Drinking Less Pop and Football Video Games [feat. Derek McKay]

Speaker 1 00:00:11 What's up everyone? I'm Brian and you're listening to Snorkeling with Narwals. So on today's episode I'm gonna be talking about old football video games with my brother Derek. But before then I wanna talk a little bit about pop soda, whatever you call it. I call it pop. Anyone else is wrong. Actually. I drink a lot of pop, like way too much pop. And recently I've realized that actually I've like always known this, but over the summer I stopped drinking so much pop and I took walks and I was stressed out about life. So I actually was able to cut down on my weight, which had been getting a little high from mostly the pop. But uh, over the past few months I gained that weight back and now I'm like, wow, I really need to stop drinking so much pop. Now when you love Mountain Dew like I do, that's an issue because like I could drink multiple bottles a day, voltage pitch black, code red, it doesn't matter. Speaker 1 00:01:09 Like I could drink a ton. So I needed some waste. Stop drinking so much. Now there's like water. I could drink water, but who wants to drink water cuz it has no taste. So I would drink Propel or like get the little packets to mix in my water and that works. So I need to actually stock up on some more of those. But I have another cheat, which is probably really bad. Uh, and that's drinking Rockstar because there are some zero calorie rock stars that have 300 milligrams of caffeine, which the daily limit for a person is supposed to be like 400. So to me it's like a cheat. It's like, well no calories on that. But it's also enough caffeine that I'm not gonna try to overdo it with pop. Like I know how much caffeine is in a bottle of Mountain Dew and I'm not gonna drink like two or three of those and a rock star cuz that's it on caffeine. Speaker 1 00:02:03 So I've been doing that and it's been only a couple days, but I'm hoping that that helps. But I'm also taking more walks. Um, I'm trying to at least walking around the neighborhood. Hopefully I can continue that because it's snowed a lot the past couple days and I don't really wanna walk in the snow because I hate wearing boots because it's like having 10 pound weights attached to your feet. But yeah, anyway, I drink a lot of pop and I'm trying to stop drinking so much with some good methods and some methods that are probably sketchy and I probably shouldn't do, but I am doing anyway. So next up we have my brother Derek and we are going to talk about football video games. So today I am joined by my brother Derek, who you may know better as Cub from the Hooligans. Hello. We're going to kind of continue our discussion from the hooligans where uh, if you didn't catch it, we were talking about old video games and it was mostly old video games. Not really any new ones, but at one point I mentioned some old football games and I thought it would be fun to go deep diving into some of these old games and talk about a few newer football games that we've been playing. So let's start out with uh, NFL two K five. What are your fondest memories of it? Speaker 2 00:03:24 Two K five had a couple major differences from Madden. One was the crib because no other game had really had that option and I liked how you could like buy jerseys and stuff and hang 'em up. Yeah, Speaker 1 00:03:39 Yeah. That was like the coolest part. Especially cuz like couldn't you do throwback jerseys? Speaker 2 00:03:44 Yes. The other thing was like the pre-game and like the halftime show with like Chris Berman and stuff I believe. Right? Yeah. Speaker 1 00:03:54 Uh, Berman did. Yeah, he did. I feel like Trey Wino was in Speaker 2 00:03:57 Jersey. Wino was in something. