the greater Bolingbrook region, which probably stretches from Bangor to San Ysidro in his virtual little world. So to make the game a little more interesting, I picked one of the best teams in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers, which immediately forced him to pick the Chicago Bears. My support of Green Bay is particularly irksome to Imran and I could see him already contemplating exactly how smug his look of satisfaction would be upon defeating me, a virtual dressing down of my Benedict Arnold-level defection to the Frozen Tundra...

The game was intense. Imran's offensive production is somewhat legendary, as he is known for quick scoring drives lasting less than a minute, usually on account of his West Coast-style offense. Unfortunately the West Coast would face a Tupac-like demise as my secondary mercilessly picked away at the inexperienced Rex Grossman, tallying over seven interceptions by the game's end.

I had built up a 14-0 lead from two interceptions that were converted into two successful scoring drives. It was looking like a break out game for me, but Imran launched a major comeback, shutting me out offensively for most of the second quarter and the entire third quarter. Meanwhile, he started scoring, but made a series of inexplicable mistakes when he missed the kicks for the extra point on two separate touchdowns and a failed two-point conversion on another TD.

Unfazed by his errors, he went on to take the lead in the 4th quarter with about 2:30 left in the game. It looked grim for Green Bay, as the offense had choked, sputtered and run itself into the ground. On the next posession (or maybe it was off an interception), I drove the ball all the way to the red zone and on 4th down was about 3 or 4 yards out from the end zone.

It was a big decision: take the field goal and then onside kick and try to take the game or go for it all and risk everything?

Of course, I went for it all and on a running play Ahman Green ran it without hesitation and danced his way in for the score. This is what separates a legendary sports team from one that has only the receding memory of 1985...

I won 35-32. Rather than the smug look of satisfaction, Imran looked like he had swallowed a box of prunes. I believe I looked considerably more elated, especially as I reminded Imran that the game would have been a tie and gone into overtime if he had only made the extra points after 3 of his touchdowns...

But as they say, a win is a win. And I'm savoring this one...