Not because he's a Duke fan - heavens, no, really folks - but Kotaku reader Shwing apparently felt that one of college sports' A-list Haves should also Have a major bowl bid. And the Orange Bowl committee sighed.
Duke's major bowl history is - you see this every goddamn year in their media guide - basically the fact they played in the Rose Bowl at Wallace Wade Stadium in 1942 because FDR was afraid of a Japanese air raid on Pasadena. Unfortunately, Tojo didn't take the bait and bomb the shit out of Durham like everyone wanted. Thus there are five major college football programs in North Carolina today. And ECU.
Taking over Duke in Dynasty Mode NCAA Football 11, Shwing installs a pro-style offense reminiscent of Barry Wilson's finest attack, if it ever existed, and Dave Brown, if he was ever any good. The revival creates a palpable enthusiasm on campus. More than four hundred people show up to see the Blue Devils beat Miami, with only half leaving in the third quarter to catch a women's soccer game.
Duke, now laying full claim to the title of America's Underdog, faces a powerful No. 2 Florida State for the ACC championship in Charlotte, and triumphs over the Seminoles in a nailbiter. The Orange Bowl, having bravely tolerated visits by Wake Forest, Louisville, Cincinnati and Kansas in the past four years, finally goes all Howard Beale when it draws a Duke-Nevada matchup. CBS reads the schedule and sends Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel to Miami, just in case it's a second round NCAA tournament game.
Despite all this, Pro Joe Sun Player Life Brown Shark Stadium still sees a memorable and exciting game that leaves the fan breathless. Trailing 28-25, Duke came up with a key stop but exhausted its timeouts in so doing, and was pinned at its own 1 with less than two minutes remaining. "I had basically given up hope, but decided I needed to be as aggressive as possible," Shwing said, taking advantage of the new no-huddle controls in NCAA 11.
Amazingly, Duke makes it inside Nevada's 20, and quarterback Sean Renfree (go Shwing - playing with fully named rosters!) zips a square-out pass to his tight end, who can't get out of bounds. The field goal unit can't get on the field in time, so Shwing gets to the line and runs one last no-guts-no-glory play. Rolling out away from the pass rush, he finds wideout Donavan Varner in the back of the end zone for the game winning touchdown.
"I know it's just a video game, but damn - my hands are still shaking," Shwing writes. And here's the proof!
Remember, all you have to do to get yourself featured in Box Scores' Game of the Week is take a picture of whatever you've been playing - crappy cell picture will do - write up a couple sentences about why it was so compelling, and email it to me, owenATkotakuDOTcom, with "Game of the Week" in the subject header.
Now the Kotaku Sports open thread commences with the major sports TV schedule for today and tomorrow. All times are U.S. Eastern.
- Baseball
Today's game of the week for much of the nation would seem to be an overrated Mets team at an overrated Dodgers squad. For those in markets where competitive baseball actually is played, the Rockies at the Phillies, or the White Sox at the A's are the alternate games. 4 p.m., Fox.
Tomorrow, it's Rox-Phils on TBS at 1:30 p.m. and Cards-Cubs on ESPN at 8. - Motorsports
Qualifying for the Brickyard 400 ran this morning at Indianapolis and is probably over; this evening NASCAR's Nationwide Series races the Kroger 200 at 8 p.m. Let's see if probates Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski can drive that without trying to kill each other.
Tomorrow, the Brickyard 400 drops the flag at 1 p.m. on ESPN.
- Cycling
The final two stages of the Tour de France are today and tomorrow, live on Versus at 8:30 a.m., or tape-delay on CBS at 1 p.m. Sunday. Then we can all stop pretending we give a shit about cycling. I'm seriously amazed this isn't on the list of Stuff White People Like.
Remember, you may send Game of the Week nominations to owenATkotakuDOTcom, and flag it "Game of the Week" in the subject header. Please include your commenter handle for proper credit.