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:03:59 But Berman was the main Speaker 2 00:04:02 And just that and like it it looked like it was on espn. Speaker 1 00:04:07 Yeah, it was, it was so cool because also they would do highlights from other games Yes. That weren't like the ones that you played, huh? It was so good. So yeah, like, uh, I think they would do like player of the game at the end of the Speaker 2 00:04:21 Game. Yeah. They did Speaker 1 00:04:23 Sports Center at the end of the week. And what's funny is like that was one of the coolest things ever. But when Madden does it like, you know, they try to do the presentation stuff in the new Madden. Speaker 2 00:04:36 It's not good. It's Speaker 1 00:04:37 Not and it's like you just skip right through it maybe cuz it's not real. Or maybe cuz it's Jonathan Coachman Speaker 2 00:04:44 <laugh>. Like do we even trust Jonathan Coachman? Speaker 1 00:04:47 I mean he's, he's fine, but it's not like a real show. And I think that's what would've made it cooler is if like Madden had ESPN in it and had Sports Center. I know at one point in the, the new Madden 20 in the career mode, they go on NFL network and there's like the Good morning football people. Yeah. But that's about it. Speaker 2 00:05:10 Yeah. That's it. And it's all just, it's like pre-recorded. Right? The thing with uh, two K five is it was like, it was built into the season mm-hmm. <affirmative> like it didn't matter what, you know, matchups, they were like, it would adjust to that to make it more realistic. Speaker 1 00:05:28 Right. Speaker 2 00:05:29 Instead of a pre-recorded whatever. Speaker 1 00:05:31 Right. And it had a great franchise mode. Speaker 2 00:05:34 Ah, it did. Speaker 1 00:05:35 Like I remember, I don't even remember how, but I, at some point I had the Rams and I ended up with Edger and James and like Brian Westbrook on my team. It was, it was a deep franchise mode for a game in 2004 and five. Speaker 2 00:05:51 The only thing I think Madden at the time had them beat on was the customization. Speaker 1 00:05:59 Yeah. They Speaker 2 00:06:01 Did. Because two K five still let you do that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But the early Maddens you could literally customize anything Speaker 1 00:06:08 You could and it was amazing. Speaker 2 00:06:10 And that's, that's the one thing I really missed from Madden. Like I, I like the relocation thing. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's about as close as we can get, but it's still so limited. Like you and I used to make Whole Leagues <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:06:25 I was just about to bring up the World Football League. Speaker 2 00:06:28 Yeah. We, we moved all 32 teams to 32 countries mm-hmm. <affirmative> and had divisions split up by like continents and stuff. Yeah. Or like areas in the world. And that's actually where Leo Haes was born. Speaker 1 00:06:44 <laugh>. Yeah. So that was, it was amazing and you could, you could do, you could make them play anywhere. You could make your own jerseys. Yep. So we made the USA Eagles as like the American team. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and I think we were both on it. Probably some of your friends at the time were on it. But we had a kick returner slash cornerback number 39 Leonard Haes who just a completely made up player. Yep. But I remember I played a game with him one time and I was like 10. So I would play on rookie <laugh>, but that's just a caveat to the fact that he ran for three kickoff return touchdowns in a game. Speaker 2 00:07:26 Oh yeah. Speaker 1 00:07:27 So that's where the legend of Leonard Hayes started. And in, so what we did is, I believe we, we saved the league and then each had a copy on our own memory cards. Yeah. So that we could like play our own leagues cuz that's what you had to do at the point, at that point in time. But Speaker 2 00:07:45 Oh Speaker 1 00:07:45 Man on mine, uh, Leonard Haes eventually went to the London Generals Speaker 2 00:07:51 Defected. Speaker 1 00:07:52 Yeah. It was not, or it was London or the England Generals. I don't Speaker 2 00:07:57 Probably England. England. I think we just went with country Speaker 1 00:07:59 Names. I think so. But then eventually I got him back and that was really it for Leonard Hayes for a while. Like the legend was still there, but it wasn't until recently that we like brought him back full-time as, as one of our created players <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:08:16 Oh so good. Speaker 1 00:08:17 That's a good segue but I'm gonna hold off. Are there any, I'm trying to think of other old games. NFL Street two. Speaker 2 