It’s time the state embraces sports betting
June 27, 2018
Tilman Camardelle
June 27, 2018
Houma native Paul Williams has his full focus on an arcade pinball machine his family has owned since the 1960s.
The machine is now in an outdoor man-cave, but not even the heat can take away Williams’ attention from the game.
“It’s a simple game. Anyone can play,” Williams said with a smile — his eyes never leaving the ball as it ricochets off barriers, then barrels down toward the pins. “It really takes you back to your childhood.”
A machine like Williams’ is a relic now — the last of a dying breed. They aimed to catch the eye of passerby’s at arcades, offering fun in exchange for a few coins.
But these big, box-shaped machines are a dying breed — a sign of the changes in video game systems from the early 1980s to now.
Video games were invented to be an innocent source of fun, but the technology has evolved. Today, graphics are lifelike — so realistic that they’re being used as a complex training mechanism for several athletes, who say that by playing the games, they’re better equipped to enjoy success when actually under the lights and performing on the field.
Video games training is not a sham. It’s an actual thing which several athletes do to stay fresh in their respective crafts.
Several locals said this past week that they play the games for fun, of course, but several also added that they play knowing that by doing so, they’re bettering themselves in their own careers.
“I’ve played video games since I was 9-years-old,” former Vandebilt quarterback and current Hahnville senior Andrew Robison said. “Playing Madden is actually how I first started to learn basic cover 1, 2 3, and 4, along with a few other coverages. I tried to take some things that I learned from reading defenses in actual football practices to Madden.”
It’s a growing trend.
Take racing for example.
In that sport, video games are a very valuable tool because by using simulations, drivers are able to cut down on costs associated with getting the car out on the track for a test ride.
Galliano native Hal Martin knows well the value of using video games as a career resource. Martin is a former race car driver in several racing series, including NASCAR’s Nationwide Series (now called the NASCAR Xfinity Series).
Martin said before races, he’d often study tracks using video game technology, adding that the technology is so realistic and complex that it takes into account life-like details and obstacles that a driver might face on the day of a race.
“We’re not like other sports,” he said. “We can’t just pick up a basketball and shoot some hoops or run some drills like they can in other sports. It’s tough to get in a race car and go and spend some time on a track.”
At the time that Martin was active, he said the game he used to play was “NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season.” It was sold for PC to anyone who wished to buy it, but he said professional racers would often gobble it up and play games online to stay fresh.
Martin said the game’s designers had inside information about each track, adding that no stone was left unturned.
“It’s very, very realistic. Until people fully experience it, they don’t really know just how awesome it is,” Martin said. “As far as getting the lines down on the racetracks, it’s so realistic. With every racetrack, you ride on different places on the track. So we come in and use the computer and get to feel each track. If there’s a small bump on a track, it’ll be on the video game.”
Others sports are following suit.
The LSU football team and several others around the country have used gaming technology to get their playbooks uploaded onto a server so that athletes can see their offense lined up in a virtual setting against opposing defenses.
Former coach Les Miles said the gaming was more mental preparation than physical preparation, adding that seeing things on the screen made it easier for players once faced with the same scenario in real-life situations.
The Tigers used the technology in film rooms and players were often quizzed about the decisions they were making when trying to combat the situations they faced.
That type of work is structured and team-based — only available to those inside the LSU locker room.
But others on the outside say they’re learning while playing from home.
Robison said he believes the games are useful, joking that “no one can beat him.”
He said he always used to play as the Philadelphia Eagles to use Mike Vick.
Utilizing Vick’s speed and halfback LeSean McCoy’s ball-catching ability, Robison mimicked the short passing, quick-strike offense that Vandebilt has used the past several seasons.
Former Terrebonne High School standout Deedy Guano knows all about that, too.
Gauno, now a college basketball player at Angelina College in Texas, said he’s been playing NBA 2K games his whole life.
Unlike others who boast of their superiority, Gauno jokes that he’s “not the best.”
But he said that by playing, he’s able to understand the game on a more advanced level.
The NBA 2K franchise is one of the highest-selling game franchises in video game history. NBA players applaud the realism of the software.
“2K helps me understand the game of basketball on a different level,” Gauno said. “It helps me think the game — where will the defense come from? Where will the rotations be? Different things like that.”
And the fun of it all helps, too.
Robison and Gauno both said that the games build friendships, which build chemistry in the locker room.
Robison said there is an XBox in the Vandebilt locker room and guys played Madden against one another in their free time. He said he believes having that builds bonds within a team.
Gauno agrees.
He said he also plays with friends and teammates, adding that learning a teammate’s tendencies through a game helps make life on the floor easier in crunch time.
“It helps build chemistry,” he said. “Knowing what your teammates like makes it easier on you both — both on and off the court.”
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