00:08:23 Yeah. And I was gonna ask your opinion on uh, street one versus street two. Speaker 1 00:08:30 Well see I think what you're asking is ver two versus three cuz we didn't have one. Speaker 2 00:08:34 Oh, okay. Yeah, Speaker 1 00:08:35 Yeah. Uh, two is infinitely better than three. Speaker 2 00:08:40 Why is it better though? I forget Speaker 1 00:08:42 It's, it's not even close because two had the game breakers. Oh Speaker 2 00:08:46 Yes. Speaker 1 00:08:47 And like the sweet wall moves, like they were really smooth. All I remember for three was that they didn't have game breakers. And I think like the wall running was really like jerky. It didn't work really well. Speaker 2 00:09:00 Yeah. Speaker 1 00:09:01 But I think it was just the overall game of two and two had owned the city mode, which was amazing. I don't understand like how EA sports, cuz that was an EA sports game. Speaker 2 00:09:13 Yeah, it Speaker 1 00:09:14 Was. So we could have made that and not ever made another one after three. Like you have the Xbox One and the ps4, right. You could make the greatest like street football game of all time, but own the city. So for those who don't know, you would create yourself and you were like a street football player, which, I mean the stuff you could do in that game was amazing. You could like jump off of walls and do like spins on. You threw, it was very like styley, like stylized. Like you got style points for what you were Speaker 2 00:09:47 Doing. Oh yeah. It was awesome. Speaker 1 00:09:49 It was so Speaker 2 00:09:50 Much fun. I liked how, I liked how you could also create your own team of like six players or whatever. Speaker 1 00:09:55 Yeah. Yeah. There were a couple modes. Um, own the city, like you'd make yourself and then you would play pickup games in different neighborhoods and when you won you could take any player like from your team or the other team and add them to your team. And so eventually you would get seven players and you would take on other teams and eventually you'd build it up and you could replace your players every time you won or if you wanted, or you could just keep who you had. And then you would play a team of exhibit and <laugh> NFL players, which really dated this game. Speaker 2 00:10:30 <laugh>. Right. Speaker 1 00:10:30 Because everyone's probably like exhibit when was he relevant? Speaker 2 00:10:33 Oh man, side note. What about Pimp My Ride? Speaker 1 00:10:37 Uh, I never really watched it. But Speaker 2 00:10:39 Did they, didn't they come out and say that was like all really just fake and Well it Speaker 1 00:10:43 Probably was. Yeah. Or like set up to Speaker 2 00:10:46 Be set. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:10:47 Um, but you, I think, I don't know if you preferred own the city, but I know you liked the gauntlet mode. Yes. Where it was, uh, I think you created your own team. Like this time you could just make your seven players and you played every NFL's street team or every NFL team's street version. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:11:07 Which Speaker 1 00:11:07 Was Speaker 2 00:11:08 Order Speaker 1 00:11:08 Really cool. Yeah. Like I remember you had to worry about the Chargers I think who had Drew Brees at the time, which is also dating it because I think LaDainian Tomlinson would get a lot of direct snaps. Speaker 2 00:11:21 Yeah. Speaker 1 00:11:22 So you had to worry about him and it was LaDainian Tomlinson. Speaker 2 00:11:24 So, oh man. How is LT in real life? Speaker 1 00:11:27 He was so good. Speaker 2 00:11:29 <laugh> product is I don't tcu. I believe Speaker 1 00:11:31 He was number, he was number five there. Ooh. Um, I think, is it possible that he is somehow underrated? Who, I mean he was a first ballot hall of Famer. Speaker 2 00:11:44 Tom Munson. Speaker 1 00:11:45 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:11:45 Yeah. I think he was rated just fine. Speaker 1 00:11:49 But that's like people have immediately forgotten about him. Speaker 2 00:11:52 Oh not me bro. Speaker 1 00:11:53 Like he was, he's one of the greatest running backs ever. Speaker 2 00:11:56 AB Absolutely. He was tough. Speaker 1 00:11:59 Um, I've had this discussion before just because Emmett Smith has the rushing title. I don't think he's the best running back ever. Ooh. Speaker 2 00:12:07 Hot Speaker 1 00:12:08 Take. It's either, it's either Barry or Walter who I am on a first name basis with apparently Speaker 2 00:12:14 <laugh> Speaker 1 00:12:15 Probably. But there, there's a real case that it's Barry Sanders Speaker 2 00:12:18 <laugh>. Oh man. Speaker 1 00:12:19 Jim Brown's also up there. So NFL Street two <laugh>. I just remembered what we used to do as well. Um, we would do pickup games where every player that we picked were offensive linemen. Speaker 2 00:12:35 <laugh>. So you had to have like a quarterback. Speaker 1 00:12:38 Yep. A running back receivers. Speaker 2 00:12:41 Uh, it didn't go very Speaker 1 00:12:42 Well. No, because they were slow. I mean cuz linemen are good at blocking. Like that's their job. That's what they excel at. But we would try to do wall moves with them and they'd just fall and like, I don't know, in retrospect it's like, eh, were we making fun of them? A little. But it was so much fun to do that Speaker 2 00:13:02 <laugh>. Oh man. Speaker 1 00:13:04 But then we would do it with other positions too. Like a quarterback game where you tried to have like paint and Manning at Receiver didn't work all the time. Speaker 2 00:13:13 Nope, it didn't. Speaker 1 00:13:14 But it was such a fun game. Like, again, I don't understand how there isn't a new one. It doesn't make sense to me. Speaker 2 00:13:22 They should come out with one for sure. Speaker 1 00:13:25 Yeah. Mad no six was another game around that time. Well that's where we did the World Football Speaker 2 00:13:31 League. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:13:32 Yep. Um, I thought of it at first though because you could export your own the city player to Madden oh six for their superstar mode, which was cool. But that was the one with the Vision cone. Speaker 2 00:13:45 Oh did you like Vision Cone? Speaker 1 00:13:47 I loved Vision Cone. Speaker 2 00:13:49 <laugh>. Maddy liked Vision Cone either. I didn't really like it. Speaker 1 00:13:51 Vision Cone was a thing for those who, cause it was only in the game. I think two years. The first year was like mandatory and then the second year it was like an option. But depending on your quarterback, they would have like a cone of vision where they were accurate outside of that cone. Like they were inaccurate and you could move the cone while you were like, you know, passing. But it was really controversial cuz if you had like paint and manning the cone would be like the whole fuel. Yeah. But then if you had like Jay Feedler Speaker 2 00:14:22 Oh it Speaker 1 00:14:23 Would, it would be this tiny little sliver. I liked it cuz I thought it was more realistic. But it didn't go over well. Speaker 2 00:14:30 No it didn't. Speaker 1 00:14:31 But I think it's time to fast forward about a decade, well a decade and a half maybe to the current Maddens because uh, although you can't really customize anymore. We do have one story, one success story. Ooh. And that is the San Antonio Express. Speaker 2 00:14:51 Oh man. We dominated. Speaker 1 00:14:54 Oh, so the San Antonio Express was we in Madden 25, which was 14. They didn't, they just named it that for the 25th anniversary. Um, I think we were the Jaguars Speaker 2 00:15:07 I believe so. We tended to move them a Speaker 1 00:15:09 Lot. <laugh>. Yeah. Cuz they were really bad at the time. I mean, they're still bad, but they were like really atrocious. Yeah. Um, but we made you as the quarterback, me as the running back and I think that was it. We didn't make Oh, and we made, uh, Leo ha. Yeah. Who at this point was now a receiver? Yes. Number 17. But I think that was all we made. And we would play offense only because it was more fun and easier <laugh>. But we uh, we would just like get these players in the draft or like we would find them based on their names. <laugh>? Speaker 2 00:15:48 Yes. Speaker 1 00:15:49 Like our first ever overall pick was a receiver named Don Fred McMullen. And like, I've never heard anyone in the world named Don Fred. Nope. But he was our first player and he eventually got usurped. Ooh. By an undrafted receiver. Oh my. Named Morgan Schuler. Speaker 2 00:16:09 Schuler Speaker 1 00:16:10 Schuler is so good. That one time for my birthday, uh, you and Care got me like the Jersey shirts. Yes. Made one for Leo Haes and Morgan Schuler. So Schuler, he was like 60 something overall. But he played out of his mind. He Speaker 2 00:16:30 Did. He he did he like Rose to the moment. Speaker 1 00:16:34 Yeah. He was so good. Like I think he overtook Don Fred and he did, it was like him and Leo as our one and two, but Oh, like Schuler was. So, and, and I mean it's the thing where when you're playing Madden you can usually make players better just by like, by you controlling them. But yeah, he became our, our big success story and we have so many of them. Speaker 2 00:16:58 Oh, so many. Speaker 1 00:16:59 Reor Low the slot receiver. Speaker 2 00:17:03 Oh, Speaker 1 00:17:04 Manco Cheeseborough. Our defensive tackle. And we didn't name any of these people. Speaker 2 00:17:10 No, these are all mad names. Speaker 1 00:17:12 These are all Madden generated names. Maurice Hooker backup running back, who played a lot because I got injured a lot. Speaker 2 00:17:20 Ak Mo Hooker. Speaker 1 00:17:21 Mo Hooker. Uh, and then we had some real players like Julian Edelman <laugh>. Yeah, Julian Edelman. We always ran like a screen to him and he would just take it like so far. But then we eventually had to cut him. It was a sad moment where Speaker 2 00:17:38 We played. We Speaker 1 00:17:39 Played, we literally played passengers, let her go while we did it. And it made the moment surprisingly emotional. Speaker 2 00:17:49 Like Speaker 1 00:17:49 I gotten sad. Like really sad for Speaker 2 00:17:52 It. Oh man. So good. Speaker 1 00:17:55 So good. Uh, I think we might have resigned him eventually though. I can't remember if we did. Speaker 2 00:18:01 Uh, but, Speaker 1 00:18:02 Or was that the end of Edelman? Speaker 2 00:18:04 I think that was it. Oh. Speaker 1 00:18:06 But we went on a five peat for the Super Bowl. Like five wins in a row. Speaker 2 00:18:12 <laugh>. It Speaker 1 00:18:13 Was, it was pretty impressive. Speaker 2 00:18:15 It was, Speaker 1 00:18:16 Um, I think at one point you got injured and Jay Cutler was our backup. Speaker 2 00:18:20 Yeah. Wasn't there someone else? There Speaker 1 00:18:23 Was McLeod, Bethel Thompson. Speaker 2 00:18:25 Yes. Mcle. Who is real, Speaker 1 00:18:28 Who is real. I think he was on the Dolphins Practice Speaker 2 00:18:32 Squad. I believe so. McLeod, Bethel Thompson. Speaker 1 00:18:36 Wow. He, uh, he had some good moments too. Speaker 2 00:18:39 It was like the, I think it was like the McLeod to Edelman show probably. Speaker 1 00:18:45 It was so good though. That was like our greatest, we never were able to replicate it because we got like the next Maddens after that. It just, it wasn't the same. Speaker 2 00:18:56 It wasn't Speaker 1 00:18:57 At all. Like we, I think we once tried to make a new express, but it didn't really go, Speaker 2 00:19:02 It didn't have the same feel. Speaker 1 00:19:04 No. And I really wish that you could do online co-op franchises. Speaker 2 00:19:10 Yeah. Speaker 1 00:19:11 Because then we could have like, I feel like now we could do it. It's been a few years. Speaker 2 00:19:17 Ugh. Speaker 1 00:19:17 I think the Express could live Speaker 2 00:19:19 Again. I think so too, man. But Speaker 1 00:19:23 That's what happens when EA Sports is the one making Madden. They shouldn't be. Speaker 2 00:19:27 They shouldn't at all. Speaker 1 00:19:30 I've had this take before. Can you imagine how good it would be if two K could make another game like two K 20? Speaker 2 00:19:39 I would, I would pay whatever they wanted. Speaker 1 00:19:42 I would too. Like you could make it a hundred dollars and I would buy it. Yeah. Because they have, I mean the NBA two K games are insane with what you can do. You can, you can have expansion teams in your league and like expansion drafts, you can relocate anywhere. And they have really cool pre-made teams that you can use. Like just imagine being able to do that with Madden. Like you could add another team. Speaker 2 00:20:09 Oh, Speaker 1 00:20:10 Like it's, it would be ridiculous if they got the license bag. Speaker 2 00:20:15 I need it to happen. Speaker 1 00:20:17 I need it to happen and I need them to make an NCAA game. Speaker 2 00:20:21 <laugh>. Oh, me too. Because ncaa Aren't they talking about bringing that back though? Speaker 1 00:20:25 They are because they settled that suit. Speaker 2 00:20:27 Yeah. Speaker 1 00:20:28 Uh, with like, or like they're, they're working on like allowing students to make money off of their likeness. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So that was the big problem. So they could do another NCAA game, which I don't know if you had 14, but 14 was the last one and it was amazing. Speaker 2 00:20:45 I believe I did. Speaker 1 00:20:47 Um, one of the coolest things you could do in that was just like edit the conferences and put anyone in them. Speaker 2 00:20:53 Oh, so good. Speaker 1 00:20:55 It was, I I but like I want it for two K Speaker 2 00:20:59 <laugh>. It would be so epic. Speaker 1 00:21:02 It would be. They like, they're, I can't even explain how good the NBA two K games are. <laugh>. But yeah, that's uh, do you got any more football games? Speaker 2 00:21:13 Um, let's see. There's Tech Mobile. Speaker 1 00:21:18 There is, uh, that one was before my time. Hmm. Probably before years too. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:21:25 But we've played it on like simulators or Speaker 1 00:21:28 Whatever they call Yeah. Like the, the We Store has it Speaker 2 00:21:30 Yeah. Speaker 1 00:21:32 Good's. It's, it is, it's still really fun. Um, just like four plays, Speaker 2 00:21:37 Right? Like there's only so much you can do. Speaker 1 00:21:40 There's the Bo Jackson experience. Oh, Speaker 2 00:21:44 How's Bo? Speaker 1 00:21:45 He was so good. Like, I mean his, his like legend is partially because of that game. Speaker 2 00:21:51 Definitely. I Speaker 1 00:21:52 Mean he was really good on his own. Yeah. But yeah, but like, people remember Tech Mobile, Bo Jackson, um, I know you had <laugh>. I never played it but Blitz the Speaker 2 00:22:03 League. <laugh> Bli. Yeah, blitz Blitz was fun, Speaker 1 00:22:06 Wasn't it? Like really? Like steroids and it's like Speaker 2 00:22:10 Violence. It's really violent, but it was fun. Yeah. It was way more like Arcade E. Speaker 1 00:22:16 Yeah. Yeah. Lawrence Taylor I believe was Speaker 2 00:22:18 The, he was Speaker 1 00:22:20 The rep for Speaker 2 00:22:21 That <laugh> and I believe he played for the New York Phantoms maybe. Hmm. You might have to, we'll have to look that up. Might have to double check that. But yeah. Speaker 1 00:22:32 But there have been some really good old football games. Game Day 2000 we mentioned on the Speaker 2 00:22:37 Hooligans. I did like that one a lot. Speaker 1 00:22:40 It was, uh, it had Terrell Davis on the cover. And <laugh>, we mentioned this too, but if you won the game Yeah. Uh, on the loading screen, it would be like your team's flag and like a real picture of a cheerleader, which was like the greatest incentive in the world to win. Speaker 2 00:22:56 It was Speaker 1 00:22:57 Because if you lost it just showed the team flag. Like that's Speaker 2 00:23:00 It. It really, it was truly an incentive. Speaker 1 00:23:04 <laugh>. It was cuz think of like the target audience. Yep. It was like, it was boys who would like Yeah. Speaker 2 00:23:11 Hey. Oh nice. Speaker 1 00:23:12 Yeah. But the, there have been some really good old football games. Uh, two K five and Street two are probably the best. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:23:21 I agree. Speaker 1 00:23:22 Yeah. So I would like to thank my brother Derek, who I never called Derek aka Cub for joining, uh, snorkeling with Narwals on this week's episode. Speaker 2 00:23:33 No problem. Speaker 1 00:23:34 Peace out man. Speaker 2 00:23:36 See ya. Speaker 1 00:23:37 So that's gonna do it for today's episode of Snorkeling with Narwals. Thanks for listening to my discussion about Pop and how I'm trying, trying to drink less. And thanks again to my brother Derek for joining me to talk about football video games and our success with the San Antonio Express. So I'm Brian. This has been snorkeling with Narwals and I'm out.